The University of Massachusetts has teamed up with Journey Meditation to launch a community-wide meditation challenge to help students struggling with anxiety and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the emotional toll that the virus has taken on students and the community, UMass and Journey Meditation have teamed up to offer students a free one-month subscription. The meditation app offers real-time group meditation classes all day. Students can take classes and connect with a community that promotes connections, resilience, social justice and fun.
Betsy Cracco, executive director of the wellbeing, access and prevention cluster is leading the meditation challenge with the slogan “better together.”
“We’re taking a mind-body approach to wellbeing,” said Cracco. “This app is different because it focuses on connection.”
The UMass wellbeing, access and prevention cluster, which is composed of four different offices (Center for Counseling and Psychological Health, Campus Recreation, Disability Services and Center for Health Promotion), has been focusing on supporting students during this stressful time.
For both students and staff, the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll both mentally and physically on the community.
“Everyone is being exposed to a lot of scary things,” said Cracco. “There’s a lot of activation of those fear centers in the brain, that impacts everything, physicals health, ability to concentrate, mood. Research is pretty strong evidencing that meditation can help calm down some of that effect and everything from improving the immune system to improving our concentration.”
Founder and CEO of Journey Meditation Stephen Sokoler said, “We are so impressed with UMass and their commitment to students’ mental health and wellbeing. We’re living in unprecedented times and to be able to offer community connection and stress relief through the Journey LIVE platform is a true gift.”
Cracco said that the school went into talks with the app in August, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to worldwide shutdowns and stay-at-home orders. Journey has offered UMass students a 30-day free trial and, according to Cracco, will give students access to recorded content even after the trial has expired.
Mark Hart, founder of the Bodhisara Dharma Community in Amherst teaches meditation to students from both Amherst College and UMass and believes meditation can provide benefits that will help students living during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Most of the fear that people generate has to do with our thoughts,” said Hart. “Meditation offers the possibility of setting your thoughts aside and being with the body. The body is always in the present moment, the sensations that one feels, they’re always happening now.”
“It’s very soothing to the nervous system. Sometimes the nervous system gets activated and that generates more anxious thoughts. Letting the body calm down is helpful. Thoughts can race ahead and frighten themselves with things that haven’t even happened yet,” Hart added.
In accordance with social distancing guidelines, meditation cannot be practiced in person but has moved online. Hart offers students two free meditation lessons at bodhisara.org/meditation.
Cracco wants people to remember that it is normal to have hard days.
“We are all going to have our moments where we are feeling really scared, but to ground our self particularly with other people, that’s what we miss most, the connection.”
Maria Elena Little Endara can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @LittleEndara.
