Yesterday I spoke to my friend about one of the most fascinating talks I have heard about the human brain. So this link is for Peggi, and the rest of you, too, because I think everyone should see it. This is an amazing story of a neuro-anatomist who experiences a stroke and shares her experience — terrifying and beautiful at the same time — and subsequent painstaking recovery. One thing that particularly caught my attention in her talk was her experience of “nirvana.” I think she has provided a scientific explanation of how it can actually happen. Her left part of the brain, responsible for one’s sense of self, for maintaining a border between us and the outside world, suffered the hemorrhage, letting her right hemisphere take over…and she felt enormous, free, floating, not able to fit into this tiny body, and one with everything. It was probably a similar experience as for someone on drugs, as well as for an experienced meditation practitioner. It is not a new idea that all the mystical feelings one can experience can be probably traced to activation and de-activation of various brain areas… but here it is sublimely described.
And this is her interview with Oprah in which she further elaborates on her experience, and talks about how finding inner peace is available to all of us, every single day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9Phy9C5Ees