An Ancient Art for Young Bodies

And a crucial emphasis on mindfulness:

Klein ... said retreats like this give teens a tool kit to maintain their well- being.

"They're learning to be present with what the experience is," he said. "Not always seeking pleasure and avoiding pain."

Retreat leaders such as Klein and Cook talk passionately about the power of meditation. Cooke compares it to a glass of muddy water where nothing is visible. After meditation, he says, the mud settles and one can see.

Some of the teens explain it more simply. This is a place they say they can de-stress....

Devin Deerheart came to the retreat overwhelmed by Advanced Placement classes, summer school assignments, relationships and home life. He walked into camp a stressed-out, schedule-based person whose mind was always racing.

He's 15 years old.

"I don't know the date, I don't know what time it is and I don't care," he said midway through the retreat. "I think it should be mandatory to meditate 30 minutes at least every weekday."...

Allie -- who lives in Floyd during the summer -- has meditated since she was 10 and was looking for a retreat like this. But when she told some of her friends what she was doing this summer, some thought she "was a freak."

After growing up in an era where everything is as instant as text messages, she feels many teens lack patience for meditation and think it's boring.

"A lot of teens have an image of sitting in one place going , 'Omm,' for hours,' " she said. "You center yourself and focus on breathing and being in the moment. It feels really good"...

Miles came because his Buddhist mother signed him up. Before leaving his Quakertown, Pa. home, he dreaded the idea of a new place full of strangers, of being driven from the airport to the farm by people he didn't know. He expected to be sad and miserable.

At first, he found meditation "annoying and stupid." Why did they have to sit the entire time, he wondered, listening to small voices in a big room? But soon, he was accepted by others. Soon, he noticed how meditation helped him concentrate and combat Attention Deficit Disorder -- without taking medication he doesn't like.

"I was extremely surprised I actually liked it," he said.

He's continued meditating since he's been home. He's felt pain and realized its easier if he simply accepts what's happening.