19-year-old Lucy came to Vancouver from Saint Jose (USA) in November, 2005 to study meditation at the Canada Bodhi Dharma Society. She has taken four consecutive Puti Meditation classes of different levels, and feels that she has benefited greatly both physically and mentally. She was interviewed by Meditation & Health Magazine for an editorial on “Meditation & Youth” in the summer of 2006.

Meditation & Health: When did you start getting into meditation?

Lucy: I’ve been interested since I was a little girl, so I am fairly familiar with it. Also, I have family members who all meditators. After I got a bit older—around puberty, I guess—I always felt tired. Maybe it was because of my body… I was really unhappy with myself and would obsess over the slightest mistake. I was really troubled. I started looking for a way—a natural way—to calm myself, and thought of meditation. Last year, one of my unclestook a class at the Canada Bodhi Dharma Society. He suffers from very serious diabetes, and was always sick… when he got back from the course, he was much better. His blood sugar level went down from 12 to 8. I thought it was a pretty amazing change, so I decided to try it out myself.

M&H: Have you gotten as much as you’d hoped from the meditation classes you’ve attended?

L: I’d say I benefited more than I thought I would. To be honest, I didn’t expect much of an improvement. I just wanted to come and join a meditation class where I’d get some formal training and practice.

M&H: Could you describe your experience with the classes in more detail?

L: By the end of the first level meditation class, I started sleeping less, but felt more energetic… and I’d always had horrible posture—it was so bad. And I’d done so much writing hunched over that my shoulder had become very stiff. One of the ligaments there actually calcified. It hurt whenever I got tired. The doctors told me that there was no real cure for the problem, but that it might be alleviated with massage therapy. After I started practicing meditation, the pain began to diminish. Once, when I’d been meditating for about 30 minutes, I suddenly felt as if the center of my palm had become unblocked or something… almost like this stream of air burst from my shoulder, straight out the center of my palm. The sensation lasted about 5-10 minutes—I wasn’t controlling it, or doing anything on purpose. Since then, the calcified ligament in my shoulder has recovered… I can move it freely. What’s more, I’ve become much more open. I used to be very critical of myself, and often didn’t feel like talking to people, even if something was upsetting me. Instead, I kept everything to myself and let it to weigh me down. After practicing Puti Meditation for a while, I started facing a lot of the things that used to bother me… I can talk them through with people. Also, I’ve stopped trying to escape from reality, and learned to accept myself. Now, I don’t beat myself for mistakes I make anymore—I just try to learn lessons from them and then move on.

M&H: Is that why you keep practicing?

L: Yes.

M&H: How do you handle difficulties during your practice?

L: The most difficult thing in meditation is probably relaxing. I’m always nervous, and don’t calm down easily. I wonder about myself sometimes—everything can be going fine, but I won’t be able to stop fidgeting. I guess that’s common enough. So, whenever things get tough, I think of the lessons I’ve learned at the College. By following Master JinBodhi’s instruction, I’m able to calm and center… meditate peacefully. That’s why I decided to take the classes in the first place—after all, learning meditation from a master is better than learning it by yourself.

M&H: In your meditation class, most of the students were middle-aged or older. Do you feel that they were more suited to meditation practice than you?

L: I don’t think it really matters when you start practicing meditation. It might actually be harder for older people to relax, since they have more on their minds. I’ve also met a few young people in class. They seemed to get less distracted in their practice. Besides, young people are often more flexible, which make it easier for them to sit in the lotus position properly. Lot’s of older people have more difficulty sitting like that for a long time.  

M&H: Would you recommend meditation people your age?

L: Absolutely. Definitely. We’re becoming adults—our grown-up lives are just around the corner… but the uncertainty can be terrifying. A lot of us indulge in destructive behavior just to deal with the fear—fill up the emptiness we sometimes feel. Lots of my friends spend their nights at the bar; a few are alcoholics; some aren’t healthy with their sexuality—it comes out in so many ways. I’m sure that it all comes from fear. But meditation can help. We see things more clearly. Then, we can figure out how to have faith and boost our inner strength. That helps with everything.

M&H:I have one last question. In your opinion, why do so few adolescents practice meditation?

L: I think it might be a communication problem. If our parents want us to meditate, we don’t want to. The generation gap creates resistance, I think. If it’s our peers who introduce meditation to us, I think we are generally more accepting. Teens understand other teens better than adults. Take me for example, I’ve talked about meditation to my friends—they’re all really interested. They'd even like to take classes.