I continue to be surprised by the interest in my Meditation Class at the Mansion.  It is a profound spiritual experience for me, one of the most gratifying things I have ever done.

Today, many of the residents were at the doctor’s or getting their hair cuts. Today is also a shopping day.

I had a full table, though, despite all their choices and obligations. The interest in meditating runs deep and is very much for real. This is something they identify with, that they obviously need, even crave.

None of my meditation  students had ever meditated before, or quite understood what it was. We started by talking for five minutes, the residents tell me what is on their mind. Then I guide a ten-minute meditation. Our talk was about peacefulness.

We begin with breathing – in the nose, out the mouth. Then we close our eyes and begin to descend into silence. Today I talked to them about peacefulness, and the very idea seem to attract and shock them, as if they had never heard before.

I told them I know they think often of illness and death, and of family and pressure and burdens, this was a sacred private time for them alone. They were free to let their minds go wherever they wished to go, there is no wrong in meditation, no failing.

I talked to them again of the health benefits attributed to meditation – lower blood pressure, slower heartbeats, longer lives.

They are trusting the meditation, and me, talking more openly in this small group than I have ever heard them talk in the activity room with 15-25 chairs and seats.

“I think sometimes that I’m so busy being old – the medicine, the activities, the doctor’s visits – that I kind of forget who I am. I want to meditate about who I am so I won’t forget it.”

What a beautiful use of meditation, I said. Perfect. This is where I find out who I am, I said. I am realizing that they listen closely to me, in our world, a rare thing.

We completed our ten-minute meditation and then talked. I’ve decided to talk at the beginning and at the end of meditation. I brought a book to read, it is about aging gracefully and with dignity.

I read a bit out loud about fear of death, and about loss, and about the loneliness of aging, the sense of being over and left behind. The meditation students were riveted, they watched me closely, nodding and listening.

We can feel sad sometimes, I said, about what we have behind. We can also feel good about today, right now.  Lots of nodding heads.

I told them I was not teaching the class to amuse or distract them, I was  hoping the meditation might show them how to find peacefulness at the times when they needed to be peaceful.

What are you seeing in meditation?, I asked, explaining they didn’t need to tell me that if they didn’t want to. But they did want to.

“I see a lot of dead people, ” said one,”a lot of people in my life are gone. That’s the hardest thing for me, so many people in my world are gone. And nobody but me knew them all.”

Maybe you want to talk to them in your meditation, I suggested. It’s about your feeling safe and peaceful and free. Nobody can take your dignity away.” I started to say “nobody can take your memories away,” but I brought myself up short. They know that isn’t true.

Sylvie said she feels closer to God. Another said she hugged her mother, and her mother told her she was with her all of the time.

“I need to calm down,” said one of the students. “I worry too much. But what do I have to worry about? I’m not ever going anywhere!”

At the end, I told them to keep their beads (most forget that they have beads, but love them). This is the deepest spiritual work of my life to date, I love it very much, I feel it really matters.

If I can show these embattled people how to feel peaceful, that will be a huge act of great kindness.

Next week, at the suggestion of Bonnie, who works in the Mansion office, I’ve ordered some aroma therapy oil diffuser for next week’s class and some oils to go with it. We can’t burn incense or anything else at the Mansion, the diffuser seems like a great idea.

If you wish to support this work, I will make good use of your money.

An angel sent me money for the September boat ride, I am starting to do some spring shopping for the residents – some of them new – who don’t have light Spring clothes or shoes.

As I was leaving, I said next week’s meditation could be 3, 5, 10, or 20 minutes. Every one of the people in the class asked for 20 minutes.

You can contribute to my Mansion Work via Paypal, [email protected] or via check, Jon Katz, Mansion Fund, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge,N.Y., 12816.