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SEEKING PEACE The search for solace through the long, cold, lonely winter takes many forms By Shant Shahrigian sshah@riverdalepress.com
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idway through a meditation class at Kingsbridge Library on Saturday morning, instructor Alan Wherry advised the group circled around him to be skeptical of his teachings. “Here’s a hypothesis. None of what I tell you, you should believe,” he said after leading the attendees in a series of exercises. “The world is full of people believing nonsense, right? You should be skeptical, but openminded.” The roughly two dozen people in the quiet room at the back of the library came from a wide variety of ethnicities, age groups and professions. But like others throughout the busy northwest Bronx, they were in search of one of life’s most cherished goods: peace. Whether meditating at Mr. Wherry’s class, roaming through Riverdale Park or debating at the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, countless individuals in the neighborhood are consciously working toward peace in one form or another. After the class at Kingsbridge Library, which focuses on a practice known as Sahaja meditation, one attendee shared her search of recent years. “I’m here because I’m looking for stress relief. I’m looking for inner peace. I’m looking for ways to just feel better and learn more about awareness,” said Riverdale resident Ana Gonzalez Ribeiro. Saturday marked her first time at Mr. Wherry’s free class at the 291 W. 231st St. library. But she said she has devoted recent years to yoga, meditation and studying Buddhism. “It’s all about self awareness and trying to learn more about yourself and how you relate to other people and how you perceive things,” said the daily money manager, 40. Sahaja meditation is part of a unique variety of yoga that sprang up in India in the 1970s. Mr. Wherry explained that he tries to show attendees what it is through examples rather than telling them about it. When he asked students if they had any questions about the morning’s lessons, few replied — and the instructor said that was actually a good thing. “If you feel inner peace and tranquility, what questions have you got?” he said.
SNOW FLURRIES CREATED an especially peaceful atmosphere at Riverdale Park on Saturday. Up the hill from Kingsbridge Library on Saturday, people seeking peace and quiet could also be found at Riverdale Park. As snow gently began to fall,
couples and individuals trekked along the park’s narrow paths. “It’s my exercise,” said Didier Gault, 58. “It’s good for the body and the soul, too. You think as you walk.”
Mr. Gault, who lives near the park, said he prefers to be by himself when he walks or mountain bikes there. “It is really peaceful,” the photographer said. “I’m always in an environ-
LYUBOS BARZMAN, above, and Irina Shostajk and Raymond Smith, above, meditate at the Kingsbridge Library on Saturday.
Photos by Shant Shahrigian
JACOB WHITE, above, the son of James White, lights a candle at the Ethical Culture Society.
JAMES WHITE, at left, leader of the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture, recites a poem at the start of a weekly meeting on Sunday.
LYUBOS BARZMAN, at right, is deep in meditation.
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ment of work where you always deal with a lot of people.” The only sound to interrupt the stillness at the park came from MetroNorth trains speeding by at regular intervals — and the occasional dog’s bark. Manny Alvares, 27, was meandering with his spunky mixed-breed hound. “It’s nice you don’t have to have her on a leash,” he said. “You can just do your thing.” Asked whether he viewed the park as a refuge, Mr. Alvares said he considers himself “a low-stress guy in general” who just stepped outside to walk his dog. There was a high level of devotion at the Riverdale Yonkers Society for Ethical Culture’s weekly gathering on Sunday. Members of the humanist group devoted their first meeting of 2015 to outlining their goals for the year and discussing how to bring about peace in the world. Seven members, who call themselves ethical culturists, sat in rings around leader James White in a spacious, elegant room looking onto a nearby forest. After Mr. White gave a talk about political and economic barriers to peace around the globe, he invited the members to share how they find hope and peace. The leader, 68, had concluded his colloquy by saying he finds hope in the work of the society, whose undertakings range from feeding the homeless to environmental activism, and in his family. “The bottom line is, it does start with us,” said Helen Newman, a woman of a certain age. “because there’s no control over Putin [or] about the American government for most of us. “It has to start at home, with us in our souls and how we cope with life on an everyday basis,” she added. While the Ethical Society is nonreligious, its Sunday meeting has some of the trappings of a church or synagogue ceremony, including songs and candle lighting. Ellen Spindler, 77, who is active in neighborhood anti-hunger and environmental movements, said the society’s meetings have a spiritual element. “I think ritual helps to bring us to the present,” she said. “It helps us to be here now.” While other ethical culturists amiably mingled after their meeting, it seemed quite possible Ms. Spindler had articulated one of the secrets for finding peace.