Although you know full well that there is no electricity, although you are performing lots of actions purely because of the fact that there is no electricity, although you are totally geared up to dealing with that fact, habit is stronger. Your hand just reaches for the switch as you come in the door.

I have just returned from the UK to my house in rural Poland and it is traditionally time for me to moan about the lack of colour. But sometimes this blanket whiteness makes a space and a silence in which I can hear all kinds of things…

I remember first learning meditation practice, as a somewhat distracted and giggly student. The leader of the session said that “the great thing about your breathing is that it’s always with you, you even take it with you on the bus!” I was sorely challenged in my attempt to keep a straight face. It was funny but it was true, it was funny because it was true.

New neuroscientific research claims to be the first evidence that actual changes in brain structure are associated with meditation: a thicker cerebral cortex in areas involved with attention and sensory processing, including the prefrontal cortex, used for planning complicated cognitive behaviours.

Meditation is not about going blank, being emptied of thoughts and desires, and going round with a vacant smile. Meditation is about being aware, awake, being present with your mind.