With midterms just around the corner, ASU Counseling Services and American Indian Student Support Services are offering free weekly relaxation techniques aimed at reducing ASU students’ stress.
The Quiet Your Mind and Focus sessions are intended to help students develop skills to manage life’s stresses and demands to achieve more balance, Director of Outreach and Wellness Psychology Joel Hutchinson said.
“Simply put, the Quiet Your Mind and Focus sessions can help you be a more successful and happier student,” Hutchinson said. “Learning to pause in the middle of a highly active life and focus on the present is a powerful way to reduce stress.”
Session activities teach students how to focus breathing, which slows things down, Hutchinson said.
The AISSS sponsors these sessions engage American Indian students at ASU, AISSS student support specialist Connie Gutierrez said.
“Students that come from the reservations can have a hard time adapting to ASU,” Gutierrez said. “This is a great opportunity for American Indian students to fit in with relaxation techniques on adapting to the stress of college life.”
The relaxation sessions are an initiative toward increasing student life involvement, said Gutierrez.
“This is a session dedicated to student health in regards to learning how to cope with stress as well as a way to network," Gutierrez said.
All ASU students, not just American Indians, are encouraged to participate in the weekly relaxation sessions, said Gutierrez.
It is important for students to learn how to focus stressful energy into positive and calm energy, psychology sophomore Kelly Devlin said.
“The pressure is always there,” Devlin said. “I work two jobs and go to school full time, I definitely have days where I break down.”
Stress itself is not inherently a bad thing, but persistent, high levels of stress can be detrimental to performance and well being, Hutchinson said.
“I think these relaxation sessions are a great idea for students,” Devlin said. “I will definitely attend one of these sessions.”
The next Quiet Your Mind and Focus session will be held Thursday, Feb. 16, at the Discovery Hall building in room 313 from 1 to 2 p.m. Weekly sessions are scheduled through April 19.
“Being able reduce the amount of stress in your week will lead you to a healthier mind and body,” Gutierrez said.
Reach the reporter at gqolson@asu.edu
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