{"id":1215,"date":"2023-02-09T09:52:41","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T09:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-services\/?p=1215"},"modified":"2023-02-13T14:30:09","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T14:30:09","slug":"mindfulness-and-wellbeing-for-student-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/student-services\/2023\/02\/09\/mindfulness-and-wellbeing-for-student-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindfulness and Wellbeing for Student Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness has become something of a buzzword over the past decade as the insights it offers have become widely known and franchised in various forms, most notably in apps such as Headspace. A cynic might dismiss the phenomenon as a passing wellness trend, but if you observe the engaged and growing group of <\/span>Kent students gathering to practice mindfulness<\/span><\/a> together regularly, you can see it\u2019s far from over.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The practice and theory of mindfulness have roots going back thousands of years, and the ideas can applied to a tradition of mindful awareness and meditation which surface in philosophy and religious mysticism across time and geographical space. In its current scientific guises as ‘Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction’ (MBSR) and \u2018Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy\u2019 (MBCT), it taps back into a timeless and universal search for an ease of being and sense of purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we face a uniquely challenging and intensely stressful period in history, this search for meaning and grounding is more relevant than ever. Amid the cost of living crisis, the long shadow of public health issues, climate change worry, and industrial action, students are also trying to navigate independent life and study, and choosing experiences that will help them to become the adults they want to be in this chaotic world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mindfulness and student life<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further or higher education is often a particularly intense life stage, which combines a loosening of external order and places upon the student a responsibility for managing their own life and routine, albeit within a structure of external deadlines <\/span>through which they can feel their worth is measured. Beyond the academic experience, most university or college student<\/span>s are young adults who have just left, or are leaving, the wrap-around support structure of school and family home. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each of the individual challenges facing students may not be exclusive to them: navigating relationships, moving house, balancing workloads and social commitments are challenges we face throughout our adult lives, but this cohort is exposed to a unique <\/span>combination<\/span><\/i> of emotional and academic pressures. This means mindfulness-based practices can be particularly useful in the guidance of students in a few key areas. University of Kent staff members Lorraine Millard and Patmarie Coleman’s new book, \u00a0‘Mindfulness and Wellbeing for Student Learning’<\/a>, covers these areas of student life and learning:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n