I've been reading (but not doing exercises yet) from Personal Development for Smart People, or the blog of Stev Pavlina.

I've been looking over the articles, and they are pretty good!

What he is doing, is a big part of what Integral Practice is about, from my perspective (Except for the weird sleeping thing) .  You would simply add an effective spiritual practice and community.

So, what's the problem with Steve, or with the Tony Robbinses of the world? 

The biggest issue of course, is that the "successes" are shouted to the rooftops, while the vast majority of "failures", slink back to their own lives, ashamed to not live up to their goals.  And in the case of Tony Robbins (and others) probably 3 grand lighter in the wallet as well.  (This isn't the case for Steve Pavlina, from what I can tell.  He offers a lot of his perspectives and practice, "open source", as it were, without a 3 grand seminar to attend.  All praises!)

What's the solution to this? 

Well - it will take another post, but I do have an interesting idea and I will post it later.

Time Magazine does an article about the recent flurry of meditation-related research.

Some great stuff here - bullet points -

a. One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory.  (I've blogged on this before).
b. Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the (tibetan) monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness.
c. Meditation restores energy better than sleep or rest.
d. Meditation benefits emotional intelligence.

Thanks to Mind Hacks.