Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 12, 2012, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C1 1522 Regent Ave. W. 586- 8021 www. thefishinhole. com Mon- Wed 9am - 6pm Thurs- Fri 9am - 9pm Sat 9am - 6pm Sun 12pm - 5pm 100% CANADIAN OWNED SINCE 1975 Father's Day SALE! June 10th- 17th ARTS & LIFE arts@ freepress. mb. ca I WINNIPEGFREEPRESS. COM I SHOWBITS C3 I HOROSCOPE C4 I MOVIES C2 TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012 C 1 F OR the first time in his 15- yearcareer, Winnipeg illusionist Darcy Oake will literally be playing with reality. He'll hang by his ankles five metres above the ground, bound by a straitjacket. Reality will be waiting - with giant metal jaws held open by a piece of burning rope - to devour him if he doesn't get out in time. " It's a race- against- time type of effect," says Oake, 24, who will perform the stunt at three shows at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre this Thursday and Friday. Escaping Reality is his first fullscale solo show in his hometown. It's also a benefit to raise money and awareness for the Bruce Oake Memorial Fund. The magician's older brother and only sibling didn't escape from his own deadly trap of addiction. The eldest son of Winnipeg- based CBC sportscaster Scott Oake and his wife Anne, a nurse, died in Calgary of a drug overdose on March 28, 2011, at the age of 25. The former Canada Games boxer was one of 36,000 people who died from an overdose in North America that year. " This is what brings me closure, doing stuff to keep his legacy going," says Darcy, sitting in the cluttered Exchange District warehouse space where he's been testing the jaws prop ( which looks like something out of the Saw movies). Bruce, older by two years, was his best friend. And while he may have been a hard- core addict, his brother says, he was also an athlete and a musician who grew up in the suburbs with a loving and supportive family who did everything they could to pull him back from the abyss. " Addiction is not reserved for lower- class people. It has no prejudice," says Darcy, whose right arm and shoulder is a tattooed shrine to his sibling. There's a line from one of Bruce's songs, the dates of his birth and his death, the letter B, and a guardian angel. " When you're an addict, your day, your whole life revolves around when you're going to get your next fix." CAROLIN VESELY Escaping Reality, embracing reality Local illusionist Darcy Oake raising money, awareness of devastating addictions after losing his big brother Grim statistics . 36,000 North Americans died of a drug overdose in 2011 . In 2002, more than 600,000 Canadians were dependent on alcohol and nearly 200,000 on illicit drugs. . 70 per cent of homeless people have or have had serious abuse problems. Substance abuse often leads to homelessness and homelessness often leads to substance abuse. It can be a vicious cycle. . Addictions Foundation Manitoba ( AFM, www. afm. mb. ca) has 23 offices across the province and two residential facilities in Winnipeg - a 36- bed men's facility and one with 12 beds for women. . In 2011, AFM provided service to 10,109 clients in residential and community and school- based programs. . 5,245 Manitobans ( less than one per cent) reported illicit drug dependence in the 2002 Canadian Community Health Survey, 30,733 ( 3.6 per cent) have a high probability of alcohol dependence, with an additional 66,781 ( 7.7 per cent) with indications of alcohol dependence ( Sources: SimonHouse. com, Statistics Canada, Addictions Foundation Manitoba) Pre view Escaping Reality, with illusionist Darcy Oake . Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre . Thursday, 7 p. m. and Friday, 7 p. m. and 9 p. m. . Tickets $ 29.95 through Ticketmaster MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Darcy Oake ( above and top) faces metal jaws to raise funds for an alcohol and drug recovery centre in Winnipeg. Continued Please see ESCAPING C 4 C OLUMBUS, Ohio - The impact of a form of meditation known as " mindfulness" is growing. It's being used by U. S. Marines, tech geeks at Google, and prison inmates. An Ohio congressman, Tim Ryan, is pushing for its wider use in U. S. schools and hospitals, and in Washington. As mindfulness practice spreads, critics wonder whether it's simply traditional Buddhist meditation repackaged and commercialized for a secular audience. Its champions say the physical benefits are proven by a growing body of brain science. Studies show mindfulness practice reduces stress as well as the symptoms of certain diseases and conditions. It involves dwelling on your own breathing, paying attention to areas of the body and experiencing periods of silence in order to concentrate on the present rather than the worries of yesterday and tomorrow. - The Associated Press Mindfulness growing in popularity T ORONTO - New Canadian research suggests fear of the dark may be behind the sleepless nights that some insomniacs experience. The research is preliminary and the scientists say more studies will be needed to gauge how big a problem this is and whether it affects women and men across various age groups. But if they are right, it could be good news for some insomnia sufferers. Phobias like fear of the dark can be successfully treated with cognitive behavioural therapy, said senior author Colleen Carney, director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University in Toronto. " We don't ask about this. We don't assess for this phobia and we don't treat the phobia. And we could," said Carney, who was presenting her team's study Monday at a major sleep medicine conference in Boston. The idea is the result of a couple of threads of thought coming together. Carney said she had noticed a lot of the patients her lab sees sleep with a light on or with a TV or computer on in the bedroom. And she started to remark that some people with insomnia talked about the dark in phobic terms. So the group decided to try to see if there was anything to the idea. But they figured asking insomniacs flat out if they were afraid of the dark wouldn't work. Most people would be too embarrassed to own up to the fear, they felt. So they designed a test to objectively measure whether poor sleepers were more fearful in the dark than good sleepers. As it turned out, quite a few of the 93 participants in the trial did admit to being afraid of the dark - around half of the poor sleepers, in fact. Carney says knowing this is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, as she noted, phobias can be treated. Secondly, a commonly used approach for insomnia may need to be altered - it might actually be making the fear of the dark problem worse, she said. People with sleep problems are told not to stay in bed if they can't fall asleep. It's recommended that they go to another room - a lit room - and read or do some other activity until they become sleepy. " So we are actually facilitating avoidance, which is actually how phobias maintain themselves," she suggested. - The Canadian Press Fear of the dark may trigger insomnia: study SUPPLIED PHOTO C_ 01_ Jun- 12- 12_ FP_ 01. indd C1 6/ 11/ 12 5: 22: 57 PM ;