As a health journalist who writes about the science of the mind-body-health connection and who’s interviewed countless scientists on the subject, you would have thought that when I started making my new documentary about mindfulness, I would have known a thing or two. But just a few weeks into the endeavour I came across a study by neuroscientist Sara Lazar’s team at Harvard which changed everything and made me realise that I still had a lot to learn.The study caught my attention because Lazar’s team had done a direct comparison of two of the most famous meditation programs in the... Read full article »

For some, mindfulness is a life-saving psychological tool that pulled them out of the depths of depression, for others it’s a way to disentangle from the grip of addiction. Some use mindfulness to face chronic pain or stressful emotions, while others use it to achieve peak performance at work.Some believe that mindfulness is an innate human capability of such great import that it should be taught in schools and used in parliaments, while others see it as a marketing device, with which to sell mayonnaise and colouring books. No matter what you think mindfulness is or what it does, there’s... Read full article »

The benefits of meditation are being proven again and again by researchers around the world every day. Scientists have shown meditation can enhance your immune system,  it can help you cope with chronic illness, and it can change your brain structure to help with anxiety, focus and attention.   But in a world where we have bills to pay, bank balances to replenish and relationships to nurture, finding time can be tricky. Many of us struggle to carve out time to get even the daily recommended dose of 30 minutes of exercise a day let alone finding any amount of... Read full article »