ROCHESTER — At 5:30 Monday evening, the sun was setting, and from the hills of Assisi Heights, rush-hour cars snaked down the highway, looking like marching ants. About a dozen people gathered in a basement in Assisi Heights to meditate.
The group sat in a circle around a small Bluetooth speaker that played a 22-minute guided meditation narrated by psychologist and meditation instructor Tara Black. A few people sat cross-legged on wicker chairs, while others had their feet on the floor and their hands in their laps.
Black’s voice began with a body scan, calling listeners’ attention to any tension in the forehead, shoulders, pelvis, or legs. The room was silent, save for the occasional deep breath, between Black’s words.
As Black rang the bell to bid them farewell, people’s eyes fluttered open and the quiet room slowly turned into a center of conversation.
“(Monday’s group) really grew because of the pandemic,” said Mike Austin, co-director of Rochester Meditation Society. “Of course, no one was meeting in person, and people were wondering if there was a way to meet in person somehow. ” he said. center. “It started outdoors during the summer at Cascade Lake Park.”
Monday’s meetup, still held in the warmer climate of Cascade Lakes, is one of three meditation meetings the Rochester Meditation Center currently holds each week. Founded in 2004, the center began as a project of Doug McGill, who led meditation meetings and retreats at his parents’ home in Rochester.
But in recent years, as McGill moved on to other jobs, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and RMC became a nonprofit, the group’s advocacy efforts have shifted to meditating with others. We have adapted based on this desire.
“I started meditating in 2005,” said former RMC board member Susan Kimball. “It was mainly about trying to find a way to live a life that would help sustain me amidst the challenges I was facing.”
Although there are many different techniques and philosophies of meditation, meditation is often the practice of quieting your thoughts in order to achieve a calm state of mind. Introspective practice is spiritual in Buddhism and Hinduism and is associated with reducing anxiety and stress.
“My favorite image is probably a pond with muddy water that’s been stirred,” Austin said. “But when you calm down, everything calms down, and then you can see clearly. And when you can see clearly, sometimes you see things you didn’t realize.”
Austin says people often try meditation when faced with difficult situations or when they feel restless.
“You wake up, you go to work, you come home, you do this, you do that, and you just feel restless,” Austin said. “There’s a lot of restlessness in our culture. People who talk to me say, “I can’t sleep,” or “I can’t stand being quiet.”
Austin said meditation has become well-known in the United States in the past few years, particularly with Mindful, a secular, mental-health-focused meditation technique pioneered by American scientist Jon Kabat-Zinn. He said meditation has become more well-known due to the popularity of NES-based stress reduction.
“There are factors that reduce stress,” Austin said. “I realized that I had a strong desire to be kinder, more generous, and more compassionate.”
“We practice loving-kindness,” added Paula Smith, RMC’s other co-director. “It’s loving kindness towards yourself, your dearest friends, your peers, the people in your life, and even strangers. Rather than being hard on yourself, be like your own best friend.” We are starting to deal with it.”
For Mary Conway, who has been attending meditation groups for about 10 years, their focus on developing a compassionate mindset complements her Christian faith.
“This is compassion. I’m doing the best I can in this moment, in this moment, and that’s OK, that’s OK,” Conway said. “It affects other aspects of my life, from eating to sleeping to socializing.”
“We know it helps improve blood pressure,” Smith added.
Although meditation is self-focused and can be done alone, meditating in community with others is a practice rooted in Buddhism, Austin said. He remembered the words of Rick Plunkett, a late participant. “We all practice alone together.”
“You’re taught about taking refuge in the Buddha…and you’re taught about taking refuge in the sangha, the community of people who walk this path, and mutual support,” Austin said.
This community, like many others, transitioned to Zoom calls during the COVID-19 pandemic. The center is currently hosting fully online meditation sessions on Thursdays, and groups on Sundays meet via Zoom or in person at Uptown Pilates inside the Miracle Mile Shopping Center.
“When you meditate together as a group, that’s the beginning of the whole process,” Kimball said. “I just felt the energy, and when I went up to the Plateau of Assisi…I was practicing qigong, which is a very moving method, and animals came out, and a lot of people had cats on Zoom. There is power in that because the animals feel it.”
For Kimball, practicing meditation has helped her become more in tune with her mental health and her needs.
“When I wake up in the morning, I know where I am and what I need,” she said. “Do I feel anxious? Do I feel stressed? Do I need self-compassion? … Choose what color you want to wear (guided meditation).
