The floor of the classroom is occupied by scattered pillows, large and small, and Professor Toru Sato is standing in the front of the room, preparing to begin the first in a series of sessions on the art of mindfulness. The session is called “Focusing on the Breath,” and a motley assortment of students and professors alike are situated in their seats, ready to begin.
Every Thursday at 11 a.m. in Franklin Science Center room 226, Sato, a professor of psychology for 15 years, and Tomoko Grabosky of the Counseling Department, guide students, staff and faculty through a series of exercises, including meditation, to teach them about achieving control of the present moment.
Sato explains that the mindfulness series is more than mere meditation. “Some people engage in meditation,” he says. “That’s not necessarily mindfulness practice.
[Mindfulness practice] has its own purposes. The purpose of this is to become more aware of what’s going on inside ourselves — right now, right here — inside us and around us.”
Sato has been practicing meditation regularly for about eight years. “It helps me become more away of what’s going on inside of me. My thoughts, my feelings — I’m not controlled by them as much. [Because of mindfulness exercises], I see them, and I can deal with them without having to react impulsively,” Sato said.
Each week, the instructors discuss a new component for achieving a state of mindfulness. After discussion, Sato and Grabosky lead a guided meditation session. At the end of the hour, they open the floor for discussion, and everyone is given an opportunity to share their individual experiences.
Seth Baker, a junior psychology major, was among those in attendance at Thursday’s session. “It’s probably one of the things that helped me the most during finals week last semester,” Baker said. “It’s a big stress reliever.”
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