Accident leads to meditation practice

January 15, 2010


Accident leads to meditation practice

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

When Chuck St. Romain was granted a new lease on life, he also received a new view of how to live that renewed oppportunity more fully.

A hunting accident came perilously close to killing St. Romain, but his traumatic journey through that experience led to an appreciation of meditation and a spiritual awakening.

"I was duck hunting south of here," St. Romain said. "I slipped, heard a bang, got shot and was bleeding from my head. At first, I was terrified. Then that shifted into sadness, and I told those with me to tell (wife) Barb and (daughter) Claire that I love them, because I didn't think I'd see them again.

"Then I shifted into this incredible awareness of my breath. I was so present with my breath, so connected. My terror had eased dramatically."

The surgeon at the hospital in Cameron Parish told St. Romain that if the bullet had been a half-inch from where it was, he would have died instead of suffering a frightening scalp wound.

"I wanted to understand," said St. Romain, a licensed clinical social worker.

"It was no accident that it happened. I was overwhelmed. I wanted to let the universe teach me. I decided to go investigate meditation."

St. Romain has been practicing meditation for 14 years now. He has translated that discovery into Spirit Path Meditation and Spiritual Enrichment Center in Lafayette, which provides weekly meditation sittings, frequent retreats and book study for clients.

He also teaches courses through UL's Potpourri program, this spring offering Insight Meditation.

"Lafayette has been amazingly open (to meditation)," St. Romain said. "There are a lot of wonderful things going on."

As with his brush with death, St. Romain starts participants on their journey by Vipassana, a focus on breathing. They grow to appreciate Metta, compassion and loving kindness practices.

"Most who try meditation are experiencing some kind of distress," St. Romain said. "We try to help them. Some come through curiosity, and they love the idea. But you can't come and sit one time and expect a miracle. It's a daily thing. In our culture, people plan. They can't just be in the moment.

"Some are afraid of what it will do to their religious beliefs. But I'm gentle with that. Some are afraid, because as you get quiet your body begins to reveal the tension it has.

"The body is incredible. It's wounded. Emotions come out. People get afraid and want to move. In our culture, we do a lot not to reveal pain. But they need to get that fear out of the way. The human condition is that we have a great capacity for unbelievable joy and pleasure."

St. Romain guides clients through those stages of hesitancy, concern and uncertainty to a calm state. It's something that takes patience, which he has learned.

"We deal with impatience," he said. "They begin to feel tense and agitated. But you have to be present for everything. You have to stay with that breath, stay in the moment."

Advanced meditation practitioners can find themselves in an "altered state."

"I sometimes have the feeling I'm levitating," St. Romain said. "Of course I'm not, but we're so not used to the capacity we have."

That awareness can come on the cushion on the floor during sessions, or in exercises focused on each movement in walking. Touching a car door handle or brushing teeth are other opportunities for previusly unrealized sensasions.

"We have the capacity to experience life fully," said St. Romain. "I've come to appreciate the moment."

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