When Cynthia Handlen was going through a difficult transition in her life about 10 years ago, she heard a book interview on public radio about destructive emotions and how meditating might help.

She decided to give it a try.

After studying with a Zen Buddhist meditation practitioner in Poland for a year or so, the Gilead resident discovered how simple, yet effective, quiet meditation and mindfulness can be.

Mindfulness is a term, she explained, that means a person is fully present in the moment and is in touch with what’s going on both inside and outside the body.

“To be able to focus on whatever we are doing,” she said. “We practice (meditation) to work on what we have, what is. You do not have to be a Buddhist.”

For almost a year she has been leading several like-minded people on a weekly meditation session through her group, Mountain Heart Sangha. Sangha means group.

“We focus on bringing our practice with us throughout the day to a calm state of being,” Handlen said. “We practice peace, harmony, stability, freedom from attachment to views, to be more tolerant.”

One in her sangha has been with the meditation practice since the beginning. She did not want to give her name because she believes it might harm her professionally.

“I needed some way to quiet my mind,” she said. “It has helped by me stopping and paying attention to breathing and the idea that right now, things are OK,” she said.

Handlen follows the teachings of Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, author of many books on meditation and mindfulness. Now 84, he lives in France, according to the website, www.plumvillage.org.

“He’s about teaching peace,” Handlen said.

Each session starts with the ringing of a bell, to “wake us up,” Handlen said. The Buddha means “the awakened one.” The original Buddha was an Indian nobleman who left his home and all his possessions to search for enlightenment.

Sangha members meditate together, either by sitting or walking, or sometimes over tea, they listen to dharma (Buddhist) readings.

“Part of the practice of meditation is to lighten us up, to let the thought go. It teaches us the habit of not holding on too tightly,” Handlen said.

She is an aspirant for the Order of Interbeing, a group founded by Thich Nhat Hanh that teaches the interconnectedness of all beings.

The sangha meets each Tuesday at Cafe DiCocoa on Main Street. Cost is a donation.

More information on the sangha can be found on Handlen’s website, http://sites.google.com/site/mountainheartsangha/ or by calling her at 671-1532, or e-mailing [email protected]

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