The show in on the 17th street in the heights.
The piece is about human trafficking in Houston. Each lens has a picture of someone in the community, by the end of the nine month period there will be almost 4,000 lenses on the tree, symbolizing the amount of people brought into Houston for human trafficking a year.
When we arrived at the Zen center, Franz had already been helping the center, by collecting the leaves in the street to use for compost.
The whole group was welcomed into the space with open arms. Glen Duval was the person we met up with. He showed us hospitably that I have never experienced before. When we first got onto the grounds, he told us to obverse how we felt as we walked through the space, conveying the idea that everything is in the right space and is purposeful.
Walking throughout the space, there was a sense of peace and serenity that most of the students picked up on. During our excursion, we found this little guy. It is a statue of Bodhisattva, who is the protector of small things, he carries a staff with him as a warning for the small creature below his feet, so that when he walks he is not disturbing anyone. As Glen led us around he told us about why everything in the garden is there, why they like to weed out the beds, but not the parking lot, because even those weeds need some place to be.
When we went into the building we all took off our shoes as a sign of respect and began a silent mediation. Glen told us different techniques to do during a silent meditation. I personally tried the counting method - it's where as you are meditating you count your breaths, and every time your mind wonders off, your have to go back to one. Personally I couldn't get passed four.
After the twenty minute meditation, we all went upstairs to ask any questions we had about the space or about the practice of mediation. We were taught the idea that one should always smile, because they are contagious and its showing others around you compassion, one of the main philosophies behind Buddhism.
We then went back to school, where everyone read Wherever You Go, There You Are. Once this hour was over, we met with Dr. Gabriel Lopez and Dr. Alejandro Chaoul. Dr. Lopez, is the medical director of the MD Anderson Integrative Medicine Program, and Dr. Chaoul is part of the faculty at MD Anderson Cancer Center. They told us about how they are integrating Eastern practices with cancer patients, to see how these practices can further help in their health. They treat about 1,500 patients a year; either a doctor will recommend this treatment, or the patient will ask for it. There recently has been a serious influx of patients due to the great results that the doctors have seen over years.
Both of the doctors we met with stressed the idea that they don't think that the Eastern practices should at all replace the treatment that the patient it receiving, but assist them through some of the harsher side effects. At the end of our discussion we practiced another kind of mediation, one where we were brought to awareness by Dr.Chaoul's voice. We were told to bring attention to our breath, and if a thought where to come up to recognize it and then let it go.
The day was so eye opening, getting to opportunity to meet all of these very aware, informed individuals furthered my understanding of what mediation was, and what we should use it for.
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