Rewiring your Reality: The Neuroscience of Awakening with Shamil Chandaria, PhD

Discover the neuroscience that grounds spiritual awakenings and empowers greater human flourishing.

We are thrilled to be hosting Shamil Chandaria, PhD, a meditation researcher and thought leader in consciousness studies at both Oxford, Cambridge 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. He 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. 

This is 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 Future of Humanities Institute at Oxford and Google's DeepMind, so we are both excited and privileged to host his first public talk in London on this approach. 

• If you are curious about spiritual awakenings, this will provide a science-informed framework to understanding what they mean.
• If you are thinking to start meditating, this will catapult you into a deep understanding of the practice and where it leads.
• If you are an experienced meditator this will reinspire and deepen your practice, providing a comprehensive map to navigate the path.

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

If this inspires you, and you wish to deepen even further into this approach, you can join the four week course starting 10th of July.

“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'.”

Shamil Chandaria

Dr Shamil Chandaria is a senior research fellow at the centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing, University of Oxford. He is also a research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy, London University, where he focuses on philosophical issues in neuroscience and well-being;  a research fellow at Imperial College in the neuroscience of psychedelics; and a bye-fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.  

He has multi-disciplinary research interests spanning computational neuroscience, machine learning & artificial intelligence, and the philosophy and science of human well-being. He is currently working on computational theories of consciousness and meditation.  Shamil has been a meditator for 38 years and has contemplative training in early Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shivaism.

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

The Venue

The Meditatio Centre is a vibrant and welcoming place and a true oasis in the hub bub of a busy city. It is open to people from all walks of life, from any religious, spiritual or secular tradition. It has regular meditation sessions and teaching on the practice and hosts an annual programme of  events to explore the deeper dimensions of life. 

They host events that look at the contemplative aspects of  modern living: science, the arts, business, the environment, interfaith and the mystical core of Christianity. Workshops enliven the space –  yoga, movement, poetry, dance – local artists are also invited to exhibit their work.

REFUNDS: Please note that we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. We welcome swapping or reselling your tickets with people you know.