December 2004
Say Yes to Meditation
by Mona Ausubel
Noah Levine was 7 when he first smoked pot. He was drinking at 8, doing acid at 11, speed at 13, and heroin at 16. Deep in the Santa Cruz drug and punk scenes, Levine got arrested for numerous infractions. During one of his stints in Juvenile Hall his father encouraged him to meditate. Noah recalls sitting in his cell, closing his eyes and counting his breaths. As he did so, he remembers feeling his fear slip away. Afterwards, through a twelve-step program and study with Buddhist teachers — including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Norman Fischer, and Thich Nhat Hanh — Levine began to steer his life away from drugs and violence.
But this is not the picture of a monk on a mountaintop. “I see spiritual practice as a form of rebellion,” insists Levine. As he writes in his recent book Dharma Punx, “To some extent, the whole punk movement is based on the Buddha’s first noble truth: the truth of suffering and the dissatisfactory nature of the material world.” For Noah, being in the mosh pit and sitting zazen are not so different. “It’s the same energy, the same willingness to do whatever you need to survive, but it’s turning it inward,” he says. “With meditation, my rebellion turned into an inner revolution.”
Now 32 and living in New York, Levine continues to take his work into the justice system through his nonprofit, The Mind Body Awareness Project. He finds that the inmates respond to the fact that he is painted with tattoos. “They can tell that I am from the same world, not some white do-gooder trying to save them.” He pitches the idea of meditation to them as an act of courage. “It’s easy to sit back and laugh, but it’s hard to sit still and pay attention — to face the realities of the heart and mind.” He notes that some inmates walk away, but many stay and take refuge in the practice, finding that it’s the first time their heads have been clear in a long time.
Noah also works with the wider public, leading weekly workshops and retreats. Although he is now a practicing psychotherapist, he still goes to punk shows. “What this is all about, what I’m really doing, is teaching in the community. Trying to introduce Buddhism to people in their teens, 20s, and 30s who think it is just an Asian mystical thing, a hippie peace and love ethic. I’m saying ‘No, these are practical, applicable tools for our world.’ We’re taking meditation out of the white middle class and onto the streets.”
For more information please visit www.dharmapunx.com.
Retreats That Advance
Angela Shaeffer grew up on the East Coast in a wealthy Republican family. When she was 17, her parents’ messy divorce sent her packing. She found herself living alone in California, addicted to drugs and alcohol.
“One day, my boyfriend overdosed. He didn’t die, but I was the one who found him, and it was very gory,” she recalls. “We both got sober after that. But at the same time, I got pregnant.” Shaeffer was sitting in an adoption agency when she looked up and saw a picture of the White Tara, a Tibetan goddess, hanging on the wall. She remembers having a deep reaction to it. She kept two things from that day: her baby, whom she decided not to give up, and a commitment to Buddhist practice, which guides her life and work today.
Now, at 32, as a single mom of an 8 year-old daughter, Shaeffer helps lead meditation retreats for Bay Area teens. These retreats, sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and endorsed by Spirit Rock and the San Francisco Zen Center, are tailor-made to fit teenagers. Silent meditation lasts half an hour, leaving time for walks, music, and hanging out.
“When teens find that place inside themselves that brings peace, absence of ego and judgment,” says Shaeffer, “they realize that they are not their bodies. Not what they wear or look like. There is a spirit that is alive in them and they just open up like flowers.”
She has helped kids with Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. “What I have seen is that meditation can be used as medicine. This stuff is real. They find the place in themselves that doesn’t belong to drugs or alcohol.
“Watching it happen,” she says, “my cup overflows every time.”
The next retreat will be held December 28-January 2. For more information www.buddhistpeacefellowship.org/ teenretreat.
Mona Ausubel is a frequent contributor to Common Ground.
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