By Noa Glow | January 2012

Meditation isn’t just for monks: if you didn’t know, consider yourself enlightened. Not only can meditation—loosely, any of a number of practices to help you still your mind and reach a heightened level of spiritual awareness—bring serenity to your busy life, various studies have linked it to physical health benefits.

A good place to begin is at the Vancouver Shambhala Meditation Centre, which offers free instruction for first-timers every Wednesday night on Heather Street. As Shambhala International head Sakyong Mipham says: “It seems we all agree that training the body through exercise, diet and relaxation is a good idea, but why don’t we think about training our mind?” vancouver.shambhala.org

From January 23, Vancouver’s Conscious Realization School will hold weekly practice sessions at the YWCA Hotel. Drop in to learn various meditation techniques, from visualization to chanting, free of charge. consciousrealization.com

According to Yoga in Daily Life founder Swami Maheshwarananda, “The essence of…meditation is simple; it is about your happiness.” To that end, his West Broadway centre offers a four-week course to introduce beginners to the benefits of meditation and provide guidance on how to get started with your own home practice. vanyoga.com