UNITED STATES, October 23, 2008: Like many churchgoers in the Bible Belt, Kristy Robinson teaches Sunday school with her husband and helps prepare Communion at their Episcopal church in Franklin, Tennessee. She rounds out her church- and prayer-filled life with another spiritual practice that’s not quite as familiar: meditation. “I’ll see a difference in my day if I don’t,” says Robinson, who opens each day with 20 minutes of absolute silence.
“We believe the need is huge. We’re seeing more and more interest from all different kinds of people,” says Barbara Sogn-Frank, an instructor at Avera McKennan Fitness Center in Sioux Falls. “The point is deep relaxation because that is what is vital to the immune system. That deep relaxation is physical first and then mental and emotional,” Sogn-Frank says.
A report released this year showed an astonishingly high number of Protestants – nearly half – say they meditate at least once a week. Among the public, 39 percent meditate at least weekly, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.