Mindfulness and meditation
![Close-up of an old painting showing a man’s face in profile with visible crackling in the paint surface.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/a20b7534-f0ab-4a79-a6d6-5fe6fd34a8de/gettyimages-132705158.jpeg?top=510&left=0&cropWidth=5440&cropHeight=3060&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Consciousness
idea
What happens to the brain during consciousness-ending meditation?
Psychologists are studying a form of meditation known as ‘nirodha-samāpatti’ that reportedly ceases all mental function
by Shayla Love
![Photo of a person with closed eyes and hands clasped, appearing thoughtful or in prayer, set against a dim background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/230ed8a7-58ed-4f03-8a52-093f2d7c3ba3/gettyimages-1252671705.jpeg?top=297&left=0&cropWidth=5696&cropHeight=3204&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Spirituality and religion
idea
Spirituality is a brain state we can all reach, religious or not
Neuroscience shows that spiritual experiences are correlated with brain states that we can all aim for, religious or not
by Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
![A window with light streaming through sheer curtains, partially covered by a red curtain tied back with a rope tie.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/383ddc60-786f-4d3e-a926-5e34e1647a70/original.jpg?top=0&left=0&cropWidth=1800&cropHeight=1800&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
guide
How to find your mindfulness
With so many approaches to mindfulness, it can be difficult to know where to start. Explore these methods to find what suits you
by Gill Johnson & Willem Kuyken
![A knitted grey toy mouse holds a needle and repairs its own dress. Three balls of yarn lie nearby, alongside a small blue open book.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3c1bf35e-c897-4ab4-9833-fcb77a47c43d/visible-mending-landscape-1.jpg?top=21&left=0&cropWidth=2000&cropHeight=1125&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Pleasures and pastimes
film
A whimsical ode to the reparative power of knitting, rendered in wool
Directed by Samantha Moore
![Ancient painting of two figures under a pine tree with mountains in the background, in traditional East Asian style.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8aa0df40-0b38-46ca-bdb2-3ea550136a53/dp154090.jpeg?top=1268&left=590&cropWidth=2384&cropHeight=1341&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Transcendent experience
idea
To experience Zen-like awakening, try going the headless way
Try to point to your true self as you’d point to a brick wall, and other experiments in Zen-like awakening
by Brentyn J Ramm
![Photo of school assembly with pupils in uniform, many faces blurred. One student is in focus in the centre of the image.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/c891fafa-da9d-4792-9030-de58164f5b3f/panos_00199575.jpg?top=0&left=8&cropWidth=4992&cropHeight=2808&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
idea
It’s time to hear what adolescents think of mindfulness in schools
Mindfulness for adolescents backfires when it imposes moral ideals, stirs up trauma, or fails to treat young people as agents
by Elena Hailwood, William Wannyn & Suparna Choudhury
![Painting of a man relaxing against a large leafy tree in a grassy field.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/8ae10304-6e6c-4482-a102-538637aeea9b/paper_zhuangzi_11.jpg?top=0&left=133&cropWidth=1536&cropHeight=1536&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Meaning and the good life
guide
How to be useless
Follow the Daoist way – reclaim your life and happiness by letting go of the need to produce, strive or serve a purpose
by Helen De Cruz & Pauline Lee
![Painting of two musicians standing by bare trees in a snowy landscape with two distant figures and a city skyline in the background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/2df6f182-8885-4236-aa46-12d56d88851f/original.png?top=10&left=0&cropWidth=992&cropHeight=558&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
film
Everyone is waiting, watching. What for remains captivatingly unclear
Directed by Michelle Kranot & Uri Kranot
![Photo of hands nervously fidgeting with fingers in focus, soft background of dark jeans visible.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/bde1fba8-7d05-4065-8b48-9f96201e87f3/gettyimages-560516953.jpeg?top=203&left=0&cropWidth=3888&cropHeight=2187&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Worry and rumination
idea
Here’s how to take back your life from long-term worrying
Long after they’ve gone, stressors can cause harm to your health. These psychological techniques offer a powerful defence
by Dane McCarrick & Daryl O’Connor
![Photo of a small Buddha statue sitting on a large green leaf with a soft blurred background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/fe422f4f-a865-466f-b87a-a208bbedb458/samuel-austin-0tta6cewpr8-unsplash.jpeg?top=318&left=302&cropWidth=2528&cropHeight=1422&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
idea
Modern mindfulness meditation has lost its beating communal heart
Ancestral blessings in meditation are not premodern residue. Attachment theory suggests they’re vital for compassion
by Paul Condon & John Makransky
![Photo of a lone tree in a lake with mountains in the background, under a cloudy sky.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/5f728af7-b162-4446-8987-25a4927fdf61/gettyimages-1346054926.jpeg?top=166&left=0&cropWidth=3951&cropHeight=3951&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
guide
How to think like a phenomenologist
Doing Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological reduction will transform your view of the world and your own consciousness
by D J Hobbs
![Illustration of legs immersed in water, with the lower half submerged, showing blue hues and ripples on the surface.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/6e156052-3dda-4be9-b664-472ce710a7ce/original.jpg?top=21&left=0&cropWidth=2000&cropHeight=1125&width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Mindfulness and meditation
film
A leaf, a bird and a fisherman animate Heraclitus’ aphorism on flux
A film by Michelle Brand