Counselor uses
Buddhist faith to guide and teach others
By
Victoria Malmer, Palm Beach Post, July 12, 2006
Palm Beach, FL (USA) --
Maya Malay started out as a little Presbyterian girl in Falls
Church, Va. But life is a long, strange trip, and it steered her
toward counseling and helping others in the Buddhist faith.
Maya Malay leads a Loving Relationship Training session at
Changing Times bookstore in West Palm Beach. Malay, who has a
master's degree in theology, offers group and individual
counseling, meditation classes and workshops through the Palm Beach
Dharma Center in Lake Worth - Eliza Gutierrez, Palm Beach Post,
July 12, 2006
Now she's a pastoral counselor and ngakma, which is similar to a
nun, but more worldly. She was ordained by the Palm Beach Dharma
Center and wears robes. "I've dedicated my life to alleviating
suffering in any way I can," she said.
She does group and individual counseling, meditation classes and
workshops through the Palm Beach Dharma Center in Lake Worth.
"I
love teaching meditation," she said. "I love that my work helps
people get out of the struggles they have with their own minds,
their selves and their relationships.
"We learn to utilize thoughts that will enhance our lives and add
to our peace and well-being."
She's worked for seven years at the Dharma Center, which was
founded by two brothers, the Venerable Khenchen Palden Sherab
Rinpoche and the Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche.
Growing up, "I went every Sunday to a Presbyterian
church," she said. "I had a great
love for the church as a child. I love my Christian
roots."
Buddhism "cultivates love and compassion for
everyone," she said.
"Buddhism doesn't exclude, it embraces other religions. We are
taught not to abandon the beliefs of our
pasts."
When she was 15, she met her first formal teacher, an Indian
guru. "I learned meditation and
mantra," she said. "I incorporated
those into my life immediately."
She got a fine arts undergraduate degree with a minor in theology
from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
She was running a pottery studio for the parks service in Fairfax
County, Va., when a friend offered her a job at his fancy
restaurant on the waterfront in Washington, D.C.
"I was
23 at the time," she said. "He trained me to
be a bartender. It proved to be a wonderful
job."
She began dating the dockmaster. Eventually, they set off on a
two-year adventure on his boat, sailing as far north as Halifax,
Nova Scotia, and as far south as the Exuma Islands in the
Bahamas.
"It
was an amazing lifestyle," she said. "It was a little
primitive at times, but it taught me a lot, like how to live
without power during hurricanes."
They ended up in Fort Lauderdale. "The land of lust
and liquor" she calls it.
"He
loved to work," she said. "He got a great
job captaining a large yacht. I found a wonderful group of
friends."
But he was away a lot, sailing the yacht. They grew apart and went
their separate ways.
She eventually met someone else, and he brought her to Palm Beach
County to live. They married and settled down. Malay found the
Dharma Center, her spiritual home.
She ran a bookstore while earning a master's degree in theology at
Florida Religious Studies Institute, which was in Fort
Lauderdale.
After three years, she and her husband divorced. By then, Malay was
starting her practice.
"I
never had to work at building a counseling practice,"
she said.
"Before I knew it, I was in a full-time
practice."
She also does public speaking, at places as diverse as The
Mar-a-Lago Club and the Veterans Hospital in Riviera Beach.
She teaches meditation to women at Orchid Recovery Center in Palm
Springs.
July 27-30, she will teach 40 couples in Jupiter what she calls
LRT: Loving Relationship Training.
"Their
lives are changed forever in four days," she
said.
Her practice is in Lake Worth. She lives in a condominium on the
Intracoastal Waterway in southern West Palm Beach. she said with a
smile."God had to bribe me to stay in South Florida
by giving me this condo,"
She loves reading and walking to the ocean from her home.
She still dabbles in art as a hobby, "but a lot of my
free time is spent in my spiritual practice," she said. "I love my
work.
"I
help people end the turbulence that their thoughts can cause in
their lives. Our health improves. Our relationships improve.
"In every arena, it comes back to the thoughts people are
having."
