Looking to relax after a stressful, snow-filled day, a group of students gathered in Fayerweather on Wednesday, Feb. 5 for an hour-long discussion on and practice of meditation. This session was the first in a series of four that will make up the Month of Mindfulness, an event hosted by the Peer Health Advocates (PHA) to help students be more aware of themselves and their surroundings.
The Month of Mindfulness will consist of four free lectures, one every Wednesday night throughout the month of February. Each session will be presented by a different leader from the University community and will focus on a different topic. Scott Kessel ’87 led Wednesday’s session, titled “Guided Meditation and Walking Meditation.”
Future sessions will include “The Mindfulness of Time and Presence” with Director of Religious and Spiritual Life and University Jewish Chaplain David Teva, “Ways of Movement” with Associate Professor of Dance Katja Kolcio, and “Yoga Asana and Meditation” with Amy Tate. All sessions are open to students and do not require experience or attendance at the other lectures.
Katie McLaughlin ’15, one of the primary PHA organizers of the series, stressed that the meetings are designed to be accessible introductions to various topics of mindfulness for students.
“[Teva] leads a six-week intensive course about mindfulness, and many people don’t have the time to take that or maybe aren’t interested pursuing it in that depth,” McLaughlin said. “So we wanted to give people a glimpse into what mindfulness is in a couple of different practices that would be low commitment.”
Teva explained how he hopes to look at a specific aspect of the concept during his lecture on Feb. 12.
“Mindfulness can be understood as being fully present in the moment without judgement,” Teva wrote in an email to The Argus. “The first part takes practice, the second, well [let’s] just say for me involves more practice. In my workshop, I want us to look at technology and rest. At Wes, are we ever not ‘plugged in’ to our shiny tech gadgets? As individuals and as members of a community and an eco-system, what are the implications of being always ‘on’ and ‘wired’? How do we find solitude and rest at a campus when there are so many amazing people to meet and so many experiences to have?”
The project began last semester under Sophie Riffkin ’13, and leadership transferred to McLaughlin when Riffkin graduated at the end of the Fall 2013 semester.
Riffkin emphasized that the program aims to help students slow down and enjoy their experiences, as Teva’s course helped her do the same.
“I hope mindfulness can give Wesleyan students some stability, grounding, and perspective,” Riffkin wrote in an email to The Argus. “Campus is a very temporary place, with a lot of huge changes and a fast-paced life. I was getting really worked up and involved in my work, my friends, myself, and my schedule. Mindfulness helped me slow down and enjoy my classes and especially the people around me on campus I might have missed.”
McLaughlin echoed Riffkin’s sentiments. As a participant in the lecture series herself, she hopes that all attendees will find a personal reward in being more mindful.
“Everyone, hopefully, will get something that’s incredibly personal to them,” McLaughlin said. “We often at Wesleyan focus a lot on what’s going on in our minds and don’t necessarily focus on how our bodies are feeling. [We’re] trying to break down some of the tension that we have in our bodies and our minds and find healthy ways to deal with that and reflect in on what we’re feeling and thinking.”
In addition to the four lectures, the PHA will be hosting another event each week as an additional part of the Month of Mindfulness. These activities will include a hike, a discussion about sleep, a yoga workshop with WesBAM, and group coloring. Like the lectures, these are also free and open to all students.
While the lectures are aimed at education with a practical aspect, the activities are more physical and focus on practicing mindfulness.
McLaughlin stated the importance of these sessions and the effect that being mindful can have on our daily lives.
“Personally, I think that we have a lot of stresses that don’t necessarily have to be there but they’re sort of inherent to our lives, and so to find a way to reflect inwards and understand how we’re feeling can really eliminate a lot of those negative feelings that we have,” McLaughlin said. “That for me is what mindfulness can do for people, especially in a college community where we’re so close to each other.”
McLaughlin explained that the course is not focused on skill, but rather on education and reflection.
“It’s really for anybody,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t really be good at it or bad at it. There’s no experience you need. Just being willing to try different things is really the only requirement to participate in this course. I think people could really surprise themselves if they tried it.”