Bliss Brain; The Neuroscience of remodeling your brain for resilience, creativity, and joy

Award Winner in the Science category of the 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest “This book is so superior to the dozens of popular books on meditation I’ve seen over the years that I want to shout about it from the rooftops! It will make a beautiful difference in people’s lives! I opened it with the skepticism that its ambitious title invites, and I completed it surprised by how many fascinating insights I’d come to about the topic of ‘bliss brain.’ At a minimum, readers who sense the potential benefits of meditation but feel they don’t have a sustainable bridge into its practice will have lost that excuse. Dawson Church has brilliantly synthesized the vast literature on the neural, behavioral, lifestyle, and subjective benefits of meditation. He then systematically applies the principles derived from this analysis and from the fruits of his 50-year journey as a practicing and sometimes struggling meditator in formulating a disarmingly simple program. But unlike most self-help programs, this one has been tested scientifically, and it reliably brings participants into states of consciousness and neurochemistry that previously required years of long, diligent practice. Bliss Brain is a potent and urgently needed antidote to a culture in turmoil.” ~ David Feinstein, PhD, co-author of The Energies of Love Award-winning author and thought leader Dawson Church, Ph.D., blends cutting-edge neuroscience with intense firsthand experience to show you how you can rewire your brain for happiness-starting right now. Neural plasticity-the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself-is now widely understood. But what few people have grasped yet is how quickly this is happening, how extensive brain changes can be, and how much control each of us has over the process. In Bliss Brain, famed researcher Dawson Church digs deep into leading-edge science, and finds stunning evidence of rapid and radical brain change. In just eight weeks of practice, 12 minutes a day, using the right techniques, we can produce measurable changes in our brains. These make us calmer, happier, and more resilient. When we cultivate these pleasurable states over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state; the changes are literally hard-wired into our brains, becoming stable and enduring personality traits. The startling conclusions of Church's research show that neural remodeling goes much farther than scientists have previously understood, with stress circuits shriveling over time. Simultaneously, "The Enlightenment Circuit"-associated with happiness, compassion, productivity, creativity, and resilience-expands. During deep meditation, Church shows how "the 7 neurochemicals of ecstasy" are released in our brains. These include anandamide, a neurotransmitter that's been named "the bliss molecule" because it mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. It boosts serotonin and dopamine; the first is an analog of psilocybin, the second of cocaine. He shows how cultivating these elevated emotional states literally produces a self-induced high. While writing Bliss Brain, Church went through a series of disasters, including escaping seconds ahead of a California wildfire that consumed his home and office and claimed 22 lives. The fire triggered a painful medical condition and a financial disaster. Through it all, Church steadily practiced the techniques of Bliss Brain while teaching them to thousands of other people. This book weaves his story of resilience into the fabric of neuroscience, producing a fascinating picture of just how happy we can make our brains, no matter what the odds.