I am a strong supporter of meditation in the classroom. Personally, I think that every class should start with a brief session of mindfulness, to get us out of our heads and in the present moment.
I believe that there is no activity more important in our society today than meditative practice.
Meditation has shown itself to be more and more important in my life. I strive to start everyday with 30 minutes of yoga and 30 minutes of meditative practice. This starts my day and allows me to be more mindful, which helps in my writing process because I notice more, remember more, and feel more in touch with my thoughts.
What I learned when I went on a Tibetan Buddhist retreat was that even the most Zen masters are bombarded by a cannonade of thoughts every day. That is just a fact. It is what the mind does: think. However, if we fail to be mindful, we will find ourselves caught up in this relentless torrent of thoughts, and we will come to identify ourselves with these thoughts. Meditation actively disengages us from this type of identification; it allows a space to open up where we can distance ourselves from our monkey minds and observe.
It's been my experience that once we begin to observe, we can learn to let go of those commonplace, repetitive thoughts that keep us stuck in our minds. By learning to let go of these, we open up a space inside of us where we can allow truly creative and genuine thought to emerge. These thoughts are where genius happens, and that for me is extremely important as a writer.
Can we learn to notice our genius among the mundane?
If you're interested in learning more about why meditation is great for college students, check out this article I wrote for The Odyssey: 5 Reasons to Start Meditation in College
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