The wind and rain were furious. Crawford Parkway was so flooded that the Elizabeth River seemed to have no boundary. Yet, attendance at the Portsmouth Rotary Club almost exceeded the capacity of the meeting room at the Holiday Inn-Olde Towne.
It was surprising that so many showed up for a talk by Maury Cooke, a local guy without political ambitions or controversial ties at this time – unless, of course, you count a recent newspaper story about Cooke and his meditative ways. He had come to talk about meditation.
He was introduced by his lifelong friend, Eddie Russell, an attorney, who noted that as youngsters they lived on “the edges of wilderness” in the developing Pinehurst neighborhood that was “a boy’s paradise” in the 1940s.
Cooke “always had the itch,” Russell said, noting the varied businesses and community activities he had been involved in over the years.
Cooke’s life-changing moment came, he said when his son, Greg, died in an automobile accident in 1993. Russell said that his friend began “looking within” and thereby “found a whole new cause.”
Now Cooke is trying to spread the word on meditation, especially among young people. He told the Rotarians about his project in the Blue Ridge mountains to teach teens to meditate.
But he got the attention of the Rotarians when he gave them evidence of the benefits of meditation.
Studies have shown, he said, that people who meditate twice a day over 10 years may decrease the ages of their bodies by eight to 10 years – or if you’re 60 and seriously meditate, you may look and feel like 50.
Not only does meditation reverse aging, he said, but it can lower blood pressure and help focus and memory. It helps process problems and encourages people to see clearly, he said. Part of that is because meditation frees the mind of many of the worthless musings among “30,000 to 60,000 thoughts that go off in the mind every day.”
The men and women in the audience listened . When Cooke suggested that they participate in an exercise, they did. He led them into about five minutes of meditation. During those five minutes, you could hear a pin drop in the room.
Stunned by the total silence, I cheated a little and looked around. Every one of about 60 people in the room seemed engrossed .
Seeing that room full of business and professional folks in such a meditative state indicated that Cooke is onto something. His efforts to involve young people in meditation, teaching them compassion and loving-kindness in the process, could have far- reaching impact on the world.
Meantime, maybe Cooke could teach some of us adults to meditate before we act on important matters.
Ida Kay Jordan, 399-3845
(c) 2008 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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