Wellness Initiatives @ Stanford

Last March, Graham Erwin, a postdoctoral research fellow in Department of Genetics and a good friend of mine, held our very first thirty minute Meditation Monday. Our hope was to lead small guided meditations and share simple take home breathing techniques to bring calm and focus during these challenging times. We also wanted to remain open and accessible to everyone, including beginners and first year students new to meditation.

Now, in its ninth month since launch, Meditation Monday has gone from “two friends leading a session for a few weeks” to becoming a vibrant weekly event that has continued through the summer and fall quarter. Participants drop in when they can, with at times, more than thirty participants meditating together on zoom. We’re featured on one of Stanford’s virtual wellbeing resource lists as well here.

Along with Meditation Mondays, Graham and I also helped organize zoom SKY Campus Happiness retreats for Stanford students and alumni. Retreatants learn Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) - a technique that uses the breath to calm the mind, leading to a deep experience of meditation. This retreat is taught across the country and we were lucky to get to work with Julia Tang to help organize it at Stanford. She is a fantastic instructor and has been teaching this retreat for many years, most recently as a for credit class at Stanford, where she is a lecturer in the Division of Health and Human Performance in the Department of Medicine. With students at home and away from friends, the retreat not only teaches simple tools that students can use to be happy and peaceful, but also creates a space for them to connect with one another and feel part of a community. To date we’ve had 55 students participate in our retreats. We even received a shoutout in Forbes magazine here.

Special thanks to other guest instructors and volunteers, including Dr. Priya Narayanan and Mukundan Thangavelu for their involvement.

Some reviews below:

“This retreat is a great way to implement positive psychology and mindfulness into your life through meditation. You learn breathwork technique in detail along with ways to incorporate these exercises into your day to clear your mind and improve your emotional and mental wellbeing. Taking care of yourself is very crucial but easy to neglect in a fast-paced academic environment, so this course is a great way to alleviate stress. You learn something actionable with every discussion as the retreat is well-paced, and there is a great balance between contemplative prompts, discussions (in small and large groups), moments for self-reflection, and a few lecture slides with core information that you will be learning. I highly recommend this retreat and am looking forward to taking all the knowledge I gained from it into my everyday life!”

“Best weekend of my life! Stanford is hectic and stressful and this was an awesome way to relax. Super fun too - loved the activities ;)”

“I highly recommend it. It’s a great way to learn about meditation techniques from experienced instructors and also to feel connected with other people even through this stressful and isolating time.”

“Please do!! If you are looking to grow within yourself, find a toolkit to help you navigate life, and connect with others on a deep level this is the community for you.”

“I cannot recommend this retreat enough. It is very well structured, to the point and run in the most efficient way possible. There is also time to meet the other participants and build an excellent sense of community, that will help in continuing your practice! Whether you are a total newbie or a meditation master you will learn new things about yourself that can help you in living a more joyous and full life.”

“This is a great intro to deep breathing and meditation while building a community! The instructors are all really awesome people who seem to deeply care about the participants. Everyone is very nice and friendly :)”

If you would like to join either Stanford SKY retreats or Meditation Mondays, please feel free to sign up on the mailing list here.

Hope to see some of you there soon!