When I was in my thirties I began to meditate. Most of my friends were doing it, so I thought I would try. I became addicted to my practice and progressed to a point that I was meditating daily for periods as long as three hours during one sitting. I was also becoming pretty full of myself and had a kind of spiritual arrogance at the same time. Now as I look back, I think I approached meditation in the same way I did any competitive sport. My efforts were about being the best I could be, the one with the most endurance and greatest success.

The power of meditation can no longer be in any doubt by even the most sceptical of sceptics. Details of a scientific experiment conducted at the Max Plank Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig Germany were published recently…. The experiment looked at how three meditation techniques affected the brains and bodies of more than 300 volunteers over nine months.

Mindfulness Matters! For celebrities, for kids, and for you! In a recent article for AARP, Goldie Hawn discussed how mindfulness and meditation, (something she’s been practicing since the 70’s), have impacted her life. She writes: “In 2003, I established the Hawn Foundation to help children create greater brain health through mindfulness practices… . Through our MindUP program in schools, we’ve demonstrated that if students take two minutes for a brain break three times a day, optimism in the classroom goes up almost 80 percent. On the playground, aggression goes down about 30 percent.”

Much like the benefits of meditation, the quiet wisdom of Mindfulness for Parents sneaks up on you. Amber Hatch has captured perfectly the pitfalls of parenting and the remarkable equanimity that can be achieved by practicing compassion, loving kindness and mindfulness. Whether you are new to parenting, new to meditation, or both – you will reap the benefits of Hatch’s insights and practical advice.

In this year of so many shootings, riots and negative images of police officers, it’s heartening to share stories of police men and women who are making a difference and trying new things to help the public and themselves. In Peel, Canada, police and trainees are learning to meditate (video) to reduce stress, and attending classes in mindfulness and Buddhist philosophy at a nearby temple. As reported in The Huffington Post, the event is expected to be the first of many future classes and will include future sessions with the Ontario Provincial Police and the Peel Paramedics. In a country where the charismatic Prime Minster, Justin Trudeau, is known to embrace yoga and meditation, there has been a groundswell of support for these methods.

Centuries ago, yogis discovered that through the use of meditation and yoga practices, they were able to address physical, mental and spiritual imbalances that were arising in themselves. Many yogis maintained perfect health on all levels. The sacred knowledge of yoga has been passed down from guru to disciple for centuries and is growing rapidly in popularity in western society as people turn to yoga for answers to their medical and mental concerns. Ancient yogic techniques can be used in a fresh approach to living, as they address many of the problems that we all face in our daily lives.