AN
Volume 125 Issue 115
kansan.com
Monday, May 6, 2013
TANVI NIMKAR
tnimkar@kansan.com
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TRAVIS YOUNG
Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in.
Breathe out. I sit in my chair and close my eyes behind my sunglasses. All around me I could hear the shuffle of hundreds of feet, the shutter of hundreds of cameras, yet all I feel is an inner calm. I slowly let go of every thought in my mind. I'm in La Sagrada Familia, the most famous church in Barcelona, just experiencing it all. Twenty minutes later I stand up and stretch. As I look around I see dozens of other people sitting down with their eyes closed experiencing the inner calm.
Meditation is becoming part our social norm with more and more people practicing it daily. Approximately 10 percent of Americans said to have practiced meditation daily in a 2007 national survey by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Instead of being a mystical Eastern concept, people around the world are starting see the merits of meditation.
"It's a state of peace that people go to," said junior Olivia McCarthy.
WHAT IS MEDITATION?
"It's the art of doing nothing but being awake," says Andrew Numberg, a meditation teacher with the Art of Living Foundation.
Art of Living is a non-profit educational and humanitarian organization. Its programs focus on incorporating breathing techniques, yoga and meditation in daily life. The different chapters across the world organize events
such as meditation retreats.
Nunberg started practicing meditation 15 years ago after a friend suggested he attend an Art of Living course.
"It [meditation] is when our mind is completely in the present and the subtle aspects of who we are experienced effortlessly. I do remember
"I feel a sense of peace I am not aware of any problems in my life."
my mind really going really deep inward. It almost felt like I was sinking. I had gone very deep into mediation; at one moment I lost all awareness. All of a sudden I was aware again. I felt so much calmer," Numberg recalled of his first experience.
Since that day, Nunberg has spent approximately 3,642 hours meditating. Every day he notices a difference after meditation. "I feel a sense of peace. I am not aware
ANDREW NUNBERG Meditation teacher
of any problems in my life. It's not these problems don't exist; it's just not a problem anymore."
Although meditation itself isn't a religious practice, it was developed as a spiritual practice in ancient India. Meditation served as a means to increase self-awareness and knowledge in the Hindu tradition. Civilization across Asia adopted meditation — especially with the spread of Buddhism — so it is considered an Eastern practice.
Medicine defines it as a technique in which a person learns to focus attention on breathing or repeating a calming word, phrase or sound to slow the stream of thoughts that occupy the conscious mind, according to Kavita Prasad, a physician from the Mayo Clinic.
Researchers at University of California Santa Barbara examined the effect of meditation and a student's level of focus. Students who are often faced with stressful situations can develop a tendency to let the mind wander when faced with difficult tasks. The study found an improvement in mental capacity and the ability to focus in students. Although it was only a two-week experiment, the researchers concluded that if the students continued to practice meditation, they would see the
same benefits.
Graduate student Kelly Berkson used to experience extreme stress until she discovered meditation in an Art of Living Course.
"All my life I have been a procrastinator and I wait to the last minute to do things, and then I get incredibly stressed out to the point where I physically feel nauseated, can't keep food down," Berkson said. "Someone came into this class I was in one morning, and it was like every other day: I hadn't done the homework the night before, I was cranky with myself not having it done. I was cranky with my teacher for wanting my work. And this person came in to talk about a breathing and mediation course that they
SEE MEDITATION PAGE 2
LAWRENCE
Renovations planned for national historical landmark
JENNA JAKOWATZ
jjakowatz@kansan.com
Another building in town is eligible as a place of historical significance. The house at 1145 Indiana Street is getting a makeover so it, too, can join the list of other properties are recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tim Keller and fellow investor Ernie Eck will soon be renovating the house to restore it to its former glory.
"It was originally built as a boarding house, and we're going to restore it back to its original look," Keller said.
"The Hancock Historic District includes the properties on the north and south sides of the 700 block of W.12th Street, as well as adjacent properties on Mississippi Street, Indiana Street and Oread Avenue," Keller said.
The large house located just across from the Oread Hotel lies in the Hancock (12th Street) Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Hancock Historic District includes properties built between 1900 and 1945, many of which originally served as housing for University professors.
"Every building in the district
has at least one person associated with the University," Keller said.
The National Register of Historic Places does not recognize 1145 Indiana Street as a contributing structure because a two-story porch was added to the house in 1960, altering its historic purity.
"We're going to replace the two-story porch with a replica of the original porch the house had," Keller said.
Once the porch is restored to look like the original, the National Register of Historic Places will recognize 1145 Indiana Street.
According to the National Register of Historic Places: "The property significantly increased in value between 1911 and 1912 under the ownership of Harriet E. Tanner, who never lived in the house. L.W. Coleman purchased the property in 1913. Leonidas and Alice Coleman are listed as proprietors of furnished rooms here in the 1915 city directory. The Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity House is listed here from 1917 to 1919. Lela Hope is listed as the owner in 1923. The Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity is listed here from 1925 to 1930 and the
The house, built in 1910, originally served as a boarding house and later served as homes for a few different fraternities.
Triangle Fraternity is listed nere in 1932."
According to the City of Lawrence, the property has had several different owners over the years, including Olin Templin for a short time in 1919.
In June 2012, The City of Lawrence Planning and Development Services approved the renovations, and Keller and Eck began plans to bring the house back to its original state.
"I'm excited to be a part of maintaining something historical," Keller said.
Currently, the house has seven bedrooms and six bathrooms and is approximately 4,270 square feet, but is divided into three separate units that are rented out mainly to students.
"The Hancock Historic District retains its historical mix of owner-occupied and multiple-family housing," Keller said. "The massing and relatively unchanged appearance of several housing types contributes to the district's sense of time and place."
Keller hopes the renovations will restore the house to once again serve as a boarding-room style of property.
— Edited by Allison Hammond
EMILY WITTLER/KANSAN
EMILY WITTLER/NANSAN
This house, at 1145 Indiana, received an award for historic preservation. There are few rentals this close to campus that have this distinction.
CLASSIFIEDS 9
CROSSWORD 5
CRYPTOQUIPS 5
OPINION 4
SPORTS 10
SUDOKU 5
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan
There are no classes on Friday because it is Stop Day, which is not necessarily an excuse to go out the night before. But you do have the day off...
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A
Partly cloudy. Fog early Winds from the North at 5 to 10 mph.
A nice day to spend outside