When psychology major and University junior Jackie Brandt moved from Michigan to Oregon to work and attend school full-time, she found meditation to be the answer to her always-on-the-go lifestyle.
“It helps me relax a lot more,” Brandt said. “It showed me that there is another way to be. I’m a very type-A person – really achievement oriented. I’m stressed out a lot.”
In college health surveys across the country, students consistently list stress as one of the major factors that impact academic performance, said Paula Staight, director of health education at the University Health Center. The Health Center will offer students the chance to explore the health benefits of meditation by offering a free six-week meditation series from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. starting Wednesday.
Meditation is a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought and typically involves the mind. Although meditation started through Eastern religions, the practice has caught on in Western culture, and scientists have found that meditation might boost brain size, improve mental performance and increase attention, according to the Society for Neuroscience.
Brandt found free meditation sessions in Eugene, but the instructor began charging $45 a month – an amount she couldn’t afford.
She eventually stopped going.
“I was feeling guilty being at his house knowing he had to make a house payment,” she said.
Brandt said meditation improved her all-around attention and gave her the chance to unwind when practiced weekly or daily.
“Everyone that does it will experience something from it,” she said. “It’s vital to health to have some relaxation time, especially for students.”
Jude Kehoe, who has been meditating for 35 years, has been teaching meditation in Eugene since 1998 and will teach the upcoming class.
“Basically what I do is teach people how to relax, and to quiet their minds,” Kehoe said.
Students will learn both brief and extended meditation techniques in the class, including centering, attending, concentrating and openness, Kehoe said. Students will also learn how to trigger the “relaxation response,” bringing down blood pressure levels and slowing the pulse.
In the first class, students will learn a breathing technique and count their breaths in a minute, Kehoe said. A person breathes an average of 12 to 16 breaths a minute, and some breathe as many as 28. After the techniques, students often see a dramatic effect.
“At the end of the class, they’re breathing eight breaths a minute,” Kehoe said.
The instructor and nurse said she hopes to teach students how to focus and manage stress. She also hopes students in the class will experience clarity, increase energy and get more sleep.
“If (students) get overwhelmed, I teach techniques to calm them down,” Kehoe said.
Brandt said she plans on attending the class if it fits her schedule.
“I think it should be free because mental well-being should be available to anyone interested in pursuing it,” Brandt said.
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Students seek to unwind for free
Daily Emerald
January 22, 2007
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