THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9409300242
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
THE PHONE won't stop ringing, deadlines are looming and the tension in your neck is getting tighter.
What do you do - gulp another cup of coffee? Switch your phone to voice mail and call your best friend? Take a walk around the office? Or run to the restroom and cry?
Jon Robertson, editor-in-chief of A.R.E. Press, has a better way of dealing with the everyday frustrations of his high-pressure job.
He simply walks out of his office, strolls down the hill and enters the Harris Prayer and Meditation Garden at the Association for Research and Enlightenment Center. There Robertson sits on a wooden bench amid the swaying trees, wildflowers, shrubs and stone pathways to meditate and pray.
Meditation gardens like the one at the A.R.E. Center are not unique, although few people have the opportunity to switch gears so completely during their workday. Gardens that promote serenity and contemplation can be found in nursing facilities, private residences, churches and city parks throughout Virginia Beach.
In this fast-paced, time-crunched world, everyone needs a quiet place to get away, Robertson says. If only for a few minutes every day.
``The world is so distracting you can find yourself feeling lost,'' Robertson said while sitting in the A.R.E. garden. ``I see daily meditation as necessary.''
Robertson closed his eyes, laid his hands on his legs palms up and began deep breathing. Busy Atlantic Avenue is only a few hundred yards away, yet when Robertson meditates he doesn't hear the traffic or other sounds of people going about their business.
Shafts of sunlight pierced the trees, illuminating the chirping birds and bees drinking the flowers' sweet nectar. Water gently spilled over staggered slabs of rock, falling into a shallow pond of water lilies. This summer, an A.R.E. member from Michigan, Dr. Samuel Harris, donated $60,000 to expand the garden with a new bridge, the waterfall, concrete walkways and special lighting.
``Out here I can really find that I'm not distracted by people around me,'' said Robertson, who has been meditating seriously for 10 years. ``I like the sound of water falling and the birds singing. Once you find a still place to meditate you can relax or rejuvenate yourself - it's like having a fresh morning all over again.''
Seclusion and quietness are the most important components of a meditation garden, says Pat Bridges. He has designed more than 2,000 gardens in his 41 years as a landscape architect and said that hundreds of them have ``meditation aspects.'' One of his most impressive meditation gardens, he said, is at a private residence in Bay Colony.
The client, who is currently vacationing overseas, wanted a traditional Japanese meditation garden to complement her Japanese-style house.
A self-opening moon gate leads into the narrow garden, which wraps around the house. Two concrete foo dogs, as they're known in Japan, stand guard at the wooden bridge. Concrete pads curve around a rock-lined canal, which acts as a ground-level gutter when it rains. Japanese trees of crape myrtle, holly and maple, along with anise trees and various shrubs and flowers, complete the picture.
``This person meditates regularly and wanted a quiet, serene place to go,'' said Bridges. ``Typically, Japanese gardens use shades of green - it's more soothing.''
Residents of Windermere at Virginia Beach, a nursing facility on Old Donation Parkway, also enjoy the benefits of a meditation garden.
The lush landscape in the enclosed courtyard is situated right off the Florida room. Dozens of fish swim around a dolphin statue and waterfall in the stone-lined pond.
Hundreds of flowers - begonias, irises, tulips, lilies, snapdragons, crape myrtle, marigolds, pansies, dahlias, petunias, forsythias and mums - have been carefully planted among shrubs and trees and encircle the concrete walkways. Tiny butterflies flit around the lantana, a plant known to attract the colorful insects. Wisteria completely covers a bower, which sits at one end of the courtyard, shading it from the hot sun.
Administrator Sid Ellis said it took two years and $10,000 of donations to build the memorial/meditation garden. Residents, family members and friends donated the money and helped to build the garden, which will be dedicated in a ceremony Oct. 12.
``The garden is very therapeutic for the residents,'' said Ellis, who tends the garden several hours each Saturday morning, after his Gideon prayer breakfast. ``They can come in and out as they want to. They really enjoy it.
``We built the garden in honor and memory of current and former residents,'' he added. ``I get so much out of the residents coming out here - it makes it all worthwhile.''
You don't, however, have to be a resident of a private organization like Windermere or A.R.E. to enjoy the solitude of meditation gardens. Several city parks offer quiet and serene settings, says Valerie King, city park district supervisor. The gardens at Redwing Park are ``very calming'' and Little Island Park offers the peacefulness of the ocean, she said. Additionally, Munden Point Park has open areas adjacent to the Intracoastal Waterway.
``What's so great about our park system is we're so diversified in all of our 11 parks,'' she said. ``I don't know about you, but walking to the top of Mount Trashmore - now that's a release! You have a serene lake on one side and the hustle and bustle of the (toll road) on the other side.
``I go to all of the parks - people can find serenity and meditative qualities in any of them,'' she added. ``It all depends on what mood you're in.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
PEACE AND QUIET
Dozens of fish swim around a dolphin statue and waterfall in the
stone-lined pond at the Windermere nursing facility.
Pat Bridges, a landscape architect, designed and built this
Japanese-style meditation garden at a client's home in Bay Colony.
A variety of plants make up the meditation garden at Church of
Ascension in Virginia Beach.
Jon Robertson, editor-in-chief of A.R.E. Press, has the convenience
of a meditation garden at his place of work - the Association for
Research and Enlightenment Center.
Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Residents of Windermere at Virginia Beach, a nursing facility, enjoy
the benefits of a meditation garden - an enclosed courtyard right
off the Florida room.
DEDICATION SERVICE
The A.R.E. Center, 67th Street and Atlantic Avenue, will dedicate
the Harris Prayer & Meditation Garden with a ceremony at 3 p.m.
today. Refreshments will be served after the dedication. The event
is free and open to the public.
by CNB