Regular meditation can significantly reduce stress levels by promoting relaxation and mindfulness. It helps students develop better emotional regulation, leading to decreased anxiety and improved mood. This mental clarity and calmness can enhance their ability to focus and make more thoughtful decisions.

Students who engage in meditation often report improved concentration and memory retention, which can lead to better academic performance. Additionally, meditation can foster a greater sense of self-awareness and resilience, helping students navigate personal challenges more effectively and maintain healthier relationships.

Long-term meditation practice can lead to sustained improvements in mental health, including reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety. It can also enhance students' ability to manage stress throughout their lives, promote better sleep, and support overall physical health by lowering blood pressure and boosting the immune system. These benefits contribute to a more balanced and fulfilling college experience and beyond.

You get four sessions with a total of 33 videos that teaches you the basic nuts and bolts of starting a meditation practice as well as an understanding of what mindfulness is.

In session one, you will learn three skills. The belly or diaphragmatic breathing: Belly breathing is a calming skill that you can use to calm yourself if you are feeling anxious or to quiet your mind to help with sleep. You will be taught to breathe deeply, inhaling by using your diaphragm to push your stomach out rather than using the muscles of your chest wall to fill your lungs.

The 4-7-8 breathing exercise, when done on a regular basis, has been known to lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, and improve circulation and digestion. In addition, daily practice can activate the body's relaxation response, helping to reduce stress and anxiety levels.  It is a powerful anti-anxiety measure, shown to be much more powerful than the anti-anxiety medications that are commonly prescribed. The calming effect of this breathing technique can help you relax and prepare for better quality sleep. Regular practice of the 4-7-8 breathing exercise can improve mental clarity, focus, and concentration.

Body scan: In this meditation you will learn to use physical sensations in the body to anchor your awareness in the present moment.

The two skills you will learn in this session are the walking meditation and the love and kindness meditation. Walking meditation: When practicing walking meditation, you learn to use as your anchor to present-moment awareness the sensations in your feet as you slowly walk across the floor. Students use walking meditation when they are too sleepy or too restless to meditate sitting still.

Love and Kindness Meditation: You will become acquainted with your inner critic. By increasing your awareness of the inner critic and practicing self-compassion through meditation and self-caring action, you will learn to effectively cultivate a friendly and caring relationship with yourself.

In this session you will learn the guided imagery meditation and the labeling thoughts meditation. Guided Imagery: Guided imagery is a way of calming your body and mind if you are feeling particularly anxious or stressed. Using all of your senses, you imagine yourself in a comfortable and safe place, which allows your physiology to quiet and calm. Students use guided imagery if they are dealing with high levels of stress or worry. Labeling Thoughts: An important aspect of mindfulness meditation is the ability to notice your thoughts and then, without judgment, release them, returning your attention to your object of meditation, most commonly the sensation of your breath as it enters and leaves your body. Labeling is a technique that makes it easier to release your thoughts and return to your present moment experience. Students use labeling to strengthen their ability to stay nonjudgmentally present with the goings-on in their busy minds.

In this session, you will learn the eating meditation and the labeling thoughts meditation. As a bonus, you will get the bus analogy video. Eating meditation: You learn to pay very careful attention to all of the sensations involved in eating, as well as the thoughts and feelings you have when you eat. Eating meditation enhances the pleasure in eating and allows you to consume your food in a healthier way, listening to the reactions and needs of your body.

Labeling Feelings: This meditation builds on the labeling practice from last week, providing you a skill for managing strong feelings that may arise during meditation. Sometimes identifying the feelings that are underneath persistent or recurring thoughts can be very helpful, keeping you from getting carried too far away from the present moment.

Bus Analogy: The bus analogy is a mindfulness exercise that can help you visualize your thoughts and as passengers on a bus. The exercise is designed to foster awareness and acceptance of your emotions, thoughts, and images without getting overwhelmed by them.

Great questions. This is why we believe Mindfulness 101 at the Mind Wellness Academy is the most effective online course available to help you develop your meditation practice. In addition to the regular discussion board where you can interact with other students as well as Tom Martin, you will have the opportunity to join your fellow students and Tom Martin in regular Group Coaching sessions on Zoom where you can get your questions and concerns addressed directly so you can move forward with your practice with a sense of community and accountability.