Mindfulness and Meditation

Dr. Vardha N. Bennert

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Information on Dr. Bennert's Teaching and Research Activities can be found here.

Climate crisis, social injustice and systemic racism, COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing wars are major global challenges we all feel the impact of. These trying times are filled with uncertainty, which can lead to a feeling of stress, worry, anxiety, overwhelm, helplessness and fear. We may have difficulties sleeping or experience mood swings and even depression. The importance of maintaining mental health has never been more obvious and urgent, yet, it is rarely, if ever, talked about, especially in academia. Many students and faculty alike suffer from the pressure to constantly perform, achieve and produce. According to the American College Health Association, students reported stress, anxiety, sleep trouble and depression as the top four impediments to academic achievement, and 9 of the 10 top factors are mental health and/or coping skills related.
Throughout my career and particularly as an undergraduate research mentor, I have been approached by numerous students reaching out for help in their own individual struggles. The resulting uplifting conversations inspired me to offer workshops on mindfulness, meditation and work-life balance. I provide guidelines that can help students make healthy choices on a day-to-day basis. In particular the benefits of mindfulness and meditation to body and mind are well established by medical research and include greater peace of mind, better concentration and the ability to relax from the stresses of modern life. During the workshop, participants experiment with a few short mindfulness practices that can be used as tools in everyday life. Facilitated group discussions help students share their struggles and create a sense of community and support.
Lastly, let me emphasize that having basic needs met is essential. Without it, it is hard to practice mindfulness. Cal Poly has a Basic Needs Initiative (see link below).

Slides and Recordings from Workshops

The slides below are from my most recent presentation of this workshop. They are meant mainly for previous participants as a reminder and resource. I am also including a few short guided mindfulness recordings used during the workshop. They are based on and inspired by meditation practices used in e.g., Buddhism. Feel free to make use of these materials, but if you do, please send me an email (see below) and include an acknowledgement.

Slides: Introduction to Mindfulness and Meditation
Recording: Guided Sitting Meditation
Recording: Mindful Walking
Recording: Mindful Eating

Resources

There are thousands of resources that can be found online - it can actually be overwhelming and it is hard to know which webpages are trustworthy and research based. Below, I have compiled a few links just to get you started. If you know of any resources that you feel should be listed here, please send me an email.

Online resources

Mindfulness
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction I
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction II
8 Guided Meditations
Ted Talk by Shauna Shapiro on Meditation
Myths about Meditation
Spiritual Teacher Eckard Tolle about Meditation
Audiobook by spiritual teacher Eckard Tolle "The Power of Now" (also available on amazon as regular book)
Ted Talk by Brene Brown on Vulnerability
Online Yoga Lessons
14 Keys to a healthy diet (UC Berkeley)
Physician Dr. Greger on healthy food
Documentary on Netflix "What the health"
UC Berkeley Handbook on Mental Health
New York Times Article on Cell Phone Addiction

Local resources

Cal Poly Student "Mindfulness Club"
Buddhist meditation group in San Luis Obispo I
Buddhist meditation group in San Luis Obispo II
Yoga Studio in San Luis Obispo
Cal Poly Ecstatic Dance and Mindfulness Club
Inner Rhythm Dance Cambria
Cal Poly Campus Health and Wellbeing
Cal Poly Basic Needs Initiative

What we can do as faculty

If you are reading this as a teacher or professor, I believe it is important that we, as faculty, acknowledge the challenges that students are facing in today's world. To support our students better, we can start by acknowledging that we, too, are struggling with issues such as stress and finding a healthy work-life balance. Let's not forget that we are role models to our students. Here are a couple of concrete suggestions. For example, we can address explicitely what helps us to stay healthy and nourished. We can invite our students to come and talk to us about issues that are not solely course-content related, but more generally concerning their lives that can have a real impact on their academic achievements. We can include links to campus resources (see above) on our class webpage and write a blurb for our syllabus (e.g., summarizing some of the intro statements made here). We can try to avoid a midnight or weekend deadline for an assignment, and instead choose e.g., Friday at 5pm. Finally, I highly recommend the book "Teaching with Compassion: An Educator’s Oath to Teach from the Heart" by Peter Kaufman and Janine Schipper for many more practical suggestions and applications. The book emphasizes the importance of treating all students with respect, care and dignity, and illustrates ways how to cultivate a community of learners for a more humanizing educational experience.

About me

To balance my work as a teacher and researcher (in astrophysics), I have been practicing various forms of meditation and body-awareness practices (such as Tai Chi, QiGong, Yoga and conscious dance) for over 20 years and have also participated in numerous personal growth workshops.

VardhaNBennert

If you have any questions, comments or concerns about the workshop or the material presented on this webpage, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Vardha N. Bennert
Full Professor
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Physics Department
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Office: 180-622
Phone: (805)756-7317
Email: vbennert AT calpoly.edu