Anthony Dominic Chielli

I am the meditation teacher at the James M. Stockman Cancer Institute’s Integrative Medicine Clinic.  Unlike a lot of the practitioners in the clinic I do my work donation based.  Working with my clients at the cancer center brings me a truly deep sense of compassion and gratitude.  I also teach a weekly drop in, here at the Frederick Meditation center, and a daily meditation during the week at Yogamour Healing Arts Center.  I began teaching meditation while I was in college earning my Bachelors of Arts in Psychology.  To learn about the most recent research and the most effective practices I took a class on the science of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) I studied and practiced this program for a semester.  I try to integrate my knowledge of psychology into my talks in class to deepen my students understanding, and most of the practices you will hear me guiding in class are based on my work in MBSR.

I was introduced to mindfulness and meditation at a very young age.  My Buddhist uncle always used to tell me “attention is everything” as we would discuss how wonderful life is.  I remember taking walks with him at our family’s beach house, having him guide me through placing my attention on different aspects of the sand, the cool air, my breath.  I still cherish those memories.  He passed away very gracefully from cancer and since then I have dedicated my practice to him.  I even wear his pants to meditate in sometimes.  Now, I try to pass on the practice to others, just like he did for me.