This morning I was beamed in over Skype to talk to about 200 dental students at Tufts Medical School. The future dentists had just watched my documentary, The Connection which is about the science of the mind-body-health connection and their professor had arranged for me to answer their subsequent questions. I’ve lost count of the number of similar Q and As I’ve participated in, so you might think that this would be no big deal. But a question from one of the students really threw me. Bright-eyed and inquisitive, she wanted to know what role spirituality had played in my... Read full article »

Over the weekend I was invited to present at the Australian Meditation Conference to talk about the new documentary I'm working on, My Year of Living Mindfully, which started production eight months ago after I woke up to the fact that I was a stressed-out, overworked mother of two small kids who couldn’t find the time for what I considered to be an essential key to my health and wellbeing – meditation. As I confessed to the audience of psychologists, scientists, healthcare providers, and meditation teachers at the conference, I should have known better. I’m a health journalist with an... Read full article »

In late 2009 I came across a web link that changed my life. On about page 20 of a Google search I stumbled upon an academic paper written by an Australian MD and university professor named Craig Hassed which highlighted the emergence of evidence-based mind-body medicine.At the time I was very sick. I’d been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease four years before and had spent a fortune trying everything that both conventional and alternative medicine had to offer. The paper, which was called “Mind-Body Medicine: Science, Practice and Philosophy,” outlined research linking the brain to the immune system, the importance... Read full article »

I had a very surreal experience last year while travelling in the USA. From the moment a taxi driver dropped me off at an airport terminal to the moment I landed at my next destination, I did not speak to another human. In that time I checked in my luggage, proceeded through security, ordered and ate my lunch, purchased a takeaway cup of tea, shopped for a new paperback, and boarded my flight. I didn’t have a conversation with another human for the five hours that I was in transit because there was no need to have one. Terminal C... Read full article »

The other day I found myself part-way through devouring a freshly baked cookie when a loud voice interrupted my revery. “Shannon Harvey,” it said. “Stop eating that cookie immediately.” The cookie was still warm, sweet, vanillary and delicious, so I ignored the voice. “Shannon,” it persisted, “you do not need the excess sugar and empty calories today. Don’t you have any self-control?” Defiantly, I munched forward, reasoning that the home-made cookie contained some worthy nutritional ingredients. “SHANNON! Do not kid yourself that there is anything healthy about eating a third cookie. You will make yourself sick and miserable.” Half-eaten, I... Read full article »

The assignment was simple enough; practice mindful washing up. It was given to me by my meditation teacher in preparation for my first 10-day silent retreat. In addition to my 45 minute daily sitting meditation practice, I was also supposed to be paying attention mindfully when tackling the grime on my dirty dishes. But the problem was, I couldn’t do it.If you haven’t tried mindfulness meditation you might be wondering what the big deal is. The teacher says wash the dishes. Just wash the dishes. How hard can that be? The problem is, I loathe having to wash dishes. It’s... Read full article »