Gen Kelsang Namdrol offers meditation classes in Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. -KELLY J FARRELL / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Peace is not only possible, it’s already our natural state, says Gen Kelsang Namdrol as she teaches meditation on a Monday evening at a church on the cusp of North Naples and Bonita Springs.

Simple is good, she says. And this applies to more than the lighting and the seating of the room. Namdrol is a Buddhist monk based out of the Samudrabadra Kadampa Buddhist Center in Fort Myers. She has been studying, practicing, and teaching Kadampa Buddhism for many years under Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, the founder of the New Kadampa Tradition, and sharing those teachings throughout Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda.

Get a taste of the peace of meditation, know it’s possible, and you naturally want to maintain it. It doesn’t require anything fancy, she says.

“We can see from this practice that it’s possible to experience peace and contentment just from controlling the mind,” Namdrol explains.

And it’s not a tight grip kind of control. It’s choosing to be still, focusing on breathing, for even just a few minutes. As we let go of thinking, we reveal our true nature.

This meditation class of 20 or fewer people is sitting in a church building on the edge of Naples and Bonita Springs listening to a brief instruction of relaxation from Namdrol as she sits in a chair, maroon robes, a book and a lamp. They listen and as they do, it gets their minds off the day that past and off the days to come.

“Once we become more familiar with the peaceful joy of meditation, then we just want to pursue it further, even in difficult circumstances,” she says.

There is no problem to solve, breathing in and breathing out.

“We learn we have control and we can maintain peace, can maintain patience, maintain compassion,” she says.

We have a choice.

The meditation she offers on this early evening is a simple meditation practice, she says.

“This is a preliminary stage of meditation. But, it can be quite powerful,” she says.

Gen Kelsang Namdrol offers a simple, preliminary meditation practice in Collier County on Monday nights. -KELLY J FARRELL / FLORIDA WEEKLY

“We have a source of happiness. It is possible to experience peace and contentment by controlling the mind without having to depend at all upon external conditions.”

Happiness is naturally arising. It’s taking away what prevents that natural peace that brings us back to our true, content way of being.

“If your thoughts are positive and peaceful, then you have happiness. If they’re negative and unpeaceful, then we don’t have happiness. What we do is we always blame the outer situation.”

There is a problem to solve, or anger, jealousy or a nasty comment.

That habit of turbulence, of distraction in the mind, can change when it becomes still, she explains. Then, a deep happiness and contentment naturally arises from within.

“So much of the stress and tension we normally experience comes from our mind, as do the problems we experience.”

Just by doing breathing meditation for 10 or 15 minutes each day, peace is experienced.

“It does not mean you won’t have things happen that you don’t like. If you have a more quiet, peaceful mind, you cope with difficulties,” she said.

Shannon Hurst has been meditating with Namdrol for years. Hurst worked as a public defender in the 20th Judicial Circuit, which includes Collier County, and has changed her life experience through meditation, she says.

“I was interested in doing meditation and just Googled meditation in Naples and the Kadampa Meditation Center came up and I started going. And shortly thereafter, I was practicing the meditation and it was really making a difference,” Hurst said, as the group gathered to talk and share dinner after the practice with Namdrol.

That first class was in 2008.

“Now, it’s 2026 and it’s a way of life now,” Hurst said.

That sounds simple enough. But there was a bit more to the story.

“My first touch with Buddhism was in 2006 when I went to Thailand to dive,” Hurst said.

“Everyone is so happy and calm and I’m thinking, ‘is there a connection with Buddhism?’”

“When I get home, I’m going to look into this. I wasn’t looking into Buddhism, though. I was looking into meditation to recover from PTSD.”

Hurst was going to have a surgery when an episode of extreme anxiety or panic led to what would change her life, eventually.

“It was from a trauma event back in the 80s.”

But as she’s going to prepare for a foot surgery years later, she had what she called a meltdown in pre op.

“I started hyperventilating. It was awful.”

She recalls the doctor telling her: “Calm down or I’ll have to cancel the surgery. I won’t perform the surgery on you until you take care of whatever fear you have of doctors and hospitals.”

Someone suggested she try meditation.

Eight months of really putting effort into meditating and she sailed through surgery like it was nothing, she said.

“If it can help me in that respect, it can help in all aspects of my life, and it has.”

Hurst started with a one time per week meditation, like the simple meditation of the evening.

Then, she started the foundation program, which includes teachings on karma and compassion; then, more classes and the teacher training program, which is a lifetime program.

She went to Nepal for a month due to connections from the Kadampa Center.

A longtime sangha member in Fort Myers moved to Kathmandu 10 years ago and works at a monastery and she went to visit.

Her husband, David, practices also but in a different way, he said. He does not usually attend classes, though he did on this evening—because there was food, he said, offering a taste of tiramisu.

“I studied Zen meditation many years ago,” he said.

“The purpose of the breathing is to center yourself.”

He described it like getting the mind to be still like water after the ripples from a thrown stone return to stillness.

“I’m the storm in my wife’s water,” he quips.

I’m there to test her practice, he jokes.

Another of the meditation practitioners shared a different experience.

“I came to it from yoga and I was looking for more and I stumbled across the Kadampa Center in Fort Myers,” said Lindsey Cooper, a yoga practitioner and senior center yoga teacher.

Now, she attends the weekly meditation classes in Bonita Springs, as she has for about eight years.

“The nice thing is with this is you can keep your own faith if you choose.”

She finds that the practice helps her to stop over-thinking.

For weekly classes, everyone is welcome. No experience is needed. Each class includes a teaching, guided meditations, and an opportunity for Q&A as time permits.

Gen Kelsang Namdrol often offers Q&A sessions and teachings in addition to guiding a meditation practice. -KELLY J FARRELL / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Teachings on love and karma

In addition to group meditation, Namdrol also offers teachings, with details on meditationinfortmyers.org.

Among the classes are “Love that heals” and “Karma: How it shapes our lives.” Like many of her offerings, these are open to beginners.

Love that heals

“So many times in our relationships, we feel let down or heart broken in the name of love. What we are experiencing, however, is called uncontrolled desire or attachment. Attachment initially disguises itself as love, but in truth, is the source of immense pain and sorrow,” Namdrol describes in the course description.

“On the other hand, pure love never gives rise to pain, but always makes ourselves and others peaceful and happy.”

She offers guided meditations and Buddha’s practical advice on how to distinguish love from attachment; how to develop real love, a love that heals, protects and leads to finding great meaning and joy in our lives.

Karma – How it shapes our lives

Namdrol explores the knowledge of karma, sometimes overly simplified as cause and effect, and how knowledge of karma may change our lives and help us to find enduring happiness.

“Buddha taught that karma is a Sanskrit term meaning action and that every action we take shapes our lives. Through learning how the law of karma works, we can direct all of our daily actions and choices into the journey to good fortune and fulfillment,” she says.

All are welcome for this thought-provoking offering on this fundamental principle that shapes the Buddhist worldview and underlies reality and experiences.

For more offerings and details, visit meditationinfortmyers.org or call (239) 454-5572. The main local Kadampa Meditation Center is at 6338 Presidential Ct, Unit 105, Fort Myers.

In The KNOW:

Weekly meditation in Collier County:

Meditation Class with Gen Kelsang Namdrol

Punta Gorda sessions:

Class with Gen Kelsang Namdrol

When: 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 28
Where: Congregational United Church of Christ, 1201 Aqui Este Drive. Punta Gorda 33950.
Cost: $15 per class.
Attend: Drop in class, just walk in, no pre-registration needed.
Details: meditationinfortmyers.org/bonita-naples-meditation-class/