In the beautiful landscape of the Eastern Townships no less than one hundred and fifty Raelians and supporters gathered for the long weekend of Thanksgiving at the Auberge du Manoir des Sables, offering a wonderful view on the impressive ski hill of Mont Orford. One hundred and fifty people driven by a desire to change the world! But changing the world must begin by changing oneself, and one of the most powerful tools for a real transformation is meditation. The theme of the seminar was to set the tone: "Meditation, one of the keys to happiness".

During the past year, the Raelians launched different actions that reflected their philosophy with the goal to change attitudes: Go Topless, Paradism, ProSwastika, Meditating One minute for Peace, and many others. It is essential that those involved in these actions be driven by high values​​ in harmony with the "messenger" and the "message". The Happiness Academy could somehow be seen as a training camp for happiness through the practice of various meditation exercises. This year’s edition was focused on the importance of returning to the basics, because when practicing meditation for several years, one of the biggest challenges for practitioners is not to fall into an "automatic" mode. During this weekend of introspection, beginning by a day of food fasting, the Priest Guides and Bishop Guides of the Raelian Church invited the participants into various workshops developing self-esteem and self-love. Everyone did this inner journey to revisit the three plans that shape human beings: the philosophical plan, the sexual and emotional plan as well as the professional plan.


Each day began by a video where Maitreya Rael conveyed his teachings with delightful humor and an unequivocal precision on the matter. In these videos recorded during a seminar in Taiwan, he was also seen in a preamble, in silence for several minutes, religiously in meditation, to finally speak on the importance of silence in the awakening process; a silence unfortunately often absent from our busy lives.

And as the Raelian religion is science, many scientists among the speakers shared their knowledge.
Nathalie Salois probes the attendants with the most surprising and recent advances in the understanding of epigenetics. Dr. Marc Rivard spoke several times to demystify some fashions in the field of diet and "alternative" medicine.
The planetary leader for teaching in the Raelian philosophy, Daniel Chabot, brilliantly conveyed his understanding of human psychology mentioning, amongst other things, a fascinating study conducted by researchers from the Douglas Hospital about self-esteem.

Three days may not be enough to change the world, but in these three busy days at the Canadian Happiness Academy it just may have allowed some participants to return to their hectic daily lives, lightened up by a new flame, and having collected the tools that will enable them to grow and become whom they've always wanted to be.