It is a stressful time for university students who are in the middle of writing final exams but now a little relief can be found on campus.

Staff at the University of Calgary’s Wellness Centre say students are all feeling the pressure of finals and dealing with the holiday season.

To help students cope, they have converted a dance studio in the Kinesiology Department on campus into a stress free zone.

The overhead lights are turned off and soothing music is played and a labyrinth is laid out in the middle of the floor for walking meditation.

“Sometimes they don’t even need …

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Tralee Pearce: I haven’t studied enough. I’m going to fail the test. My mom’s going to be mad. Maybe I’ll skip class.

Thoughts like these can quickly gallop out of control in kids’ minds, but what if there was a way they could clear them away? Enter the three-minute breathing meditation, which can be done anywhere, whether it’s on the bus or in a school hallway.

It’s one of the cornerstones of the increasingly popular practice of mindfulness, a blend of Buddhism-inspired calm and cognitive-behavioural therapy. Used as a therapy for adults for about 30 years, it’s now moving into the world of kids …

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Denise Ryan: Gabrielle Bernstein wants to talk about your soul. Maybe even to save it. She wears five-inch heels, an electric-blue, strapless silk dress and one priceless accessory: a glow so radiant it is almost incandescent.

On a rainy Vancouver night, several hundred young women – and one man – have turned up to hear the New York Times bestselling author of Spirit Junkie speak about her journey from hot mess to cool guru.

A glitz-addicted, coke-snorting Manhattan club promoter in thousand-dollar shoes whose holy grail was access to the VIP room, Bernstein was physically, emotionally and spiritually gutted by the time she hit 25.

She …

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Charlie Smith: Yesterday’s Occupy Vancouver demonstration differed significantly from most protests held in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

One of the most striking aspects was the lack of any hierarchy. The event opened with a speech outlining how people could give their consent for various activities. Later, I observed the crowd being asked if it would prefer to hear more speeches or go on a march through downtown Vancouver.

The unions, for the most part, remained at the back of the crowd, along with the Communists and groups like No One is Illegal. And tucked away on the northwest corner of the site…

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Louise Brown: They come to the guidance counsellor with headaches and tears and insomnia and nerves and grades dragged down by the expectations that weigh on their teenaged shoulders.

In one of the most academically high-octane schools in Canada, the epidemic of student stress reported by one in three Ontario students has reached a point staff no longer can ignore.

Concerned at the growing number of students diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety disorders — and more who seem headed that way, especially in Grade 9 — North Toronto Collegiate has launched an unusual program to teach teens how to handle the stress thrust on them… Read the rest of this article…

As yoga gains ground, more and more people are practicing on their own

There are so many types of yoga now on offer that you can choose a practice entirely based on your sensibilities, such as bikram if you like it hot, ashtanga if you like it more physical, kundalini if you’re interested in breathing alignment, or kripalu, which adds meditation.

As more people, young and old, take up yoga for good health, suppleness and sometimes for enlightenment, they often discover that they want more than a yoga class a few times a week.

They look for a favourite spot at home where they can complete the daily yoga ritual, a place …

Stressed-out employees at Justice Canada in Ottawa will soon be able to seek relief in a taxpayer-funded program that uses the Buddhist concept of mindfulness to help them cope with personal and workplace pressures.

The department invited bids last week for two nine-week “mindfulness-based stress reduction” sessions designed to help up to 40 public servants “learn to relate more consciously and compassionately to the challenges of work and personal life.”

According to Justice Canada’s request for proposals, the program will help employees “deal more effectively with difficult thought and emotions that can keep you feeling stuck in everyday life.

“The practice of mindfulness can support you to work with and understand the …

Yoga, the ancient practice of breathing, movement and meditation, is thriving in Montreal. In fact, there are so many types of yoga now on offer that you can choose a practice entirely based on your sensibilities, such as bikram if you like it hot, ashtanga if you like it more physical, kundalini if you’re interested in breathing alignment, or kripalu, which adds meditation.

As more people, young and old, take up yoga for good health, suppleness and sometimes for enlightenment, they often discover that they want more than a yoga class a few times a week.

They look for a favourite spot at home where they can complete the …

Tim Ward, author of What the Buddha Never Taught, says young adults should spend time learning what is meaningful to them alone

If you’re looking for the meaning of life, you’ll benefit from seeking it out yourself, said author Tim Ward, who spent time in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand in the 1980s.

“I think it’s really valuable for everybody, preferably in their 20s, to really come up against the question, ‘Where does meaning reside,’ ” Ward said. “I think that there is an answer, and that is that part of what it is to be human is to generate meaning.

Ward wrote about his experiences in What the Buddha Never Taught, which …

While it may be difficult to get the little ones sit still, Ryoko Donald is teaching students at Kitchener Elementary yoga and meditation.

“I just love helping children. They’re amazing,” Donald said. “It’s such a pleasure to work with the little kids.”

Every Wednesday, Donald holds a drop-in yoga session at Kitchener where her two children attend school.

Usually about 30 to 40 students show up for the half-hour sessions in the gym. Donald said the meditation part can be difficult with kids.

“They smile, they laugh, they try to talk, but I think we just have to keep it short,” she said.

The sessions help the students strengthen their muscles while calming their …