For college students, even a 60 second break seems like a luxury. The Mindfulness and Meditation Club, however, hopes to give them an entire 20 minutes.
Founded in 2013, the Mindfulness and Meditation Club was started by a group of UT students seeking an organization that focused solely on living in the present. Gabriel Hanas, senior in computer science and co-president of the club, said the group uses meditation to reduce stress.
“We want to go about living a more mindful life and live in the present moment, and not live in past moments or worry too much about the future,” Hanas said. “We want to just enjoy what we have at this moment.
“The idea of that is, when you meditate, you’ll be focused on some aspect, either a mantra or your breath, and you’ll just notice a thought. And when you notice that thought, you say ‘Oh, I was meditating, let me go back to focusing on my breath.'”
Hanas said meditation often requires catching yourself drifting away from whatever you want to focus on, then returning to your focused thought. Ideally, a person will focus on the present moment and not to allow their thoughts to become cluttered with everyday concerns.
Rebecca Neighbor, a senior in chemistry and biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology and the organization’s vice president, said the club provides a chance for students to increase focus.
“We get so stressed and distracted by texting, video games, whatever, and this is really good to help focus just on studying or something,” Neighbor said.
Both Hanas and Neighbor credit meditation to helping them overcome worry.
“I’ve started having miniature panic attacks recently, and I’ve used this to help with that,” Hanas said. “That’s really just allowed me to calm myself down.”
Hanas and Neighbor formed the organization after taking the first year studies mindfulness and meditation course.
“It was just something that had spoke to us, and it improved our life,” Hanas said. “It sounds a little cheesy to say, but I’ve really felt a difference after sitting, like even once a week and meditating. I just felt more focused afterwards.”
Members begin each meeting by discussing the benefits of their past meditation practices, then meditating for 20 minutes. Meetings end with a discussion about how the meditation went. The group also teaches new mediation techniques. Sometimes, the group works on Qigong, a system of physical and breathing exercises similar to tai chi. They occasionally pair with the Philosophy Club for meetings as well.
The organization currently plans to hold a retreat in spring, in addition to a few nature meditations. The group is also interested in taking an archery class together.
“Absolutely everybody should at least come and try it out,” Hanas said. “It’s not for everybody. We’ve had people come and go, but it’s definitely worth a try and see what you think about it personally. It can only benefit you to come.”
The Mindfulness and Meditation Club is always looking for new members. Both Hanas and Neighbor have been pleased with the amount of new faces at this semester’s meetings.
“Meditation and mindfulness is something that we think everyone should experience because it will just make the campus better as a whole if everyone’s positive and happy and not stressed,” Neighbor said. “It’s different, it’s neat. There’s not anything else like it on campus.”
The Mindfulness and Meditation Club meets every Wednesday in the UC at 5:30 p.m. Interested participants and new members are encouraged to come at 5 p.m. to learn more about the club and the basics of meditation.
To learn more about the Mindfulness and Meditation Club and to see which room they will meet in each week, interested students can visit the organization’s Facebook Page or Twitter account (@UTK_MM_Club) for more information.
