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Marco Islander wants to encourage people to achieve ‘mindfulness’ through meditation
QUENTIN ROUX / Staff
Martina McNaboe begins to channel her thoughts into a state of "mindfulness" as she meditates. She is to hold a series of free sessions beginning Aug. 6 at the Marco Island Racquet Center.
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With her soft, melodic Irish lilt and almost ethereal personality, Martina McNaboe doesn’t exactly come across as someone who experiences stress.
“Of course I do; everyone does,” she says with a chuckle. “In modern life, we are all doers. But, we are all beings as well.”
McNaboe is sitting in a half-lotus position in a room lit by just a few rays of sun washing in through half-closed blinds.
On a table in front of her sits a wooden Buddha model, along with a candle and a stick of incense.
McNaboe is demonstrating how she achieves a state of “mindfulness,” something she wants to impart to other Marco Islanders at an upcoming meditation series she plans to host at the Marco Island Racquet Center.
The philosophy is based on Buddhism and its pacifist approach, but McNaboe says participants from any religion or creed are welcome to join her.
Central to achieving this mindfulness, she says, is breathing, which she describes as the anchor to the technique.
The intended results: Stress relief, and consequent better health, which could include lower blood pressure due to the very nature of the technique.
“You don’t take it to the point where you want to fall asleep,” McNaboe says. “You let thoughts come into your mind, and you let them go. You don’t push them aside, because that would be repression.”
Old and young are welcome to join McNaboe’s sessions, which are free. She does, however request nominal donations of $5 to cover costs of supplies.
She can be contacted at her mmcnaboe@gmail.com e-mail address.
The first gathering will be 6 p.m., Aug. 6.
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How can you possibly have peaceful meditation at a "racquet" center?
#1 Posted by hourigan82247 on July 15, 2008 at 9:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Meditation has so many benefits..I am so happy it will be available to all of us on Marco!
#2 Posted by lulu2000 on July 15, 2008 at 8:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Having known Martina for several years, I would like to say that she is someone I want to teach me how to reduce my stress level. She is a kind, peaceful woman who happens to be very funny! Thanks Martina!
#3 Posted by islandlover on July 17, 2008 at 10:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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