Thirty people are sitting in a wide circle, and no one is talking.

But that’s the way it’s supposed to be. This is a one-hour session on mindful meditation, offered at Duke Integrative Medicine off Erwin Road.

The session’s leader is Jeffrey Brantley, a psychiatrist and founder-director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at the Duke center. He’s been practicing meditation for more than 30 years, and teaching programs in mindfulness meditation for more than 20 years.

As the session continues and participants enter a 20-minute silent phase, Brantley advises the group to stay in the moment, to pay attention to the thoughts the mind is producing. Don’t fight the thoughts, even negative ones, …

Everyone has stress in their lives, but how you handle it makes all the difference, according to a world-renowned stress expert.

Jeffrey Brantley, a psychiatrist and founder-director of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program at Duke Integrative Medicine, says humans have always had stress, but some factors are making it worse today.

For example, with today’s global communications, people constantly hear disturbing news that they can do nothing about, which can increase stress.

Then there’s the tough economy and “the uncertainty about world terrorists and all that stuff,” Brantley said. “And all of our veterans and their families and the costs. So I think there are some forces in our cultural fabric right …