Ellen Langer, Yale PhD, is a Harvard Professor of Psychology. Among other honors, she is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and three Distinguished Scientist Awards, the World Congress Award, the NYU Alumni Achievement Award, and the Staats award for Unifying Psychology, and has authored eleven books and over 200 research articles on the illusion of control, perceived control, successful aging, decision-making, to name a few of the topics. Each of these is examined through the lens of her theory of mindfulness. Her research has demonstrated that by actively noticing new things—the essence of mindfulness—health, well being, and competence follow. Her best selling books include Mindfulness; …

Nina Karnikowski escapes the frenzied pace of her everyday life with a meditation, yoga and detox retreat in the hills of Bali.

I’m a chronic multitasker. A restless sleeper. A compulsive mental to-do list compiler. A neurotic over-analyser. Put simply: my head is an exhausting place to be.

People have often told me meditation could help me shush things up top, and I have tried it a couple of times. There was that session a girlfriend convinced me to attend 10 years ago because “the monk running it is so hot” (he was), and those couple of Buddhist meditation classes I did half-heartedly last …

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Sarah Berry, The Age (Australia): What’s the point of being completely silent for three days? You could just be drinking cocktails by the pool.

“You’re doing this for fun?” confused friends ask before I leave. After spending three days in ‘noble silence’ and meditating for 11 hours a day, several people with me on the silent retreat are asking the same question.

At the end of the final day, when the silence is finally broken, one woman admits she spent a fair bit of the time wondering why she hadn’t just “booked into a resort and spent the weekend by the pool, sipping cocktails …

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Lachlan Thompson, Daily Examiner: It was a weekend to reflect and seek inner peace for the parents and children involved in a two-day workshop with the Gyuto Tibetan Buddhist monks in Yamba at the weekend.

“It was fabulous, especially the final evening where the monks performed their famous chanting,” said event organiser Amanda Brightwell.

The monks closed the two-day workshop with their famous Mantra Magic Chant where they use ancient Tibetan mantras to harmonise and create a soothing, meditation tone.

Other events at the workshop included classes on meditation and dealing with depression as well as symbolic craft activities for children. The monks …

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A new study from the University of Sydney is the latest to highlight possible links between meditation and improved mental and physical health.

Rsearchers surveyed 343 long-term Sahaja yoga meditation practitioners and compared their results to the general population.

“We found that the health and wellbeing profile of people who had meditated for at least two years was significantly higher in the majority of health and wellbeing categories when compared to the Australian population,” Sydney Morning Herald quoted research leader Dr Ramesh Manocha, from the university’s psychiatry discipline.

The study highlighted Sahaja yoga meditation as it focuses on achieving “mental silence”, the closest practice to the “log” definition which was found by the researchers in old texts.

Dr Manocha asserted that the study …

Clare Graham: The daily commute to and from work can make anyone stressed.

Especially if you work in Sydney or Newcastle, adding an extra three or so hours to each working day.

And that’s not including lengthy train delays and unexpected track work.

But meditation expert Alison Jose believes she has the perfect way of finding peace within your inner commuter self.

Ms Jose has been meditating for 10 years and a commuter for even longer, so she knows all about the benefits of relaxing the mind and and body every day.

Her new Commuter Meditation Classes are now being …

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Elissa Doherty, Herald Sun: Meditate on this: a Melbourne childcare centre seems to have found a way to keep squirming toddlers still.

There are no “ommms”, but there were a few “umms?” when Kensington Community Children’s Co-Operative introduced meditation and yoga classes.

It is one of a handful of centres in Victoria turning to ancient techniques to help modern children relax.

The lights go out and children as young as three channel their inner zen while listening to world music in a twist on traditional meditation.

If they get too antsy, they could read a book, draw, or spend individual time with…

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Yogis have sworn by it for years, but now there is scientific proof that meditation eases stress and promotes better health.

Meditation triggers change in electrical activity of the brain, improving the mind and body in measurable ways, the latest study on work stress, led by Dr Ramesh Manocha at Sydney University, reveals.

“Within the context of meditation and stress, it’s the largest study in the world … and we’ve applied some rigorous conditions,” Dr Manocha said.

The secret to the success of the study, he said, was the “mental silence” traditional approach used in Sahaja Yoga.

“What authentic techniques should do is show you how to widen space between thoughts until the space is so large you have no thoughts whatsoever in that …

While most people are aware that meditation can help us to relax, a group of University of South Australia researchers hope to prove that a daily dose of meditation can do much more.

They have begun a research project investigating stress responses in people who meditate regularly compared to people who are long-term carers and who do not meditate.

Behavioural neuroscience researcher Dr Maarten Immink says ultimately the project aims to show that meditation reduces stress and that it can have physical as well as mental function benefits for people who live in higher stress situations.

“Previous research has already shown that meditation helps with attention, memory and decision …

Children should meditate, not watch TV.

Dance teacher Nicola Baartse has started the stretch and meditate class for children, five and above.

Recent studies found too much television early in life had adverse affects on education and health. “As a mum, I am passionate about having my kids find a way to destress and learn how to be still sometimes without using the TV as a relaxation device,” she said.

“It helps to slow them down and give them a chance to recuperate after a hectic day.”

The class involves mind-body movement meditation. “We structure the movement with things the children are familiar with like animals and places they’ve been,” Ms Baartse said.

The …