Port Moody Station Museum is offering an opportunity to find peace in war.
Sept. 13 and 27 at 1 p.m., the museum is hosting special walking tours of the McKnight trench — a reproduction of a typical First World War trench that has been built into its grounds — followed by peaceful reflection in the meditation garden right next door.
Coquitlam yoga instructor Linda Moncur, who leads the meditation sessions, says the proximity of the contrasting venues sends a powerful message, especially in busy, turbulent times.
Moncur was a volunteer at the museum, helping clear a storage area at the side of 1908 CP Rail station where it’s located , when she came upon a large, heavy rock that resisted attempts to move it. So she took it upon herself to build a meditation garden of shrubbery and flowers around it.
At the same time, the first incarnation of the McKnight trench was being built in the southwest corner of the museum’s grounds. But when it was moved and expanded behind the museum, abutting Moncur’s meditation garden, she said the opposites spoke to her.
“I saw a synchronicity there,” Moncur said, adding the practice of meditation is about finding a middle ground of tranquility between two extremes.
Markus Fahrner, a co-ordinator at the museum, said in times of conflict, soldiers often found peace in the smallest moments, like the sprouting of a wildflower along the embankment of a muddy trench, or even a visit from a rat.
In fact, one such encounter was captured in Isaac Rosenberg’s poem “Break of Day in the Trenches,” in which the narrator expresses admiration for a rat’s ability to move between the opposing sides without judgment or fear from the consequences of crossing no-man’s land.
Fahrner said in the turmoil of war, nature can be a balm, offering soldiers a respite from their fear and anxieties.
“They would take comfort that nature is there forever and we are a part of that,” he said. “War is little compared to nature.”
Moncur said finding that presence in the moment is at the core of mindful meditation, as well as a survival mechanism in the battlefield of war and of life in general.
“Being in the present moment assures you it’s doable,” she said. “There’s nothing to be anxious about.”
Fahrner said while finding peace in war might seem contradictory to the cautionary tale the trench is trying to tell, especially to younger people who’ve never endured conflict, they’re actually complementary. That’s why he’s eager to expand the program from lunchtime drop-ins to visits by students.
“They’re able to physically feel peace,” he said. “It’s nice to sense peace and understand it.”
• To take a meditation tour of the McKnight trench, RSVP the museum by emailing [email protected].
