Upon first hearing the word “mindfulness,” all I could think of was typical meditation poses and yoga. People tend to joke about such poses when speaking of what it looks like to be peaceful and calm, but there are few moments when one stops to consider what they mean. 

First Year Seminar Mindfulness Research

I had my first one of these moments during my freshmen fall First Year Seminar: Introduction to Contemporary Dance. The course focused on contemporary dance across cultures as a means of building our writing skills. Accordingly, our final paper was to be a 15 page delve into a dance topic we were passionate about. Noticing a thread of tranquility and slow movement throughout the dances we observed and participated in, I decided to analyze meditation in dance. I synthesized a variety of pieces in which not only the aforementioned qualities were present, but also prolonged music notes, meditative poses (ex: ground work or yoga stretching), and spoken word. When writing the final, I located research on meditation and a concept that was new to me at the time: mindfulness.

Education Course Mindfulness Research

I happened to return to such a topic two years later when writing another final for an education course, Celebrating Learner Differences. However, my approach transformed to a psychological and educational one, honing in on the social-emotional benefits of mindfulness. I read countless articles on devoting time or entire areas within a classroom to mindfulness. Though this final centered students’ emotional development via mindfulness, I still felt a distance between myself and the practice. 

Mindfulness Engagement Through Course Participation

My junior spring saw a return of mindfulness in a practical, immersive nature. I had chosen to participate in the topic I had been researching for the past few years by enrolling in Mindfulness. This course allowed me to devote intentional time toward engaging in mindfulness and learn new tools to do so (ex: deep breathing exercises, yoga stretches, journaling, affirmations, and other specific meditative practices). In meeting two times a week and developing a consistent mindfulness practice (i.e., a combination of walking meditation, sitting meditation, journaling, and stretching throughout each week), I became immersed in the state of being mindful. In class, I would share the difficulties I encountered when meditating and focusing on my breath, through which the professor offered various techniques for maintaining focus on the present. We could repeat a mantra to ourselves, such as “I have arrived, I am here, I am present” or simply raise our hands to “catch” our thoughts and release them without judgment. Such targeted exercises became beneficial in creating my own toolbox of mindfulness practices. After the semester, I changed from someone who had only known mindfulness from a research perspective to valuing its practical applications in my personal life. 

Takeaways 

Today, I feel grateful to have explored a new realm of tranquility, emotional regulation, and practice as it has empowered me to draw on this knowledge to ground myself today. I still engage in mindfulness, while navigating the obstacles and barriers to practicing in my young adult years. A lot of room for learning and growth remains in terms of where in my life I can integrate it. Regardless, the beauty within mindfulness has continued to make a lasting impact on my life both socially and academically, helping me cope with my anxieties and stay focused in diverse settings.

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Work From Final Mindfulness Papers

Photos From Final Meditative Dance Paper

These photos were extracted from the numerous diverse dances we discussed over the course of my freshmen fall semester. Many of them link to wider performances and videos that we viewed either in or out of class and connect to larger concepts of tranquility, deep breathing, and slow movement, among others.

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Research Notes for Learner Differences Mindfulness Final

This document outlines the various sources I used to inform my final research paper analysis. I write brief bullet points summarizing the utility of 9 sources in the context of my paper. At the very bottom, I mention specific locations to look for unique sources, whether that be academic articles, lesson plans, or educational videos.