Meditation and War as Teachers and Healers

Raised on a South Carolina sea island, Ralph Steele’s life was tempered by experiences in the Vietnam War. Trained as a psychotherapist, Ralph Steele decided, midlife that ‘tending the fire’ of his life would be to take robes as a forest monk in Thailand and Myanmar—for a year or for a lifetime. He left his career and twenty-year relationship without knowing if he would return. In Myanmar Ralph went through the intensive training required to become a Theraveda Monk and experienced another side of life in a nation at war and in lock down. Tending the Fire: Through War and the Path of Meditation is the gripping, enlightening, and very human story of Ralph’s transformative journey through war and meditation to a sense of wholeness, responsibility, peace, and compassion.

Since returning from Myanmar, Ralph founded the Life Transition Institute in Santa Fe, where is the Director and lead meditation teacher.  Their mission is to ‘promote individual and social healing through meditation practice, education, and research. Their motto—“Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.”   The Institute offers classes and retreats and serves as a center for healing trauma.

On Saturday March 7 at 2pm, Ralph Steele will share slides and discussion of his experiences. His presentation will focus on topics such as; Bureaucratic hurdles entering a locked down country, a variety of meditation skills and practices, Healthcare in a very different culture, and military influence in everyday life.  He will also explore how an economically disadvantaged country cultivates happiness, compassion, and peace of mind.  Mr Steele has a great deal to offer. Please join us at the Placitas Community Library on March 7 at 2pm for this enlightening program.