Physician for the Dalai Lama holds meditation workshop at UCF

Dr. Barry Kerzin, the Buddhist monk and physician for the Dalai Lama, concluded his seven-day stay at UCF yesterday with a meditation workshop directed by philosophy professor Jane Compson.

In Room 108 of the Psychology Building, people of all ages responded intuitively to Kerzin's advice on meditation and the importance of taking care of the body by having a positive mindset.

Kerzin's main focus of Saturday's event was the practice of meditation, rather than the personal experience of being the Dalai Lama's physician or his experiences with Buddhism.

Kerzin began the workshop at 10 a.m. and concluded it at 5 p.m. Throughout the workshop, he emphasized three different types of meditation techniques, which he explained to the audience and later allowed them to practice for 10 minutes each.

People were encouraged to ask questions at any time during the event. Raisa Sequeira, a senior psychology major, was one of them.

Sequeira asked Kerzin about what to do when people have good hearts but are often surrounded by selfish people.

"He told me to find a balance between selflessness and compassion," she said. "In this case he said is self-love, which for people it is very important that we have and understand."

Sequeira, who also went to Kerzin's discussion on Wednesday, came back to hear Kerzin speak because she feels his talks are enriching for what she wants to do in the future – be a life coach and write personal development books – and being at the workshop will help her incorporate his teachings in her personal and student life, she said.

"From today's workshop I learned that as a student I can relax much more by meditating before a test or a deadline assignment," Sequeira said. "As a person, I learned that meditation can help you control your emotions and bring out the positive in you."

Philosophy professor Jane Compson was in charge of the meditation workshop. She began preparing the arrangements for all the workshops early in January when she learned about Kerzin's visit.

Compson said bringing Kerzin to UCF is significant because of the student reaction and participation to learn about meditation, and based on the audience's reaction she was enthused about the reciprocity between Kerzin and the people who attended his workshops.

"We definitely want to bring Kerzin back to UCF," she said. "Having his presence here is definitely the most rewarding aspect for us."

In the future, Compson wants to create more meditation workshops on campus after seeing how enriching and fulfilling they can be for the UCF community. She also plans on conducting extensive research on the Buddhist principle of "mindfulness meditation," which according to her, is increasingly being used in psychology to alleviate a variety of mental and physical conditions.

When Kerzin concluded the event, people in the audience approached him to ask him questions and take pictures with him.

This visit was Kerzin's first time at UCF. For the seven days he was at UCF he had a positive first impression of the campus.

"The campus is very gorgeous, very green," he said. "Although I didn't meet all the students, the ones I did were very kind and engaging. In the near future I definitely hope to come to UCF again."