Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Daniel Sato

Silent Sanctuary: Instructor Brett Jennings lights candles in preparation for a meditation session at the San Jose Center for Spiritual Living in Willow Glen.

Jennings offers an escape from buzz of life

Just close those eyes and think quiet time

By Alicia Upano

Brett Jennings knows it can be difficult to find a moment of peace. Besides responsibilities at work and obligations at home, there are still calls to answer, emails to write and a to-do list that never seems to shrink.

"Everything's clamoring for your attention," Jennings says. "People want an opportunity to turn it all off."

In December 2005, Jennings taught a group of more than 60 adults beginning meditation at the San Jose Center for Spiritual Living in Willow Glen. After the four-week course, some continued to meet every Thursday, snagging 30 minutes of quiet time.

On a Thursday evening in mid-April, Jennings lights candles in the center's sanctuary and people make their way into the pews. Some kick off their shoes and sit cross-legged, while others relax into the blue cushions. Jennings asks the group of nearly 20 to close their eyes.

It is 6:15 p.m. Outside the sanctuary, the sun is starting to sink toward the horizon, marking the end of another day. For some, the day has been filled with work or family obligations. A handful of the participants are retired.

"See if there's something you've been trying to figure out in your life. See how you ask your mind for the answer," Jennings says to the group. "Could you let go of wanting an answer?"

Jennings continues, inviting people to let go of their concerns. The sanctuary is so still the only sounds come from outside--the twitter of a bird, the buzz of scooters traveling down Clark Street and voices in the next room.

In 20 minutes, he rings a bell and people begin to move in their seats.

"Anybody have lots of thoughts?" Jennings asks.

A man raises his hand, and Jennings smiles.

"That's normal," Jennings says.

Several of the group's members find this reassurance helpful. The group is comprised of local people, including those from the Willow Glen neighborhood and nearby Campbell.

Before coming to Jennings' class, several people said they dabbled in meditation but quickly became frustrated by trying to meditate the "right way." In Jennings' group, there is no right or wrong, they say.

"Somehow there's a clarity about this man. He's all for your own self-discovery, about how it works for you," Willow Glen resident Beth Hughes says.

Fourteen years ago, Jennings found his own way and embarked on a journey that would take him around the world, and then home again, to share meditation with others.

Jennings, 35, is a Willow Glen native. He attended San José State University and later transferred to Santa Clara University. There, he began to tinker with meditation.

"It was nice, but I didn't get a whole lot out of it," Jennings says. "But at the same time, I didn't put a lot into it."

In his senior year, Jennings took a meditation class as an elective where he and his classmates meditated five days a week for 20 minutes a day.

"My grades spontaneously improved, my relationships seemed to get better," he says. "After that experience, I was hooked."

In an era where self-help books offer tips on improving one's life, Jennings says meditation takes a different path. The self-help movement often requires people to learn or add things to their lives, whereas meditation is returning to a quiet state that has always been beneath the buzz of daily life.

By becoming more aware of oneself, Jennings says, meditation helps people experience their lives in context with the world around them. They also become less apt to react to things they cannot change.

"We're breaking the habit of being completely consumed by things, and life just becomes easier," he says.

After college, Jennings explored different kinds of meditation, bringing him to India, Nepal and Japan. In 1999, he returned to San Jose and began studying with Deepak Chopra. Through the Chopra Center, Jennings learned how to teach Chopra's method to others.

At first, he had a few students while he worked on his own financial services company. Then, when he sold his company last July, he decided to focus more on teaching.

Campbell resident Eugenia Zertuche took Jennings' December class and sits with the group each Thursday. Zertuche works as a massage therapist, and while she says she loves her job, "I need to be nurtured as well."

Like other members, Zertuche has developed a daily practice--sometimes catching a few minutes of relaxation sprinkled throughout the day.

"In the midst of the everyday obligations and the self-imposed obligation to be at your peak, to be at your performance, it's a safe harbor just to be," she says.

Hughes concurs, saying she is calmer because of meditating. Once frazzled by the political decisions in Washington, D.C., Hughes says meditation has given her a sense of peace and choice in her own life.

Even Davie Pfaffle, who has been meditating for 35 years, enjoys sitting with the group. Pfaffle is an author who lives on the border of Willow Glen.

Jennings now works as a mergers and acquisitions intermediary. However, he plans to offer three, free four-week meditation classes a year. The next begins on April 27.

"I got so much out of it, I wanted to offer the benefit to other people as well," he says.

Jennings offers a four-week course on sitting meditation practices according to Deepak Chopra, beginning April 27 at the San Jose Center for Spiritual Living, 1195 Clark St. The class meets every Thursday for four weeks from 6-6:45 p.m. The course is free. To register, call 408.807.4541.