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 moment," he said.
The clinical trial participants, 178 full-time workers, practised twice daily at home, for 10 to 20 minutes over eight weeks.
The improvements for mood and depression were twice as high for those practising ''mental silence'' compared to the ''relaxation'' and placebo groups.
''We've done other published studies where, when you teach people relaxation, they feel better, but there's no change in disease, but when you teach mental silence approach, they felt twice as better but also saw significant changes in indicators with disease," Dr Manocha said.
He stressed this was not the case for everyone, but many people had told him their symptoms had improved.
This might be the case for Toni Martelli, 33, who took part in the trial. She believes the benign lump on her throat has shrunk by half since adopting mental silence and an alternative medicine approach.
"I started my own drama school this year and the lump appeared this year - I think it was from stress and feeling overwhelmed," Miss Martelli said.
She found it hard to empty her mind of thoughts, but said it gets easier with practice.
"You always walk away with something and if you're going through a stressful time, it's almost like a different point of view to your problem because you detach yourself," she said.
A Lifeline poll reveals that stress levels are rising, with 93 per cent of Australians under strain at a rate that could create serious illness. .
Workplace stress costs the economy $15 billion a year. Sydney University runs a non-profit program teaching workers and students meditation during classes over four weeks, with about 10 large companies involved over the past few years.
Dr Manocha said people could meditate free using such websites as freemeditation.com.au.
