NEWS

Barre Center for Buddhist Studies Hosts Family Members and Survivors of Gun Violence

By Justin Whitaker | | Buddhistdoor Global

In a first of its kind retreat, survivors of mass shootings and family members who lost loved ones joined together from 5–8 August in central Massachusetts for meditation, coping, and community. Buddhist teacher Sharon Salzberg and mindfulness instructor Shelly Tygielski led the retreat, hosted at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in the town of Barre. Present were family members of victims of the October 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburg last October, as well as people who lost loved ones in mass shootings in Parkland, Florida; Columbine, Coloradao; Aurora, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; and elsewhere. Also present were five women from Chicago whose sons had been killed in gun violence in separate events. These women were part of a group called Purpose Over Pain, a parent advocacy group responding to gun violence. The three-day retreat offered survivors and family members coping mechanisms to work with the unique suffering wrought by these traumatic events in a community of support and shared experiences. Forty-three people came from across the United States to meditate in the company of a dozen therapists and meditation instructors. “To meet with other families who had been through this made a huge difference,” said Marnie Fienberg, daughter-in-law of Joyce Fienberg, one of the 11 people murdered in the mass shooting in Pittsburg. “You wanted to connect with them.” (Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle)

The idea for the retreat came from Sharon Salzberg, a founder and regular teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, along with Shelly Tygielski, a mindfulness teacher from Broward County, Florida, who has been working with those impacted by the February 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The goal was originally to host a healing retreat for those affected by the Florida shooting, but after those survivors met with survivors from the Tree of Life earlier this year, the idea was conceived to include them, and then it was opened to survivors from other shootings as well. Leigh Stein, whose father, Dan Stein, was murdered in the attack at the Tree of Life building, was grateful for the opportunity, seeing it as “a chance to learn helpful tools and surround myself with others that understood my thoughts in a peaceful and calm environment—without even saying one word.” She reflected, “It was exactly what I needed and could not have come at a better time, just days after the El Paso and Dayton shootings. It was comforting to be in the company of others that just ‘get it’ and are unfortunately in my shoes.” (Pittsburg Jewish Chronicle)