Mindfulness Center Offers Retreat from Busy Life

Northern Virginia audiences crowded into screenings of “The Race to Nowhere,” a film depicting overscheduled and overstressed teens at school. And it’s not just teens who are overburdened. Stress has no age requirement.

For some, one way to relieve stress is to practice mindfulness at the Mindfulness Center of Fairfax, nestled on the grounds of the on Hunter Mill Road in Oakton. The center offers regular sessions on sitting, walking meditation, stress releasing/deep relaxation and mindful movements in a nonsectarian setting.

Vienna resident and author of eight books, Tim Wendel, was on the Board of the UUCF Board of Directors when the church decided to open its home to the Mindfulness Center. Wendel started meditating in college in the late 1970s. 

“It is an important part of my life,” says Wendel, whose latest book, "High Heat" made Paperback Row in the New York Times Book Review.

Wendel says practicing at the Mindfulness Center helps him stay centered and focused.

“Over the years it has helped my writing tremendously, he says. “I stay more present for the process, and it helps me be less scattered.”

Founded by Zen master, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh, mindfulness is a teaching that helps practitioners learn to live in the present moment instead of in the past or future. Dwelling in the present moment is, according to Nhat Hanh, the only way to truly develop peace, both in one's self and in the world.

Born in central Vietnam in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh joined the monkshood at 16. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated Nhat Hahn for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 for his commitment to peace during the Vietnam War. He is the founder of “Engaged Buddhism” and lives in Plum Village in France.

In the late 1990s the UUCF Board of Directors agreed to provide space to the mindfulness community and welcomed Anh-Huong and Thu Nguyen as principal teachers. They have led mindfulness retreats in the U.S. since 1988, and in 1992 were among the first students to be ordained as meditation teachers by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Anh-Huong is the author of "Opening the Heart of Compassion," a guided meditation CD and co-author with Thich Nhat Hanh on "Walking Meditation," a multimedia manual on mindful walking. 

Anh-Huong and Thu have created a community (Sangha) that has been offering daily weekday morning meditation, noontime mindfulness sessions and evening programs. Additionally they have offered a variety of special classes, workshops and weekend retreats.

Nick Bauer, a Reston resident came to hear Thich Nhat Hanh at the center in the late 1990s and followed up by attending noontime practices. While meditation is thought of as an individual pursuit, he says, there is strength in practicing together. 

“I went to have a community of people to join in meditation,” he says. “Thu’s guiding hand provides structure around a session that’s incredibly helpful. It’s a source of stress relief unparalleled to anything else."

Anh-Huong gives a dharma talk on the first Thursday of each month. The next talk will beApril 7. A daylong workshop will be held April 9. For details click here.