Students of SFCC gathered together Friday morning, Nov. 2, to listen to a speech that began with a long silence.
Lama Lakshey, a Buddhist meditation teacher and adjunct instructor at SFCC, invited students to experience the present moment together by leading with five minutes of meditation.
“What a privilege we have to have Lama as part of our adjunct faculty,” said Sheri Staudinger, wellness club adviser. “His contribution to the wellness club is that he comes to speak to us about peace and stillness.”
Lakshey teaches on the benefits of easing the mind through intentful breathing, and ways we can find contentment in our sometimes chaotic everyday lives, if only for a few moments.
“It’s a powerful thing … resting the mind,” Lakshey said.
The SFCC wellness club participates in fundraisers and offers special events throughout the year that are open to students and the Spokane community.
Rose Powell is the acting president of the SFCC wellness club and has been a member on campus for nearly ten years.
“Being out in the community is the main goal and staying healthy,” she said.
Lakshey spoke about how learning to ease your mind is a continual practice, and approaching it with humility, grace and forgiveness can help extend those virtues to our other relationships and our environment.
As students, we can often feel overwhelmed and stretched thin by tending to all of our commitments and personal relationships, but directing our thoughts toward mindfulness can help ease the stress.
“You feel very content because you are present,” Lakshey said. “Be present and you can directly notice your peace.”
Lakshey also reminded students that as humans we are emotionally intelligent creatures, and that practicing compassion and extending love and kindness is a genuine and natural human quality.
“We are human beings and we are very precious because we have a marvelous intelligence,” he said. “Human kindness we cannot forget.”
Practicing kindness and forgiveness does not come without its challenges, however. Lakshey used an example of his mother, who experienced violence and loss when Communist China was invading their native Tibet. Instead of feeling anger and hatred, his mother exercised the ability to forgive and pray for those who had inflicted the suffering.
Lakshey explained how holding on to negative emotions or experiences can weigh heavy on the mind and manifest physically, but learning the ability to look inward and reflect love and kindness will be the opposition of emotional destruction.
Lama Lakshey teaches Buddhist dharma and meditation at 9 a.m. Sunday mornings at the Tsinta Mani center at 2902 N. East Oval St. in Spokane. All are welcome to join.
The SFCC wellness club works to inform and educate through free wellness events, such as Lama Lakshey, throughout the Spokane region.