The Mindfulness Meditation program is the gym for the mind.
“The idea behind mindfulness isn”t to force positive thinking,” said Jamie Derrick, a psychologist for the Department of Psychology and Communication Studies and the teacher of Mindfulness Meditation. “The idea behind mindfulness is to be present with whatever you actually are experiencing.”
Since January, Mindfulness Meditation has been held from noon to 12:25 p.m. Wednesdays in the Borah Theatre of the Bruce Pitman Center.
The program has an open-door policy and accepts anyone interested in taking it, including students, staff and community members.
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Students, faculty and community members perform a 25 minute Mindfulness Meditation guided by Jamie Derrick Wednesday.
Derrick said the program aims to increase focus and to help individuals be present in every experience, whether negative, positive or neutral. Such mindfulness improves performance in many aspects of life, Derrick said, including academics, professions and athletics.
She said the class also emphasizes training attitude to find self-respect and self-acceptance in order to reduce stress, with self-acceptance being a major contributor to stress reduction.
“The two together are just like this magnificent thing,” Derrick said.
Finding a place to hold the program hasn”t exactly been easy, though. Derrick has to find a new location each semester. The Borah Theatre is a student space, so Derrick wouldn”t have been able to access it without sponsorship from ASUI and the Sustainability Center.
Derrick said having these sponsors is essential for the class.
Derrick began a 21-day mindfulness challenge podcast Sept. 21. The podcast features 5-minute mindfulness meditations, and over 500 registered people receive it in their email.
Derrick said she chose the 21-day timeframe because that”s how long it takes to develop a habit. Although registration is over, the podcasts can still be accessed on Derrick”s professional and personal website.
Derrick is also looking into finding other ways for mindfulness to be accessed electronically.
In the end, the goal for Mindfulness Meditation is to help students be in the present and respond to their experiences in a calm and respectful manner.
“Our world has lots of problems,” Derrick said. “To me, it”s like a little way to change the world we live in, starting with our campus.”
Marisa Casella can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @marisacasella1