Meditation for Thursday 9th April 2026
I came across an interesting piece in The Guardian recently quoting neuroscientist and author, Shanida Nataraja who began by saying that meditation does more than clear the head, it puts both halves of the brain to work, improving concentration, memory, and decision-making. According to Nataraja, we westerners use the left half of our brain, i.e. the analytical, rational, and logical and not nearly enough of our right side which is associated with abstract thought and the expression and modulation of emotions. Here in the western world, most of us navigate our lives in a fashion dominated by left-brain thinking.
There is an expression, “you are not your thoughts” which, according to Nataraja refers to the tendency for a ceaseless flood of thoughts, characterised as chatting monkeys, to overwhelm us, leaving us stressed and unable to take a calm step back and realise this is not all that we are. Missing out on right-brain activity results in too much thinking and not enough feeling.
In these overly stimulating times, says Nataraja reaching a meditative state is not necessarily easy. The key, she says is to be kind to yourself, and not take a punitive approach. “Acknowledging the thoughts and letting them go activates certain brain pathways, and those thoughts therefore have less significance than if you tried to forcibly replace or suppress them.”
Nataraja’s studies show that many meditators put pressure on themselves to be ‘successful,’ and to get ‘there’ quickly, a rather left-brain, ‘are we there yet?’ approach, and as a result take longer to benefit from meditation. A relaxed state is harder to achieve when you are trying too hard.
There is frustration in meditation practice, this is to be expected, but we should not be too hard on ourselves. Meditation is a pleasurable activity!
Meditation
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- ‘The Guardian’, 18/3/2008. “The Blissful Brain”
by Dr. Shanida Nataraja. Pub: Gaia UK, 2008
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