Meditation Goes Mainstream

Eight people sit in a dimly lit but pleasant basement room listening to the low voice of a social worker urging them to feel their toes. Their eyes are closed. Among them are an elderly mother of nine, a younger woman sobbing quietly, a morbidly obese college student, a middle-age man addicted to opioids, a depressed woman whose son suffered permanent brain injury in Iraq, a jittery teenage girl with scars on her arms, and an older woman slumped low in her chair. All have recently been hospitalized for depression, addiction or other psychiatric illnesses. Now they’re in “day care,” a daily meeting that provides a transition from hospital to home. … Back to Article