Nazareth Castellanos

Nazareth Castellanos (Madrid, 1977), whose full name is Nazareth Perales Castellanos according to her Wikipedia entry, is a physicist with a PhD in Neuroscience. She earned a degree in Theoretical Physics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2002, completed a master's degree in Mathematics Applied to Biology and Neuroscience at the same university's School of Medicine, and received a doctorate in Medicine in 2008 with a dissertation on mathematical methods for determining functional connectivity between neurophysiological time series, supervised by Valeriy A. Makarov Slizneva. According to her Wikipedia entry, she has worked in the Department of Medical Physics at Hospital Clínico San Carlos, at the School of Biological Sciences of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), and at the Centro de Tecnología Biomédica of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, with research stays at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt and at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. Since 2022 she has held the extraordinary chair in Mindfulness and Cognitive Sciences at the UCM and has directed the Nirakara lab. This profile has not found an independent public record, other than Wikipedia and her own website, confirming these degrees and positions, so they are cited as attributed to those sources.

According to the same sources, her research focuses on developing mathematical tools for studying brain networks, how those networks reorganize after brain injury, Alzheimer's disease, communication between the brain and other organs (heart, gut, lungs), and the effects of meditation on mental health. She is the author of the nonfiction books "El espejo del cerebro" (La Huerta Grande, 2021), which according to the publisher had gone past its thirteenth printing and 35,000 copies sold as of September 2024, and "Neurociencia del cuerpo" (2022), as well as a series of children's books titled "Alicia y..." (2022-2023, illustrated by Luna Lag) and the nonfiction book "El puente donde habitan las mariposas" (2025). An interview published by El Español in May 2026 describes her, citing figures from her publisher, as the author of more than 150,000 books sold; this profile has not found an independent source confirming that figure and reports it as a claim made by her or her publisher.

She publishes science outreach content under her own name on several cross-linked channels. Her Instagram account, @nazareth.castellanos, describes her in its bio as a "scientific researcher, speaker and educator" who "only publishes scientific data" and advertises "courses on the brain-body connection"; on the date this profile was checked it had 757,000 followers and linked in its bio to linktr.ee/nazarethcastellanos. Her YouTube channel, with the handle @nazarethcastellanos548, had 190,000 subscribers and linked in its description to nazarethcastellanos.com, the same website whose contact page identifies the Instagram account @nazareth.castellanos as her official profile; this profile treats the identity of the Instagram account as confirmed through that cross-linking between the YouTube channel and the website, and between the website and the Instagram account. The same contact page also lists a Twitter/X account (@NazaCastellanos), a LinkedIn profile and a Facebook page, and states that the website is operated by the company "Escuela de Epicuro S.L." and that, due to the volume of requests, Nazareth Castellanos "does not currently take private consultations" or personal matters because of a full schedule.

Through nazarethcastellanos.com, whose header presents it as "Cursos de Neurociencia" (neuroscience courses), she sells paid recorded courses that customers buy and watch on their own, with no clinical session or one-on-one contact: it is therefore a structured online education product and not a professional healthcare service, even though she holds a doctorate. On the date this profile was checked, the following were on sale: "La respiración, el corazón y el cerebro" (€40), a recorded 3-hour-15-minute workshop on the neuroscience of the heart and breathing, with unlimited access after purchase via login credentials sent by email; "Neurociencia de la danza: del cuerpo individual, al cuerpo social" (€50), recorded in two two-hour sessions on the scientific foundations of rhythmic movement and its relationship to brain plasticity and emotional regulation; and "Coherencia emocional: de la neurociencia a la práctica" (€60, with an option to pay in three installments via PayPal), recorded in three two-hour sessions on the biological, social and cultural organization of emotions, with access limited to six months after enrollment. All three are purchased and watched on the website's own platform, in the "Mis Cursos" (My Courses) section, without an external course marketplace. On the date this profile was checked, the same courses section also listed other titles with enrollment closed or sold out, among them "Mente, consciencia y meditación: la filosofía detrás del yoga", "Mujeres místicas. Cuando solo el amor sabe", "Una lectura simbólica de la Comedia de Dante", "La Fortaleza Interior: Estoicismo, Epicureísmo y Escepticismo para la vida moderna", "Filosofía Budista: Las 7 Causas que entrenan la Compasión" and "El Cerebro como Aliado – Primavera 2026", which indicates that the catalog rotates through enrollment windows and that not all courses are permanently available; this profile does not list prices for those titles because they were not visible while enrollment was closed.

She has been cited as an expert source in general-interest and specialized media, including El País, El Mundo, RTVE, Cadena SER and Diario de Mallorca, according to her own website, and has given interviews to El Español and Telecinco on the links between lifestyle, emotions and brain health. In an eldiario.es interview about "health gurus", she said that "we are lost and the least qualified have taken the microphone", a statement that did not refer to her own work. This profile has not found any public ruling or independent, bylined press piece (not based on a press release) documenting a formal controversy over her activity. It did find, cited indirectly in an opinion blog that in turn refers to an April 2023 El País article not located independently, a criticism according to which some of her statements about adult neurogenesis would go beyond what has been confirmed by studies in humans. Because the original press source could not be accessed, this profile does not cite it as a documented controversy and notes that it could not be confirmed.