Energy, Awareness & the Nature of Mind with Shamil Chandaria

_ translating awakening into liberation and human flourishing _

In this session Shamil focused on building awareness of the energy body and how it is affected by breath, movement and mantra. There were instructions to recognize the spacious awareness that contains all phenomena and Shamil explained concepts of emptiness and the difference between reified phenomena and the pure, transparent awareness that underlies all experiences.

Shamil is a meditation researcher and thought leader in consciousness studies at both Oxford, Cambridge, Google's Deep Mind and Imperial College London.

Drawing on the most recent scientific perspectives on how our minds construct experience, Shamil offers a clear framework that demystifies spiritual awakenings and a path towards greater human flourishing. His approach reveals how you can harness practices like meditation to systematically reshape your brain’s predictive processes, reduce suffering, and reconstruct a whole new experience of reality.

Q&A included

1. Dealing with chronic pain & ingrained patterns

2. How to balance **material and spiritual flourishing **

3. Dealing with **existential terror **

4. Dealing with grasping

For a complete guide to Shamil's approach, his _ "Rewiring your Reality" _ course is recommended for a complete guide to the philosophy & neuroscience behind it: https://dandelion.events/e/m9nea

Shamil Chandaria

Shamil is a meditation researcher and thought leader in consciousness studies at both Oxford, Cambridge, Google's Deep Mind and Imperial College London.

Drawing on the most recent scientific perspectives on how our minds construct experience, Shamil offers a clear framework that demystifies spiritual awakenings and a path towards greater human flourishing. His approach reveals how you can harness practices like meditation to systematically reshape your brain’s predictive processes, reduce suffering, and reconstruct a whole new experience of reality.

Shamil offers an empowering synthesis of disciplines ranging from computational neuroscience and predictive processing to the nondual traditions of Buddhism, Vedanta and Kashmiri Shaivism. Shamil draws on 38 years of meditation and academic experience, having collaborated with some of the world's leading scientists in Bayesian brain theory, perception, artificial intelligence and psychedelic research. He is sought after by institutions such as the Centre for Eudaemonia and Human Flourishing at Oxford University and Google's DeepMind.

You can sample Shamil's work in the recent paper ‘A Beautiful Loop,’ or in podcast conversations with Sam Harris and FitMind.

• Senior research fellow at the centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, University of Oxford.
• Research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, London University, where he focuses on philosophical issues in neuroscience and well-being
• Research fellow at Imperial College in the neuroscience of psychedelics
• Bye-fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.

_ “weaves together the latest ideas emerging in computational neuroscience, active inference, predictive processing, and the free energy principle into a compelling narrative of how our minds construct reality and indeed our ‘selves'.” _


Constructing Self and World: A Conversation with Shamil Chandaria (Episode #320)

Wellbeing & Participation Guidance

• This session is educational and contemplative; it is not therapy or medical care.
• Participation is voluntary. You may pause, skip any practice, or sit out.
• Body-centred practice can surface strong emotions, memories, dissociation, dizziness or anxiety. If this happens, please tell a facilitator; simple grounding options will be offered.
• Suitability: If you are experiencing psychosis, mania, severe dissociation, active self-harm, or have been psychiatrically hospitalised in the past 3 months, please do not attend this format. If you live with PTSD/complex trauma or eating disorders, or trauma that is exacerbated by placing your attention on the body, we recommend working first with a trauma-informed clinician and attend only if stable and well-resourced.
• If symptoms worsen during or after the retreat, stop the practices and contact your GP/mental-health team.
• Please let us know about relevant physical/mental-health conditions, current medications, pregnancy, or recent surgery so we can offer adaptations.
• Age 18+. Please arrive sober; alcohol or non-prescribed substances aren’t compatible with this work.
• By attending, you confirm you understand the above and take responsibility for your own wellbeing. No specific outcomes are guaranteed.