A SERIES of classes designed to help residents attain happiness through meditation will be available in Chester in the new year.

Odiyana Buddhist Centre is set to run a ten-week course based on the widely renowned book 8 Verses of Training the Mind at Hoole Community Centre, beginning at 7.30pm on January 8 and continuing through to March 11.

8 Verses of Training the Mind was composed in the 11th century and Odiyana Buddhist Centre say that the text, together with learning the technique of meditation, can show attendees where to find "real happiness" and is "just as relevant" to modern day England as it was to 11th century Tibet.

A spokesperson for the charity said: "Happiness is a state of mind. We cannot make ourselves happy by accumulating possessions, watching TV or continuously making changes in our life. People have tried this approach year after year, generation after generation and it has never worked. There are more and more depressed people about than ever. Stress and anxiety are reaching epidemic proportions.

"Buddha said that we should check whether our actions lead to the results we expect. If we did this we would be forced to conclude that they don’t. We engage in actions that we expect to lead to happiness and when they don’t we just do them again and again and again and are surprised when they don’t make us happy.

"For example, we expect that buying a new car will make us happy. We buy one and feel excited for a few days then we are back in the same position as we were before – needy and discontented, so then we look for something else to buy and the cycle continues.

"If we are logical we must realise that we need a different approach in our search for happiness. Pieces of plastic and metal cannot make us happiness. Our happiness needs to come from within our minds. We can’t rely on external objects for our happiness, we need to learn to cultivate happy states of mind for ourself."

Each class comprises 2 meditations, a talk and discussion over tea and biscuits.

For further information about the upcoming classes, visit: www.meditationincheshire.org.