Registered nurse and meditation guru Kurt Valle help students cope through academic pressure through meditation.
“Meditation is not just for the spiritual or religious being,” Valle said. “Meditation is about the release of the mind from the physical world and the opening of the heart. This leads to a healthier lifestyle.”
Valle suffered from a stress disorder stemming from a few traumatic incidences during grade school and college. Receiving the opportunity to travel and study abroad, Valle began to explore ways to deal with the difficult times and found a release through yoga and meditation.
“I’ve studied therapy and the art of meditation in India, Nepal, Jamaica, and The Himalayan mountains,” Valle said. “It’s not about living stress free because that is inevitable. It’s about living with less stress.”
Reflecting on the work of philosopher and FSU graduate Dr. Ed Rubenstein and his published works on philosophy of the heart, Valle has devoted the last 10 years to helping residents and students cope with stress.
“I work with a variety of individuals of all ages and I find that University students, especially seniors, express higher levels of stress,” Valle said.
Jim Ball, a writer and former Marquette University student, has been following Valle’s teachings and attending group meditation for years.
“I was a skeptic at first,” Ball said. “What kept me going was the release I would receive when I’m in deep meditation. Nothing else seems to matter at that moment and it’s that feeling that keeps me coming back.”
Senior Florida A&M University education student Jontae Kennedy started group meditation as a release from his heavy course load.
“I’m new to it but I already feel a difference,” said Kennedy. “I’m learning to remain focused and calm in certain situations. I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore, I just meditate.”
According to Wildmind, a website on the art of meditation, Meditation involves taking responsibility for our own mental states and training ourselves to alter how we produce outcomes in terms of mental states that we experience. Through meditation, we are more conductive through well-being and happiness.
“My focus is to provide stress training. In most workplace environments high levels of stress causes so much anxiety,” Valle said. “It’s a way to handle your emotions.”
Valle holds weekly group meditation meetings Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in the Open Heart Center located on Lafayette Street.