Meditate DC

The Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral and the Insight Meditation Community of Washington are among the co-sponsors of Meditate DC, a series of meditation and contemplation events offered by a variety of faith groups during His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Washington, DC, November 6—13. For full details, including information about open houses and workshops offered by faith communities across the DC metro area, go to www.meditatedc.org. Related events include:

Join us for a Scavenger Hunt and Party on October 15. The clues and questions will focus on the mysterious, the esoteric, and the unexpected in the metro friendly part of downtown DC. We'll have a party with entertainment that night and award prizes.

Meet: At 10am at the Dupont Circle Fountain
Duration: From 11am to 4pm
Cost: $15 payment to benefit Meditate DC*

To Register and learn more go to www.wbpf.org/hunt

*Meditate DC is a weeklong (Nov 6-13) exploration into the benefits of meditation. To learn more, see www.wbpf.org/meditatedc this is in or around Dupont Circle Fountain.

An Evening with Jack Kornfield
“The Inner Art of Meditation”
Monday, November 7 at 6:30 pm
Smithsonian Resident Associates
For more information, go to .www.residentassociates.org

Mind & Life XIII: Investigating the Mind 2005
“The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation”
Tuesday, November 8 to Thursday, November 10, 2005
DAR Constitution Hall
Co-sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Georgetown University Medical Center. For more information, visit the website www.mindandlife.org

Public Talk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
“Engaged Buddhism”
Sunday, November 13 at 3 pm
MCI Arena
Co-sponsored by the International Campaign for Tibet and the Mind and Life Institute.
For more information and tickets, visit www.dalailamadc.org


Meditation on the Move
From Monastery to Lab to Main Street

Daniel Goleman, Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thomas Keating
with Lynn Neary
Washington National Cathedral
Friday, November 11
7:30 pm Program

Not since the Beatles went to India has meditation had such a moment to bask in the public spotlight—and now it is with the backing of science, the buzz of a corporate America trend and the rekindling of ancient Christian contemplative practices.
Over the years, the Dalai Lama has participated in dozens of scientific dialogues across the globe organized by the Mind and Life Institute, which he co-founded with its chairman, Adam Engle, and Francisco Varela. These programs examine the scientific applications of meditation and its impact on mental health, chronic illness and the cultivation of well-being. This year the Mind and Life Institute is coming to Washington and expanding its reach to include the Christian contemplative perspective.

While the conference itself is primarily for researchers and clinicians, you can hear three of its most prominent participants bring their professional and spiritual insights together in a panel discussion moderated by National Public Radio’s Lynn Neary.

Come consider psychologist Daniel Goleman’s report on the latest research on highly experienced meditation practitioners hooked up to state-of-the-art brain imaging technology, called a functional MRI.
“Meditation enhances our capacity for compassion to a surprising degree neurologically, and now it’s scientifically proven,” Goleman says. It helps people learn to set aside “destructive emotions,” the title of his latest book, and instead build “the ability to empathize, along with the preparedness to help in any way possible.”

Come hear stress reduction expert Jon Kabat-Zinn’s convincing case for the way “meditation can co-exist with modern scientific views of the world without setting aside matters of the heart.”
At the University of Massachusetts Medical School Kabat-Zinn has tallied “over 25 years of training medical patients and mainstream Americans in using Buddhist practices without the Buddhism as a way of catalyzing healing, growing and transforming across the lifespan.”

Come also hear Father Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk from St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado. He will be joining the Mind and Life Institute for the first time, in keeping with his own life’s work of popularizing a Christian contemplative practice known as Centering Prayer, in which a person meditates by using a sacred word such as “shalom,” “Lord,” “Mother” or “love.”
“I call it ‘divine therapy’ because it’s not just a relationship, a friendship, but it’s also a medicinal relationship,” Keating has said. “Jesus said, ‘I am a physician, and those who need a doctor should come to me.’ Contemplative prayer is really the healing of body, mind and spirit.”

Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and former New York Times science writer whose book Emotional Intelligence became an international bestseller and sparked one of the hottest trends in education and corporate America.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, a medical professor best known for his pioneering work in meditation and stress reduction, is author of such popular titles as Wherever You Go, There You Are and Full Catastrophe Living.

Fr. Thomas Keating, founder of Contemplative Outreach, Ltd., revived Christian contemplative practices, inspiring generations of present-day Christians drawn to the spiritual experiences of Eastern meditation to also look within their own tradition.

Lynn Neary is currently an arts correspondent at National Public Radio. She has been heard frequently as host and anchor on NPR’s renowned news programs and developed the network’s first religion beat.

For information please call (202) 537-2221 or e-mail programs@cathedral.org

www.annemarchand.com