Promoting the Inclusion of Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in the College Classroom

Abstract

College students may be particularly stressed as they struggle to balance college life, work, family, and relationships, while engaging in career exploration and attempting to find meaning and purpose in their lives. The current practitioner action research project explored incorporating mindfulness and contemplative practices into the higher education classroom to uncover students’ perceptions of how useful the activities might be for managing their personal stress and anxiety. Thirty-two freshman and sophomore students from a regional campus of a large university consented to participate in the semester-long study, where brief, weekly mindfulness activities were integrated into in-class and out-of-class assignments during an introductory Personal Health course. Study findings indicated that the majority of student participants found mindfulness practices were helpful when it came to decreasing stress and anxiety or relaxing. Making time outside the classroom to practice mindfulness behaviors, however, was a barrier. These findings have both practical and positive implications for future higher education classroom interventions. As such, the authors contend that college-level instructors should incorporate mindfulness and contemplative activities into the curricula of their health education courses to help college students master mindfulness strategies and encourage their use in reducing stress and anxiety.