Tom Cronin is the co-founder of Science of Stillness , an online meditation program designed to help people from all over the world achieve a life of happiness, health and abundance.
The team behind Science of Stillness is rapidly expanding and has now launched OneLife Retreats , kicking off at the luxurious Bali spa retreat Bagus Jati in May. The retreats incorporate the world-first technique taught in Science of Stillness called Stillness Sessions, and are designed to detox and rebalance the body and mind. We spoke to Tom about how meditation can reduce the effects of stress.
How did you manage to escape the stress treadmill?
Stress is a response to a situation or demand. For me personally, I was having very stressful responses to the daily demands of life until I discovered a technique of sitting in 'Stillness', using 'Stillness Sounds'. It was so simple and easy; I found my life instantly changed. All I had to do was sit quietly in a chair for 20 minutes twice a day and repeat this sound in my head.

GALLERY: Zen celebs: Famous people who meditate

What are your top three tips to beat stress that anyone could start doing today? 
Go to bed by 10pm, eliminate caffeine and alcohol, and sit in Stillness twice a day.
Why is stress so damaging? How can we overcome something that happens to most of us daily? 
When we are stressed it changes the way we see and feel about the world. It also creates a disorder in our body and as Dr Bruce Lipton of Stanford Medical School says, stress is the cause of 95% of all sickness. The best prevention for stress is Stillness Sessions. People will feel the difference immediately on a daily basis.
Some health experts say stress is a habit for many people. How can people really change their negative habits in a long lasting and meaningful way? 
Habits stem from deep conditioning and programming throughout our life from the moment we are born. It's like software programming that gets installed into us through family, friends, media or colleagues.
When we transcend this dogma in Stillness Sessions we get the full benefits of The Stillness Effect; freedom from those habits so we can operate in an unconditioned manner.
Why is change so difficult? 
It's difficult because of the programming of the mind and the lack of willingness to freely live our truth out of fear of public perception. We are operating from deep conditioning which you need to free yourself from.
How is nutrition linked to happiness? 
This is a very relevant question in today's society. Toxic foods deplete our systems and leave us feeling lethargic and flat. If we eat more live foods, like vegetables and soaked nuts and seeds we feel energised and lighter. I try to be sugar, dairy, yeast, wheat and gluten free. If you are a meat eater, eat grass fed and avoid feed-lot, hormone and anti-biotic fed animals.
What are your top tips to change eating habits? 
[I believe] a lot of our poor eating habits revolve around being low on energy, lacking inner love and a yearning for fulfilment. I really have one tip for changing your eating habits: Stillness Sessions [meditating]. Once you find inner love, inner peace and inner fulfilment, that craving for sugary, fatty, unhealthy food will just dissolve. Connecting with your body and feeling love for yourself makes it difficult to trash it and put toxic food into it.
Why do people binge and how can they change that? 
Bingeing is a function of lack of self-love. They are experiencing an emptiness and disconnection to their heart centre. Theirs is a yearning to feel something, to fill up that inner void. We need to reconnect to our heart centre and build up our self-love.
What advice do you have for people who work in an office environment and struggle with stress and poor eating? 
Find time to separate yourself from the fluoro lighting, the air conditioning, the computers and the coarse energy of office environments. In your lunch break, step outside, find a park and spend time in nature. Stretch regularly at your desk. Sit in stillness before and after work to settle your energetic state down.
For more information on the online meditation course visit www.scienceofstillness.com. For more information on OneLife retreats visit www.oneliferetreats.net