The Campus Ministry wants to help students manage stress with meditation
By: Omsalama Ayoub
Staff Writer
Are you feeling stressed? Need to take a breather? Join the Wellness Center on Thursdays at 11 a.m. for a much needed meditation session.
On September 27, Hudson Valley Community College hosted one of its first meditation sessions of the fall semester. The session was held on the second floor of the Siek Campus Center inside the Wellness Center, room 270.
The meditation session is an opportunity to take a break from the stresses of college life.
“We’re always so rushed in our actions more and more so in the way that we think and who we are amongst society… amongst when we’re with each other,” said Michelle Thivierge, the Campus Chaplain who orchestrates the event
The event uses a guided meditation from a YouTube channel run by the Honest Guys. The Honest Guys provide new materials weekly with additional content on Thursdays. The YouTube channel is accessible to all at no charge and has videos ranging anywhere from three minutes to eight hours.
The content of the videos are for any person that looks to relax and go from overwhelmed, to managing, to coping successfully. The voice-over of the videos allows you to accept your “Mind Noise” and find some peace in your daily “copy and paste” template of everyday life.
The guided meditation session is a thirty-minute pause button for stress from 11 a.m to 11:30 a.m..
The structure of the event includes an introduction and conclusion by Chaplain Thivierge on mindfulness and being keen to your surroundings, sandwiching a twenty minutes Honest Guys guided meditation.
In a world that never stops spinning, we need a reminder to breathe sometimes. Furthermore, Thivierge believes that meditation gives us a chance to slow down and breathe and think about not the moment ahead, but the moment that we’re in right now.
“How do I live in this very moment not thinking about what’s behind me or what’s in front of me, but exactly where I am,” said Thivierge. “I think more and more these days that’s becoming something that we can all benefit from,” she said.
If you have missed the meditation session for the week, do not worry. Meditation sessions will be held on Thursdays until November 15.
“On a college campus maybe not every student is going to want to pray [however], we can all experience meditation,” said Thrivage.
Thivierge understand many students will be too busy to attend. However, if you do ever feel the need for a break you know the time and place. The important thing is to recognize when you need to take a step back and just breathe.