Are you looking to relieve stress, create a more positive state of mind, and/or become more self-aware? San Diego’s Kadampa Meditation Center, off Rosecrans Street in Point Loma, may help you achieve those goals. Kadampa Meditation Center holds weekly meditation classes that are open to everyone. Mondays and Fridays offer a lunchtime meditation class from noon to 12:45 p.m. They also have longer classes on Sundays from 10:30 a.m.-noon and Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. To modernize the ancient Buddhist-style of meditation retreats, Kadampa holds mini meditation retreats that are held one Saturday a month. These half-day retreats are meditation workshops that teach the attendees how to achieve a positive state of mind and on letting go of the past. This experience is $25 for non-members.
Pacific Beach resident, and member of Kadampa Meditation Center, Marcella Teran, describes her experience at the center to be “life changing. As someone who previously could never meditate, it truly has changed my life for the better.” Since mid-January, Gen Kelsang Lhadron, resident teacher and Buddhist nun, has been teaching at the center. Offering insight about how to integrate ancient Buddhist wisdom into modern society, Lhadron has been practicing Buddhism as a student of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso since 2001. A quote that Gyatso lives by, and teaches to his students, is “Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.” Lhadron said that this understanding of inner peace is where the importance of meditation comes in. “We all want a more peaceful world, but you can’t have a more peaceful world without more peaceful people in the world. When we train in meditation, we ourselves are becoming more peaceful people,” Lhadron said. Recurring questions that outside observers of Buddhism have are usually “How do you get to a state of happiness?” “How do you achieve this peaceful and positive state of mind?” The answer is meditation. Lhadron explains: “Meditations are step-by-step methods to change our state of mind. After a meditation session, you feel peaceful, but you also leave with a specific intention. While meditating, you make a promise to yourself that you will live the rest of the day with positive thoughts, actions, and speeches. Once meditation becomes a daily activity, your encouraging state of mind will follow.”
To people who need a break from a busy life, or for those who are already experienced at meditation, everyone is welcome at the San Diego Kadampa Meditation Center. Kadampa Meditation Center Where: B Street, 3125 Rosecrans Place.
Info: 619-230-5852.