Science and Spiritual Practices: Transformative Experiences and Their Effects on Our Bodies, Brains, and Health

A biologist draws on science and psychology to validate the benefits of 7 common religious practices--from meditation and gratitude to rituals and pilgrimage.

"I have personally adopted many of [these] practices . . . and experienced more love, joy, empathy, gratitude, and equanimity as a result." ―Deepak Chopra

The effects of spiritual practices are now being investigated scientifically as never before, and many studies have shown that religious and spiritual practices generally make people happier and healthier. In this pioneering book, Rupert Sheldrake shows how science helps validate 7 practices on which many religions are built, and which are part of our common human heritage:

- Meditation
- Gratitude
- Connecting with nature
- Relating to plants
- Rituals
- Singing and chanting
- Pilgrimage and holy places

Sheldrake summarizes the latest scientific research on what happens when we take part in these practices, and suggests ways that readers can explore these fields for themselves. For those who are religious, Science and Spiritual Practices will illuminate the evolutionary origins of their own traditions and give a new appreciation of their power. For the nonreligious, this book will show how the core practices of spirituality are accessible to all.

RUPERT SHELDRAKE, PhD, is a biologist and the author of more than eighty-five scientific papers and twelve books. He was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge University, a Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University, and a Research Fellow of the Royal Society. From 2005 to 2010, he was the director of the Perrott-Warrick Project, funded by Trinity College, Cambridge. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Petaluma, California, and of Schumacher College in Devon, England.