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Mind body spirit
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  • A tattooed Swedish priest has more than 32,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts videos of himself lifting weights and hands out spiritual advice
  • ‘We need to find ways for the church to come to meet people,’ he says of why he shares his faith online. ‘And where are the people? They are on social media’

Mindfulness is becoming increasingly popular in China as the stresses of daily life mean more people are looking for avenues to find moments of calm in their day.

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More seek spiritual guidance to cope with job losses, travel restrictions and decline in mental health two years into the Covid-19 pandemic and with no end in sight.

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Purposefully doing nothing, embodied by the Dutch word ‘niksen’, can lead to more creative thoughts and ideas, and help in de-stressing, experts say – though not everyone agrees.

Repeatedly raped and beaten as a child, Damien Rider sought refuge in drugs, and had attempted suicide four times by his 30s. He took up endurance sports, and surviving a dangerous solo paddle board trip was to prove transformational.

To break the stigma surrounding mental health, social enterprise Storytaler sets up webinars and workshops in which volunteers share their experiences with mental health issues. The process is therapeutic for both storytellers and listeners.

Paramahansa Yogananda arrived in Los Angeles, one of the world’s most religiously diverse places, in 1920 and founded the Self-Realisation Fellowship to teach the science of yoga. The Beatles and Steve Jobs became fans.

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While Covid-19 is wreaking havoc in the global tourism industry, one silver lining to the pandemic could be a shift towards more meaningful travel.

South Korea’s answer to culinary tourism, temple food, is made from home-made, meatless ingredients and locally-sourced vegetables, and is used to practise Buddhism