So far, my columns this quarter have been about how students can escape the stress of college life and maintain physical health and fitness. I have found that when I am especially stressed it can be difficult to enjoy a workout or eat well, so I want to address a way of maintaining mental health as well.
As you may have guessed, this week’s column is about meditation. Writing last week’s column in the tranquil and beautiful environment of the Botanical Garden helped me realize that a healthy body requires a healthy mind.
During my difficult week of midterms, I decided to incorporate meditation in between my study sessions every day to see how it affected me.
I have been on guided meditations before, and any instructor I have ever had has told me that the way a person chooses to meditate is entirely up to them; there are no real guidelines. In fact, one once told me, “If you need to sleep to meditate, then go right ahead!”
Meditation does not require a precise technique; you can define what meditation routine works for you by determining what approach makes it easiest for you to calm your thoughts.
However, I quickly realized that meditating alone was a whole new ball game. With guided meditation, there is an instructor to create a focus for meditation. And without this direction, I was lost. It was difficult to forget my thoughts and I was easily distracted by my surroundings.
This is when I discovered how well breathing exercises work. I had heard about them in the past from numerous teachers, coaches and health instructors, but disregarded them without any real reason.
There is the popular tactic of counting breaths up to a specific number such as ten and repeating the process until one feels calm. I suggest something slightly different.
First, bring to the front of your mind every stress that you have: relationship or roommate problems, classes and whatever else is on your mind. Visualize each stress and feel its weight on your shoulders. Then, each time you exhale, imagine the weight on your shoulders getting lighter as each stress leaves your body with your breath.
After you are finally relaxed, meditation shouldn’t take any conscious effort. After all, the whole point is to free your mind.
Whenever I started meditating, I did not choose a specific focus. I realized that where I meditated had a more significant impact on my relaxation than what I thought about.
I tried obvious places such as the Botanical Garden as well as the Sculpture Garden, which were definitely relaxing. The Botanical Garden is a good location to use when you are looking for solitude in nature, while the Sculpture Garden is better if you just want a quiet place to nap.
I also really enjoyed leaning against a column outside Royce Hall and sitting by the “Play Me, I’m Yours” piano. Although there was more activity around me, the live piano music was enjoyable. I found that when I was by the piano, I didn’t relax in a way that shut off my mind. Instead, it was a relaxation that allowed me to mentally escape the world around me.
The grass in front of the Fowler Museum is another relaxing location, but it can be chaotic when students are rushing to and from class. So, for the most part, it is suitable if you are short on time and need the bustle to serve as a sort of alarm.
I was happy to see that the meditation had an obvious impact on the outcome of my week. Because of stress during my last quarter’s midterms, I did not work out once nor did I eat well. If I remember correctly, I had tater tots every morning and dessert every night of the week.
I felt significantly less stressed this entire week since starting meditation. I felt that I retained more information when I studied because my mind was calm and focused, and I felt less frazzled after study sessions.
A study done at the University of North Carolina backs this up. The study concluded that students’ performances improved on tests of cognitive skill after meditating 20 minutes a day for four days.
Because I was studying more efficiently, it took less time and I could incorporate short, half-hour workouts into my day. Being so calm overall made it easy to maintain a healthy diet and avoid comfort food such as cake.
I had planned the meditation as a change for stressful times, but I believe it would be a great thing for any college student to do at least once a week at any time of year.
How do you maintain a healthy mind? Email Davis at mdavis2@media.ucla.edu. “Shape It Up” runs every Friday.