Relax? With all the demands made on time in our busy lives, it is so easy to get caught up in the rat race of day to day living. Who has time for relaxation?
Mindfulness is the state of moment to moment awareness. So often people are engrossed in their busy lives and focus on that constant internal dialogue, anxiety, dwelling in the past or contemplating the future. By redirecting the mind, Mindfulness helps to restore and maintain a sense of well-being.
According to Jocelyn Esch, a graduate intern at the IU South Bend Student Counseling Center (SCC), the effects of practicing Mindfulness are cumulative, the more often it is practiced, even just for five minutes at a time, the higher the level attained.
“Mindfulness is so much about bringing awareness into our bodies,” said Esch. “We direct our mind to experiences outside of us, like to an object. Sometimes I ask people to simply listen to the sound in a room, or sometimes it is a word that they say and become the word.”
According to an online forum, The Mindfulness Consultancy, Mindfulness-based stress reduction is rooted in Theravada Buddhism and was westernized by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979.
Esch has been involved in contemplative practices such as yoga and meditation both in the regular tradition and in the zazen tradition for over 20 years. She has been trained in dialectical behavioral therapy, a Mindfulness based therapeutic approach, and Esch has found that students react better to this technique any other.
In her work at the SCC Esch has taught Mindfulness to many students and has had a lot of positive feedback from them in cases ranging from anger issues and extreme anxiety to eating disorders.
“I had a student who was struggling with anorexia and bulimia and she is learning how to become more aware of her body. She began to practice mindful eating…really allowing herself to eat the food she was eating, slowing herself down.”
Because of the positive response to the technique, Esch decided to open the practice up to faculty, staff, and students.
“It is always more effective to teach a group of people a new skill,” said Esch “and then they have each other to do it with.”
In addition to providing simple stress relief, Mindfulness can also develop skills for avoiding emotional and physical depletion.
“The essence of Mindfulness is putting our mind where we want it to be” said Esch.
The Mindfulness sessions will run weekly through May. For more information contact Jocelyn Esch at the Student Counseling Center 520-4125.
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