Reporter Dr. Graham Phillips examines the effects of meditation in his own life, and the medical evidence of how it affects those who practice it. Can meditation literally make your brain younger?

Modern headlines are claiming mindfulness may cure anxiety, depression, and a whole host of other health problems. How can this simple practice of watching your own breath change the way your brain works? And can that change your life? The fourth episode of the series looks at the power of mindfulness and meditation. It examines different kinds on meditation (transcendental, dynamic, and religious) and notes that they are different from mindfulness meditation (Satipatthana). Also it talks to neuroscientists who discuss what happens in the brain during meditation.

With unprecedented access, the film goes deep inside a Zen Buddhist community who have given up all their possessions and signed up to a life of chastity for one common purpose - to transform their suffering, and practice the art of mindfulness with the world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.
Filmed over three years, in their monastery in rural France and on the road in the USA, this visceral film is a meditation on a community grappling with existential questions and the everyday routine of monastic life. As the seasons come and go, the monastics' pursuit for a deeper connection to themselves and the world around them is amplified by insights from Thich Nhat Hanh's early journals, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.