Time for meditation
St. Michael's professors give talk about meditation to further education

Madeleine Cave| staff writer

A panel discussion was held on Oct. 30 in the Farrell Room by four faculty members to discuss mindfulness and contemplative meditation practices, to be used inside and outside of the classroom.

Being "Mindfull"

Molly Millwood, a professor in the psychology department was the first to speak about the importance of mindfulness in her own life.

Joseph Kroger, professor of religious studies learned about meditation from Buddhism. Larry Frisoli, photo

“Mindfulness is paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and not judgmentally,” she says. “It’s being in control of your mind instead of your mind being in control of you.”

Using a technique of mindfulness relieves physical distress, she says. Millwood used this on Vietnam veterans who were experiencing chronic pain and in turn received very positive results, she says.

Millwood now has her students practice mindfulness, which helps them be more focused in class, she says.

Joseph Kroger, a professor in the religious studies department, says mindfulness is a way of life.

“It’s not only something you do for 10 minutes, 20 minutes a day, it’s a way of being,” he says.

It is a unity of body and mind, and students may be physically present in class, but mindfulness is about being there with the mind and without distractions of memory or imagination, Kroger says.

Adrie Kusserow, professor of anthropology and sociology, tries to constantly be mindful of her surroundings, she says.

“I’m ironically obsessed with mindfulness,” she says.

Kusserow says she practices yoga, meditates, and also reads poetry as another form of meditation.

“It’s very important to live in the moment,” Kusserow says. “It can go away at any moment so you have to pay attention to the beauty and juiciness of the present.”

Meditating to cope with class

Millwood began using techniques of mindfulness in graduate school, and also teaches her students mindfulness, especially in her practicum classes, she says.

She introduces students to the idea, takes about 5 or 10 minutes to do exercises, and has them conduct reflection papers, she says.

The students tend to be skeptical and think they’re not good at it, but in the long-run it makes them less self-conscious and more present, she says.

Kroger, a religion scholar, learned about the idea of mindfulness from the Buddhist religion, he says.

"It’s important to practice mindfulness in daily life by using different forms of meditation," he says. “I’ve been working on mindfulness for a very long time.”

To continue to look at mindfulness, Kusserow went to Nepal and studied Tibetan Buddhism, which helped her come to the present as well as teach anthropology with a Buddhist perspective, she says.

Students use meditation to have a stronger focus in class. Larry Frisoli, photo

Kusserow wants to teach students to look at other cultures in a mindful way: without judgment, and to get away from the American, upper-middle class mentality, she says.

Kusserow often sees people jumping to answer questions and encourages students to take time before raising their hands in order to think more about questions, she says.

“[We] get into ruts where it’s the same five people always raising their hands,” Kusserow says.

John Connors, a St. Michael’s IT staff member who attended the talk, says the best point of mindfulness is the idea presented by Millwood, “could vs. would,” which also deals with the idea of being non-judgmental.

The concept came from a reflection paper given to Millwood which presented the idea to think not about how could someone do something, but why would they, she says.

Connors also teaches martial arts so he is familiar with mindfulness, he says.