Over the last two months, America has struggled with its identity concerning racial and religious prejudice, highlighted by a national dialogue over the killings of several unarmed ethnic minorities by police officers. Currently, in relation to the Charlie Hebdo shootings, the world is looking at how society and the individuals within it bring prejudices into their relationships. Much light has been shed in the last decade on the benefits of Buddhist-derived mindfulness meditation and its application in a wide range of mental and physical health conditions. In a timely fashion, on 24 November 2014 researchers at Central Michigan University released the findings of a study on the effects of mindfulness meditation on preconceived out-group bias.

March 21 -- What miracle product gives you happiness, compassion, and perhaps more surprisingly, toned abs, a fulfilling sex life, and a healthy bank balance? The answer will amaze you. It's the same product that connects the Dalai Lama and Rupert Murdoch; meditation.

In various parts of Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the three major Theravada countries, children participate in meditation sessions guided by Buddhist monks and lay masters. A BBC report in 2013 reports that one million children took part in a meditation session at Phra Dhammakaya in Bangkok. In countries and regions where Mahayana Buddhism is practiced, children are also taught meditation by monks and lay teachers. For example, many sessions of meditation for children have been conducted at Wang Fat Ching She and Plum Village in Hong Kong. The number of children participating in these sessions is on the rise.

Stockholm, Sweden -- Raised with evening prayers, Martin became a vegetarian atheist before finding Buddhism. The most common misconception? That he's a monk, or that he has "tricks to not feeling bad".

January 23 - Eyes closed tight, the delegates of the World Economic Forum in Davos have queued devotedly for half an hour for this early morning session.

January 13 - Oh, no. Incense. There’s a juice bar in the lobby and bhangra music playing, too. It feels like I’ve stepped into some kind of space warp. Outside, London. Inside … well, it’s hard to describe. Because, as I step further into the Light Centre, a “natural health” studio offering everything from acupuncture to yoga, it becomes clear that its clientele is as far from the yogurt-knitting crowd as it’s possible to get.

January 02 - Ever been unable to sleep because you can’t switch off that stream of thoughts that seems to flow incessantly, mercilessly through your head?

While mindfulness can be practiced quite well without Buddhism, Buddhism cannot be practiced without mindfulness. In its Buddhist context, mindfulness meditation has three overarching purposes: knowing the mind; training the mind; and freeing the mind.

November 07 -- A spiritual teacher from California leads weekly meditation meeting for students.

When I was moving towards Buddhism, what acted on my imagination was the image of the Buddha, the representation of a human being whose demeanour reflected composure and self-knowledge. It seemed to be the projection of a human possibility, perhaps illusory, but it threw into relief our ordinary human disarray, particularly at first my own. Later I came to find that Buddhist practice was at its most authentic when I sat in meditation alongside others, an incipient sangha (community of practitioners).