Mindfulness Meditation Stress Reduction program

It is said to boost performance and wellbeing, decrease anxiety, depression and chronic fatigue, and have beneficial effects on conditions ranging from chronic pain and fibromyalgia to psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and even cancer. But it's not a futuristic wonder drug - it's an ancient Buddhist discipline gaining increased acceptance in mainstream medicine.

With her colleague Dr Andrew Baillie, Khong has launched a research interest group at Macquarie University's Department of Psychology.

"Our idea is to provide a resource and dialogue for everyone working in this area, not just at Macquarie," she says. "I'm interested in how people use mindfulness in their daily lives [not just in the treatment of disease]. We have enough research to know that it helps performance and wellbeing. I want to know how it helps. Is it just stress reduction or something else?"

Meditation mainly affects stress responses. The theory goes that by mediating the stress response you can affect the course of stress-related diseases.

People react to stress differently, depending on their frame of mind. Some continually ruminate or stew over issues, as is common in depression and anxiety. This adds to stress levels. If that cycle can be broken, stress will be reduced.

With mindfulness, instead of reacting to thoughts, emotions and sensations such as pain, the aim is to observe them objectively as they come and go, aware that they are continually changing and will pass.

"Say, for example, you experience anger. You see it come up so you label it: you say, 'There is anger; if I make space for it, if I don't get attached to it, the feeling of anger will dissipate,' " Khong says.