SOUL MEDITATION GROUP NOW HOLDING MEETINGS IN SPRINGS

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Feb 2, 2008 by CAROL MCGRAW,

A new group that practices SOUL Meditation has formed in Colorado Springs and is having weekly programs from 10 a.m. to noon Sundays at 2663

Cinnabar Road. Lunch is provided.

SOUL Meditation is not from any specific tradition or religion, says Sam Adettiwar, group facilitator. Adherents focus on the practice of mindfulness, concentration, nonreaction, and wise attention -- the pillars, they say, of wholesome mental development.

A former Oregon civil engineer, Adettiwar took a sabbatical in India for several years before coming back to Colorado Springs last year. During the sabbatical, he studied Vapasana Meditation, Iyangar Yoga, and the Art of Living course. In India, he spent time in seclusion studying Patanjali Yoga Sutras and the Abhidhamma treatises.

He says the idea for SOUL Meditation came to him after his spiritual awakening "to the true nature of body, mind consciousness and soul."

There is no cost for the informal programs. For information, e- mail spiritually@gmail .com, or call Adettiwar at 488-0548 or 685- 6294.

Talk and book signing

Ken McLeod, founder of Beverly Hills-based Unfettered Mind, will give a lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 730 N. Tejon St.

He'll also sign copies of his newest book, "An Arrow to the Heart," a nontraditional translation of Buddhism's T Heart Sutra. The sutra talks about compassion and the perfection of wisdom.

In 1990 McLeod started Unfettered Mind, a retreat and consultation center. He has a degree in mathematics and worked as a corporate consultant.

For more information about McLeod, visit arrowtotheheart .com or unfetteredmind.org. For information on the local program, call Jeff Bickford at 290-9125.

Courage championed

Binka Le Breton, cofounder of Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research and Conservation Center in Brazil, will discuss her book "The Greatest Gift: The Courageous Life and Martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang" at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at Tattered Cover Book Store, 2526 E. Colfax Ave., Denver.

The book chronicles the life of the nun who championed subsistence farmers and fought off land developers using slash and burn methods to destroy the Amazon rain forest. The 73-year-old nun was murdered there three years ago.