Day-long silent meditation retreat Dec. 18 honoring solstice

[Caroling]

A day of silent meditation and quiet activities will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18, in Santa Rosa Beach at the Coastal Branch Library. It is sponsored by the Emerald Coast Meditation Society as a way to commemorate the solstice that takes place Dec. 21 at 5:38 p.m..

The day will include eight 30-minute meditation periods interspersed with breakfast, lunch, tea, outdoor walks, yoga and qigong. The day will go from 6:15 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Participants can take part in the whole day or any part of it, free of charge.

Anyone who wishes to see a schedule for the day or sign up for the retreat can contact Nancy James at nancyjames@embarqmail.com or 231-1498.

James and Caroling Geary, who will lead the day’s events, have been meditating since the 1970s. Geary has done yoga since 1974 and meditative art since 1954. Her website can be found at wholeo.net.

James was a founding member of the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center in 1972 and of the Emerald Coast Meditation Society in 2009. The ECMS, which meets twice monthly September through June, is non-sectarian, and includes practitioners of many forms of meditation. For further information, see its Facebook page.