Source: The Washington Post

On December 8, 2000, The Washington Post reported that "D'Estree, a Harvard Divinity School graduate who was recognized in 1981 as a lopon (master teacher) by the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, sits on the floor at the front of the room. He gently rings a ritual bell, and the evening's meditation session begins." D'Estree stresses that one does not necessarily need to be Buddhist in order to appreciate meditation as a stress-relieving technique, or as a form of prayer for theistic traditions. "'Meditation can be a stress reduction technique,' [d'Estree] says, 'but it's also an awareness of the body and that we don't just exist from the neck up. If nothing else, it would be nice for people to just relax for 20 minutes a day and see that the world would keep turning without their involvement.'"