By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

While Brooksby hums with activity, there is one place where time slows down and mind and body meet: the weekly meditation sessions in the community’s chapel.

For the past six years, Pastoral Ministries Manager Rich Byrne has led participants on journeys to relaxation through various forms of meditation that traverse all faiths.

Finding focus
“If we can slow the mind down, you can become much more aware of the body and what you need,” says Byrne, who admits he, too, struggles to tame his hurried pace. “You can slow yourself down and get out of the muddle and just objectify it.”

Byrne begins the 45-minute afternoon session by introducing a technique. Then he leads the group in meditation practice for as long as 30 minutes. He ends with some discussion, when participants can share their experiences.

“You’re running,” says Irene Houle, who has been meditating at Brooksby since shortly after she moved in two years ago. “This is a time when I’m just going to stop and focus.”

Peaceful feeling
Though there are many ways to meditate, in a recent session Byrne invoked mindfulness meditation, which is centered upon deep breathing in attempts to think in the present and put aside thoughts.

Participants agree emptying one’s mind of thoughts is no easy task, but even with varying levels of success, the experience is often a positive one.

“It’s just a wonderful feeling of peace and calmness that comes over me,” Houle says. “I think that the aura of everybody that’s around you contributes to the same feeling of peace and tranquility that is in that room at the moment.”

That is a calm that transcends differences in faith.

Houle adds: “Meditation is for everyone.”