Debbie Messick

Dorchester County Public Library

For many, the library is the ultimate sanctuary, a cost-free refuge to pursue knowledge and dreams, a beneficial
detour from the rush of daily living where they can reemerge refreshed, renewed, and reenergized. Could there be a
better place to offer a program whose defining keywords are silence, stillness, and inner peacethe practice of
Meditation?
Once considered a kind of mystical eastern voodoo, meditation has, in recent years, gotten the recognition it
rightfully deserves. With medical treatment costs skyrocketing and populations graying, medical colleges, health
care professionals, senior centers, and many other mainstream organizations and institutions have begun to include
meditation in their arsenal of healing and coping practices, with positive results. And the word, it seems, is
getting around.
Not long ago, a senior African American library patron, who usually asks for help researching biblical questions,
requested a book on meditation, which he renewed; he later remarked to me how very helpful hed found it. More
recently our library branch acquired a copy of the book Success through Stillness: Meditation Made Simple by hip
hop record producing mogul Russell Simmons. Word, it seems, is getting around, even in a relatively small, rural
community!
A Meditation program at the libraryan environment seen by many as safe, secure, nurturing, and accessible
would provide community members an opportunity not available elsewhere in the county for learning a simple
proactive skill that many say can be key in improving wellness and wellbeing and reducing stress and pain. A
Meditation program truly furthers the mission of our library in providing accurate information in various
formatssuccessfully addressing residents high priority education, recreation, and informational needs in a cost
effective manner.
Program partners might include the Shore Health System, now aligned with the University of Maryland Medical
Center, whose Center for Integrative Medicine includes Meditation within its offerings, Delmarva Community
Services MAC (Maintaining Active Citizens) Program for Seniors, The 50 + Network for Creative Engagement (a
coalition that connects individuals over 50 to organizations, institutions, and businesses that cater to the aging
population on the Eastern Shore), the Dorchester County YMCA (which has offered Yoga and whose mission is also
to help provide wellness awareness, education, and opportunities via cost effective means), and the Dorchester
County Department of Health, whose school based wellness centers include in their stated primary goals to
promote overall positive health behaviors and to encourage primary prevention and wellness and whose web
page carries the catchphrase Health and Learning go Hand in Hand.
The programs physical requirements would be minimal and include a separate meeting space containing chairs
and/or mats. Books related to Meditation from the librarys collection could be displayed in the room. A certified,
Debbie Messick
Dorchester County Public Library
well-experienced practitioner who relates well to a wide variety of individuals from different backgrounds, income
levels, and age groups would be the programs main requirement.
Evaluating the program might be as simple as seeing whether the number of participants grew or dwindled with each
successive session (to be held perhaps once a month), and surveys could be set out on the book display table asking
for input by program participants.
______________
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Cambridge, MD: Finding inner peace at the library has never been simpler. Yes, you can do it, in 20 simple, stress-
free 20 minutes. Dorchester County Public Library presents Meditation Made Easy, a program designed to
enlighten, not to mention lighten the burdens of stress, lower blood pressure, lift depression, and more. Come, learn,
find inner bliss, enjoy! Once a month, free of charge, adults age 17 to 117 welcome.
Call the library at 410-228-7331 for more information, and check our Facebook page for updates!
*Promotion of this program would include an announcement in the librarys Books in the Belfry column in the
local newspaper and hopefully a feature story/interview with the practitioner who will be leading the program would
be run in that newspaper plus others in neighboring counties. The practitioner would also, hopefully, be invited to
appear on the daily radio program hosted by one of our part-time staff members, Dr. Kay McKelvy, who tries to
bring speakers providing helpful information in a variety of areas to her community listeners. Flyers will be printed
up, displayed, and distributed at both library branches, the post office and chamber of commerce. Partner
agencies/organizations would cross promote the program at their headquarters and via their websites and whatever
printed schedules, flyers they distribute.