The Brown & White

It was quiet.

Not so quiet that a person could ignore the cascading hum of the bus pulling in at its Packard Avenue stop, and then its resurging growl as it departed for its next destination. Or so quiet that someone could miss the chime of the University Center's bells when the time was a quarter-to eight, or a light rain hitting the tiles on the archaic Packer Chapel.

But quiet enough for the minimal sounds to resemble a silence.

Four Lehigh students sat, cross-legged atop baby blue pillows with their socked feet sticking out, in a circle at the altar of Packer church. Four pairs of shoes lay a quick glance to the side, along with four silenced cell phones, two silver watches, three backpacks and a slinky bracelet.

The students' eyes were closed and hands were cupped. One sat with his knees hitting the braided rug on the floor, so he would not strain his thighs or cause his feet to fall asleep, he said later.

No one spoke. Instead, they inhaled and exhaled through their noses slowly, so as not to interrupt the quiet with the gasp of a normal breath. Every once in a while, a person swallowed. Typically an unnoticeable human trait, this echoed across the altar walls like a loud gulp of beer or a dry cough.

At the beginning, Sarah Morgan, graduate student and the circle leader, had recommended participators push their tongues to the roofs of their mouths to prevent the buildup of saliva, and, therefore, the urge to swallow.

Another student kept fidgeting, moving an arm or a hand, uncrossing his legs just to cross them again - but with the left one on top of the right this time. His actions were distracting, causing the others in the circle to wiggle a finger or turn the neck, breaking their stationary poses.

After 20 minutes, it ended. An alarm went off, a strikingly whiny series of beeps after the quiet of the past moments. The students stretched and cleared their throats. When they opened their eyes, a couple squinting or rubbing the lids to readjust to the dim light, something was noticeably different.

"They found another way 'to be,'" said Morgan, co-founder of the meditation group on campus. "As members of Western culture, we rarely recognize we are thinking about so many things. Anytime we see or feel that there is another way to be, that's useful. We can feel a little bit more comfortable amidst our stress and hectic lifestyles."

Morgan said she notices that feeling the most right after she meditates, something she does every Monday and Wednesday night with the group's other founder, Jordan Sakowitz, '10, and any other students who stop by. Typically between three and 12 students come each night, according to Sakowitz.

"I had a group meeting once after I meditated, and the noises - just regular conversation and movement - were so jarring to me," Morgan said. "It was too much sensory input, but it showed me that meditation really puts me in a different state of mind."

Meditation, a practice of concentration and relaxation that has been around for centuries, encourages the participant to push away errant thoughts. It can be accomplished by concentrating on a spot on the ground or singing a chant. Some people who meditate count their breaths or speak a single phrase over and over, allowing the repetition to sink them into a peaceful mindset. One style of meditation involves scanning one's person from toe to head, taking time to notice the intricacies of each body part.

If stray thoughts do invade the brain during meditation, one must acknowledge them and then let them go.

"You are not trying to actively ignore the outside," Morgan said. "Rather you must admit the thoughts exist and then dismiss them from your mind."

Morgan added that thoughts arising during meditation give a good account of where a person's mental state is.

"It shows I'm subconsciously thinking about something that I may have failed to recognize or notice before," she said.

The reactions to a session of meditation are different for everyone, Morgan acknowledges, "because all brains work differently." Some people stay in a mellower mindset throughout the week, while others simply handle a future stressful situation more gracefully. Some claim they don't notice any effects at all.

"Meditation can be hard for beginners," Morgan said, meaning it is difficult for them to concentrate for a period of time and then even more difficult to recognize when they achieve a Zen-like state.

It can be hard for Morgan too, who said that even after a year of meditating, she can still slip into the distracted seat of a beginner.

"Sometimes, I'm really great, while other times, I struggle to keep my thoughts still," she said.

Morgan got her start in meditation after taking a couple courses about it at Lehigh. She picked up some books on the art and tried to do it on her own. However, the task proved complicated, she said.

"Without someone to hold you accountable and without a designated free-from-distraction space, it is very hard to meditate individually," she said.

Then one of her professors introduced her to Sakowitz, and together, the two formed a meditation circle.

They started in a classroom first, but after random people poked their heads in on a couple occasions, they decided to move to Packer Chapel.

Although Sakowitz and Morgan will both be gone by next fall, Morgan said she is not worried the meditation group will die out. She said there are now waiting lists for the meditation-focused classes, where only half-filled classrooms existed before.

Also, the Wellness Center has expressed interest in picking up her e-mail list, in the hope of combining events in the future.

Morgan said she thinks students will continue to feel the need to meditate.

"We're like a glass of juice, shaken up all day," she said. "We need something to help settle us down."