Overwhelmed by insomnia and an incurable autoimmune disease, award-winning health journalist Shannon Harvey needed a change. She found plenty of advice on diet, sleep and exercise, but nothing like a 30-minute workout for the mind. Worried for her own health and her children’s, she enlisted a team of scientists to put meditation to the test.

Over a year, Shannon is poked, prodded, scanned and screened on a 30,000 kilometre journey from Manhattan to the refugee camps of the Middle East. What begins as a self-experiment becomes a life-changing experience, full of compelling stories, groundbreaking science and unexpected insights.