College of Arts and Sciences – Innovation Grant
Mindfulness at UNCG
Faculty Lead: Sarah Krive
A faculty group in The College of Arts and Sciences has founded Mindful UNCG to serve as a campus hub related to contemplative practices and their benefits to human flourishing. Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment with an attitude of curiosity, non-judgment, non-reactivity, and compassion. Research shows that mindfulness can improve cognitive and academic performance with the enhancement of attentional and processing skills, improve mental and psychological well-being, decrease stress, anxiety, and depression, improve emotional regulation and lead to positive mood states. Mindfulness-based pedagogy supports instructors’ capacity to both practice and teach mindfulness effectively, and it can also improve classroom climate.
UNCG now has among its faculty, staff, and graduate students several newly minted teachers-in-training of Koru Mindfulness. Developed at Duke University, and utilized on campuses across the U.S., Koru Mindfulness is mindfulness meditation curriculum that has been shown through peer-reviewed research to benefit emerging adults, and it is now used on campuses and in other community settings to help reduce anxiety, foster healthy mind-body states, improve concentration, and foster community.
In addition to offering Koru Mindfulness courses, Mindful UNCG will seek opportunities to incorporate and publicize mindfulness practices in relevant curricular and co-curricular settings. Additionally, Mindful UNCG hosts Koru retreats, in which students, faculty, and staff can benefit from a period of silent, device-free presence. With the growth of Koru-trained faculty and staff on campus, Mindful UNCG hopes to work with other entities on campus to encourage and sustain ongoing retreats.
A virtual hub for mindfulness will soon enable the UNCG community to learn about opportunities to engage with contemplative practices on campus. On the website, students, faculty, and staff will sign up for Koru Mindfulness courses and retreats; learn about student clubs (or how to start one!), connect with others to support or study mindfulness, and encourage artistic contributions to the campus-wide mindfulness blog. Faculty engaging in research related to mindfulness endeavors will be encouraged to share links to their research and connect with other campuses through the NC Collaborative for Mindfulness in Higher Education (NCCMHE).
By creating an engaging space for mindfulness on campus, and a variety of ways for students, faculty, and staff to engage with it, Mindful UNCG hopes to encourage and support the conditions necessary for human flourishing and support students, staff, and faculty, in the pursuit of their academic and life goals.