| By Laura D’Onofrio |
When I was seven or eight, I wandered down to my dad’s study in the basement and found him sitting near a candle on a floor pillow. The room was dim, his eyes were closed, his posture upright. He heard me stirring like a little mouse and opened his eyes. Seeing my curiosity, he invited me to come sit with him. That was it—I was hooked. From that moment on, we’ve been on parallel journeys with meditation.
Fast forward to my life in Raleigh today, and it seems like we’re more disconnected than ever. The pandemic emptied our streets and quieted our neighborhoods, yet our minds still struggle to slow down.
As a yoga and meditation teacher for more than a decade, I’ve seen firsthand how unsettled we’ve become. Technological advances move at dizzying speed, while political, environmental, and societal upheaval has become the norm.
Green Door Vitality, newly opened in downtown, is working to help our community explore these deep questions—and perhaps even find some answers.
Founded by Amie Sharrits, MD, Green Door is more than just a wellness studio. A holistic psychiatrist and trauma psychotherapist, Sharrits offers a spectrum of healing modalities—acupuncture, therapy, dance, hypnosis, meditation, and more. “There is a place for medication and therapy, but that isn’t all I wanted to do” Sharrits says. Beyond offering services, she emphasizes connection: “community is so overlooked in our culture.”
That’s where Cary Brief comes in. Started on August 5, Green Door launched a weekly guided meditation led by Brief every Tuesday from 7–8 p.m. The evening includes meditation instruction, guided practice, and time for Q&A.
With more than 20 years of experience as a Buddhist meditation teacher, Brief began his own healing journey after a car accident at age seven led to multiple surgeries and chronic pain. Soon to step into the role of Buddhist Chaplain at Duke University, he echoes the importance of connection. “The Buddha said sangha—community—was the whole of the spiritual path,” he says.
Both Sharrits and Brief acknowledge that many people are hesitant about meditation—and reassure that this is normal. “People misunderstand what it is, that meditation is shutting down the mind…This is not the purpose; the purpose is to sit still and watch the mind,” says Brief.
Sharrits agrees. She explains that meditation helps surface the emotional and mental patterns we often suppress. “Love him or hate him, Freud gave us the observation that we have an unconscious mind, when we are anxious or overwhelmed we can suppress and re-suppress these memories, ideas, and triggers into our unconscious and it lives as perpetual software,” says Sharrits.
The goal, she says, is to become still enough to access those triggers, process them, and begin to reorient them to the present.
There is no “right” way to wellness, and it is not a competition. It’s not something we can capture or check off a list—it’s something we embody. The journey can take a lifetime, but even the smallest moments of peace are priceless, especially when shared with new friends by your side.
To learn more, follow @greendoorvitality and @justsitraleighdhamma on Instagram.
