{"id":15277,"date":"2013-08-29t08:30:27","date_gmt":"2013-08-29t13:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=15277"},"modified":"2013-08-30t11:10:58","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30t16:10:58","slug":"the-mindful-phd-a-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2013\/08\/the-mindful-phd-a-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"the mindful phd: a beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"

by nancy chick, cft assistant director<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

i\u2019ve never been much of a blogger\u2014i don\u2019t even follow many blogs\u2014but here i start a blog series.\u00a0 why?\u00a0 based on my constellation of experiences and what i\u2019ve been learning more recently, i have something to say to my fellow phds and phds-in-training.* \u00a0but more about my story next time.<\/p>\n

not too long ago, i was introduced to the practice and science of mindfulness, and i\u2019ve seen it take hold in medical schools, nursing schools, and increasingly k-12 classrooms.\u00a0 yet i look around me at my university colleagues and friends and mentees and students, and i worry.\u00a0 i worry about their quality of life, their health, and their happiness. i worry about these things because they\u2019ve suffered greatly in my life in recent years, and (pardon the clich\u00e9) i wish i knew then what i know now\u2014particularly about mindfulness.<\/p>\n

what is mindfulness? \u00a0put simply, it means being<\/em> \u2013 here — now<\/em>. <\/strong>practicing mindfulness can counteract our habits of getting \u201clost in distraction, doing one thing while thinking of another, and acting reflexively or out of habit to both our emotional and real-life experiences\u201d<\/strong> (bertin, 2013<\/a>). you may already know that it has a 2,500-year-old tradition in buddhism and that it\u2019s traditionally \u201cother-focused,\u201d intended to foster compassion, empathy, and altruism and\u2014as a result\u2014decrease suffering not only in ourselves but more significantly in others (shapiro, et al, 2005<\/a>; bertin, 2013<\/a>).\u00a0 of course, these are fantastic goals, but that\u2019s another conversation.<\/p>\n

my immediate goal is to share with my colleagues and students how we can achieve some of the psychological, physiological, and cognitive effects of mindfulness<\/strong> to help us better lighten the impact of stress on our minds and our bodies.\u00a0 i reach out to my academic peers in particular because we\u2019re a highly stressed bunch, despite some popular conceptions<\/a> (adams [hint: university professor was cited as “the least stressful job of 2013”]).\u00a0 we know we\u2019re stressed, but there\u2019s some interesting research on the specific stressors for those of us on college and university campuses.\u00a0 more about this research in the coming weeks. <\/span><\/p>\n

in future posts, i\u2019ll share some of the research on mindfulness<\/strong> (and there is a lot, most done by scientists looking directly at the brain and body, not just our perceptions); some of the research on stress for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates<\/strong>; and a little of my story<\/strong> for context. \u00a0i\u2019ll end each post with a single, simple practice you can take with you<\/strong>\u2014into your classrooms, your committee meetings, your grading sessions, your office hours, your research and writing times, and your transitions into your home life.<\/p>\n

practice<\/strong><\/h4>\n

this one is simple, brief, and more beneficial than you\u2019ll realize at first.\u00a0 much of the \u201ceffort\u201d of mindfulness (and yes, those are ironic quotes) is grounded in the breath, so this practice is simply breathing:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n