GENEVA Nanci Rose-Ritter recognizes that people in todays world are leading busier lives than ever before and many are unable to slow down, breathe deeply and reflect.

A Zen meditation workshop and retreat she planned in conjunction with Hobart and William Smith Colleges Associate Professor John Krummel can offer tools to help people.

A good portion of it is geared in that direction, said Rose-Ritter, a teacher and practitioner in the Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist methods of Zen meditation. Some of it will be specific to our current times, but the overall emphasis is on the benefits of meditation for individuals and society at large.

Certainly, the element of compassion, this being a Zen Buddhist-style retreat, will be incorporated, and is always incorporated into this approach compassion for ones self, compassion for ones immediate family, compassion for the wider community and for the world as a whole.

Sessions are planned for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Fisher Center of HWS Demarest Hall. It costs $10 to participate in one or $20 for both. As of Wednesday, limited spots remained.

The retreat will be offered in the style of Japanese Zen Buddhist sesshin, a focused period of group meditation and personal guidance. There will be information and discussion on specific techniques and philosophies.

Its the first time Rose-Ritter has opened the event to the community at large; she worked with Krummels first-year students on one prior occasion. Krummel, a member of the Colleges Religious Studies department, teaches a class about the Japanese form of Zen meditation.

Part of the workshops focus will be on the heart-mind connection.

Bringing those two together is always important, she said. We dont want to be just thinking creatures or just feeling creatures. We want to be balanced.

Rose-Ritter began studying the Japanese form of Zen meditation about seven years ago. She has taught and practiced the Tibetan Buddhist method for more than 35 years, first becoming interested in meditation as a 20-something.

I was interested in meditation, like many of my friends. I am a child of the 60s, after all, she said. A group of us opened a meditation center on Seneca Lake, near Watkins Glen, back in the early 1970s. We did d lot of comparative philosophy, with a strong emphasis on meditation. From there I found the Buddhist tradition.

She spent six months in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives. Eventually, she co-authored a book, Living Tibet, that includes a forward written by the Dalai Lama.

Rose-Ritter works as a trauma counselor, and uses meditation with her clients.

She said people have expressed an interest in learning more about meditation, so much so that she is considering the possibility of creating a regular group. Anyone interested in becoming a part of that group should contact Rose-Ritter at (315) 651-2570 or mindfulnanci@gmail.com.

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Meditation workshop, retreat later this week | Lifestyle - Finger Lakes Times