THE BLOG
The science and stories of living well
This blog started as a journalist’s search for answers about what keeps us well, from mindfulness and food to sleep, relationships and mental health. It still is. You’ll find a mix of the best available evidence, interviews with leading experts and stories from real people. But lately I’ve been less interested in just knowing what works and more interested in making it happen, in our homes, our schools and our communities.
– JOURNALIST AND FILMMAKER WORKING AT THE INTERSECTION OF STORY AND IMPACT
Search
- Shannon Harvey
Four years, ten cities, 28 interviews and one big question took me from reporting on mental health to doing something about it. Here’s what I found. I’d spent a year meditating every day, with a team of scientists measuring what it did to my brain and body. I’d released a film and a book about … Read full article »
- Shannon Harvey
In the midst of a global mental health crisis, millions of people have turned to mindfulness. But does it actually make us happier and healthier? For my most recent project, I participated in a world-first experiment, in which a team of scientists to put mindful meditation to the test. But after a 30,000 kilometre journey … Read full article »
Every once in a while someone says something that challenges you to the core and forces a rethink of what you thought to be real and true. One such moment occurred for me recently when a friend offhandedly remarked that a mutual acquaintance of ours doesn’t believe mental illness exists. How bizarre, I thought at … Read full article »
In the two-week window leading up to the end of the 2020 school year, I noticed a frightening phenomenon in my seven-year-old son’s school bag. He had amassed a small mountain of junk food. From play dates and birthday parties, to after-school-care and team sport, it seemed everyone and anyone had deemed it a special … Read full article »
In 1993 author Peter James caused a global outrage when he published his thriller Host on two floppy disks. The first “electronic novel,” which is about a scientist who downloads his brain into a computer and has his body frozen, was considered the beginning of the end of literature as we know it, not because … Read full article »
- siteAdmin
It had been 20 minutes of mental agony and as my meditation practice came to an end on the third day of what was supposed to be a year-long commitment to meditate every day, there was only one thought on my mind… it’s going to be a long year. Was I missing something? Far from … Read full article »
As a journalist who makes documentaries intended to spark conversations about our health and wellbeing, I’m very aware of the power of the majority. I believe that good old water cooler conversations and word of mouth are the crucial first step to creating positive, meaningful change. So when the third person in a week asked … Read full article »
There’s a strange paradox that took place in the years following the birth of my two sons. Although I discovered a new and delightful maternal love, along with a profound sense of clear-minded meaning and purpose, my mental wellbeing took a dive. All the caring, cleaning, cooking, washing, planning, and putting-on-a-brave-facing combined with chronic sleep … Read full article »
Search
Newsletter
Get the blog straight to your inbox as soon as it drops.
My projects
Raising Superheroes
A mother’s search for answers to the youth mental health crisis leads her across the world, to a truth she did not expect to find, and into a fight she never expected to join.
WATCH THE TRAILER
My Year of Living Mindfully
My Year of Living Mindfully is the new feature documentary from journalist and filmmaker Shannon Harvey. Overwhelmed with insomnia and an incurable…
WATCH THE TRAILER
The Connection
ABOUT THE FILM The Connection is a feature documentary that uncovers the latest science in mind body medicine and proves we have much more to say a…
WATCH THE TRAILER
The Whole Health Life
“In The Whole Health Life Shannon Harvey writes with real heart, relentless honesty, journalistic insight and broad understanding. On top of all th…