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Blog — neuroscience

Surprising Truth: Meditation Hasn't Made Me Happier

Shannon Harvey

I looked at the older, bald, robed man across from me and thought, whatever he’s on, I want some. I was interviewing Matthieu Ricard, the renowned Buddhist monk who normally lives in a monastery in Nepal but was in Australia as a keynote speaker at the Happiness and Its Causes Conference. It was eight in the evening and the 71-year-old was on his fourth and final day of a whirlwind tour. Starting in 2004, neuroscientists performed a series of seminal brain scans on Ricard and the popular media started calling him the happiest man on earth. As we prepared for... Read full article »


CAN WE CHANGE OUR EMOTIONAL TENDENCIES?

Shannon Harvey

There’s a particular person in my life who is always unhappy. No matter what good things come their way, they always find a reason to be negative. As a person who tends towards the sunny side of life I often feel frustrated when I’m around this person. I want them to be different. I want them see the good in the world. I want them to appreciate what they do have instead of focusing on what they don’t have. Lately, I’ve found myself avoiding them because no matter what I do or say, they won’t change. This got me thinking... Read full article »


How to change your brain’s stress response

Shannon Harvey

I’d like to tell you the story of an apprehensive pack of lab rodents that have been able to teach us something profound about stress. If you’ve seen my film The Connection you will have heard a little about these animals, which were studied by scientists at the National Centre for Biological Sciences.   In a series of studies, the Indian researchers took lab rats and restrained them for two hours a day, for ten days to stress them out. The scientists observed that the animals started acting anxiously even when they weren’t being constrained. When they were placed in... Read full article »

My Year of Living Mindfully (Book)

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? In a world-first experiment, journalist Shannon Harvey recruited a team of scientists to put mindful meditation to the test. But what began as a year-long self-experiment soon became a life-changing experience..

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My Year Of Living Mindfully (Documentary)

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The Connection: Mind Your Body (Documentary)

The Connection is a feature documentary that uncovers the latest science in mind body medicine and proves we have much more to say about our health than we thought possible.

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The Whole Health Life (Book)

This is a guidebook for anyone who wants to get healthy, find balance, and live better.

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