9/12/24, 5:13 PM Mindfulness curriculum abounds across disciplines at ASU | ASU News

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Health and medicine

Mindfulness
curriculum
abounds across
disciplines at
ASU
From social work to business to
communications, students of any major can
benefit from the practice

By Emma Greguska |
October 11, 2018

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and on the third floor of the Arizona

Center in downtown Phoenix, a group of second-year Mayo Clinic
students are learning to walk — or perhaps more accurately, re-
learning to walk. This time, they're doing it mindfully.

Arranged in a circle in the large communal room at the offices of

Arizona State University’s Center for Mindfulness, Compassion
and Resilience, they move clockwise, each step slow and
thoughtful, taking their direction from Angie Haskovec, alumni
coordinator for the College of Nursing and Health Innovation, who
stands just outside the circle, gently guiding them.

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“Think about all the muscles that go into taking each step,”
Haskovec says. “Notice all the sensations in your feet. The
temperature, the texture of the carpet.”
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The students listen, eyes trained on the floor beneath them as they
continue in their silent march.

This is day two of a four-day selective course developed by the

center specifically to introduce Mayo Clinic medical students to the
concept of mindfulness and related practices so they can
incorporate them into their schooling and later, their careers.

Haskovec is the instructor for today’s Koru Mindfulness lesson.

Developed in the mid-'90s by two psychiatrists at Duke University,
the Koru Mindfulness curriculum is geared toward students and
young adults, applying such practices as breathing techniques, I think it would've been nice
visualization exercises and guided meditations to the specific had they given an example or
context and challenges of the college environment. two here of the "context and
After the exercise, the students head back to the more intimate
challenges of... college"
conference room, where the rest of the day’s lessons will take
place, to reflect.

“I can see why it’s so hard to program a robot to walk,” said Ryan
Smith. All joking aside, Smith reported that it forced him to quiet his
mind and focus just on the present moment and what was
happening in it. “All the little things involved in just taking a step is
something you’re not typically conscious of in day-to-day life.”

Teri Pipe, ASU’s chief well-being officer and founding director of This might be good for those
the Center for Mindfulness, said she particularly likes the mindful who don't necessarily feel
walking practice because it’s “sneaky” in that you can do it without comfortable just sitting there,
anyone noticing, unlike other practices that might require you to sit for those who are more
down and close your eyes for several minutes or repeat a mantra fidgety like me
aloud.

Pipe, who also serves as a research professor at CONHI, designed

the four-day selective along with the center’s executive director for
university engagement, Nika Gueci.

“Mindfulness practices,” Pipe said, can help those in the medical I like this tidbit, as none of the
field to better deal with stressful situations, such as a patient dying, other articles mentioned
“by strengthening their disaster-preparedness beforehand, stresses like burnout or disaster
ensuring they have the skills to cope while the stress is occurring preparedness
and afterwards, to regroup and rejuvenate so they’re ready to go
back to work the next day and be a full person, and not get burnout
or suffer from chronic fatigue of compassion.”

But as several ASU faculty can attest, the benefits of mindfulness

extend to more than just medical students.

Barbara Crisp, an adjunct faculty member with The Design School,

began teaching a mindfulness fundamentals course there a few
semesters ago in which students hear from guest speakers and
learn skills that range from breathing techniques to meditation to
body scanning.

“I’m trying to give them a well-rounded approach to what

mindfulness is and how it’s really important as a lifelong skill,”
Crisp said.

During the second semester teaching the course, an error was

made in the catalog that allowed students from any discipline to
sign up.

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eft) and Terence Meyerhoefer take part in a brief meditation ASU Chief Well-Being Officer Teri Pipe speaks to second-year Mayo Clinic
Chatterjee during a four-day selective course offered by ASU's Center for

Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

But, Crisp said, “It was a lovely accident because when we get out
of school, we work across all disciplines.”

Now, in addition to the mindfulness course she teaches for design Reducing panic/anxiety
students, Crisp teaches Koru Mindfulness classes to full-time through breathing exercises
graduate students at the W. P. Carey School of Business. She said keeps the mind on track when
students have reported benefits that include communicating better dealing with tests
with their partner and performing better on tests and assignments.

“There is so much talk about excellence in academia, but without

stillness (and) silence, we cannot build resilience nor can we
access our innate wisdom,” Crisp said. “Resilience arises from
silence — meaning you can bounce back from challenges and
cultivate the ability to cope with whatever comes your way. And
that silence also gives rise to our innate wisdom and the potential
to achieve another level of excellence.”

School of Social Work faculty associate Jeffrey Woolley agrees Think this could be useful in
that mindfulness is one of the best ways to work on yourself and helping counselors connect
achieve personal growth. A psychotherapist, Woolley became with those using these types of
interested in the practice during his college years in the 1980s and services
has been formally practicing meditation for 31 years.

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At ASU, Woolley teaches his social work students three
mindfulness courses that make up part of the Integrative Health
Certificate: “mindfulness and quality of life,” “treating the whole
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“In our classes, we apply mindfulness directly to clinical rapport,”

Woolley said. “It helps greatly in that regard by being present and
Seems that mindfulness
open and receptive.”
helps to separate one's
All things that translate to exemplary communication, regardless of self from their emotions,
the nature of the relationship. which is beneficial when
trying to communicate
When Douglas Kelley, a professor of communication studies in the feelings and facilitate
New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, participated in listening instead of being
couple's counseling, he realized that such mindful concepts as wrapped up in negativity
being present and aware of one’s feelings can better facilitate
reconciliation and forgiveness.

Now Kelley regularly incorporates mindfulness into his classes and

often asks students to try various techniques out at home. Once,
he asked his students to engage in mindful listening during a
conversation over the weekend, focusing on being present and
nonjudgmental of what the other person was saying.

The following week, a previously skeptical student reported having

used the technique while listening to his mom complain about his
dad — something he’d usually just tune out — and came away with
a deeper appreciation for her feelings and situation.

“I just wanted to grab him and hug him and say, ‘That’s it!’” Kelley
recalled. But, he tempered, “the object isn’t to come away with a
new insight, it’s simply to be. And that theme carries through my
courses: the idea of transformation through presence. I believe that
we’re transformed through being present with ourselves and each
other in a nonjudgmental way.”

The existing recognition of mindfulness as a powerful life tool at

ASU underscores the value of having a place like the Center for
Mindfulness, Compassion and Resilience that can act as a hub for
the emerging phenomenon.

Since its launch over a year ago, there have been several
promising developments at the center, including a series of online
health and wellness courses created in collaboration with Mayo
Clinic and EdPlus.

And registration is now open for the center’s second annual

conference, “Water and Stone: The Power of Mindfulness for
Social Change,” which will take place Feb. 28 through March 1 as
part of its Equitable Mindfulness Initiative, with Rhonda Magee of
the University of San Francisco and Kamilah Majied of Howard
University as keynote speakers.

Top photo: Second-year Mayo Clinic medical student Ryan Smith

takes part in a meditation exercise as part of a four-day selective
course offered by ASU's Center for Mindfulness, Compassion and
Resilience. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU Now

Downtown Phoenix campus Featured Healthy Living

Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts School of Social Work

Faculty The Design School Student life The Design School

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