The Fort Hays State Forsyth Library teamed up with Professor Gene Rice to put on a weekly event to help students and others in the community with the all their accumulated stress and weariness by leading them in some guided meditation. Taking place in the Military Room (Room 132) of the Forsyth Library on Wednesdays from 12:30 – 1:20, groups of people of all ages can experience first-hand the benefits of mindfulness meditation. Gene has a background in philosophy and a great deal of experience with meditation in various areas. Dr. Rice has stated that he knows that our students are under a lot of stress here and he figured that offering this meditation time could be extremely beneficial. However, he is not one of the only ones who think so.
Although meditation is not a new practice by any means, it does have some new and interesting research surrounding it. Based on numerous studies across the globe, meditation, guided or unguided, has been proven to be extremely beneficial. It can be noted numerous times to improve creative thinking, energy and stress levels, and even your general success in life. Of the various studies conducted, there has been a large focus on some of the most prominent findings belonging to Sara Lazar of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology. She was the senior author of a study that recently discovered that not only does meditation aide in easing stress, it also increases that gray-matter density in the hippocampus, known to be important for learning and memory. Not only that, but they also discovered that there was an increase in gray matter in structures associated with self-awareness, compassion, and introspection. As it turns out, not only is this sort of mindfulness meditation peaceful, it is also extremely beneficial to your brain’s health.
Wondering if it could work for you? This opportunity is for those in the community as well as students that attend Fort Hays State University. The meetings for this semester, however, are over. Join them next semester in the Military Room (Room 132) of the library on Wednesdays from 12:30 – 1:00 for Guided Meditation or 1:00 – 1:20 for Unguided meditation. You can attend one or both parts.