Koru Mindfulness® is an evidence-based curriculum specifically designed for teaching mindfulness, meditation, and stress management to college students. Koru classes are taught in four weekly 75-minute sessions following a curriculum comprised of a mix of mindfulness skills taught through guided practice, discussion, reflection, at-home practice, and readings that collectively help students manage stress, improve sleep, and focus the mind.
We explore what mindfulness is and learn how to start incorporating it into our lives through two breathing exercises (Belly Breathing & Dynamic Breathing) and a guided Body Scan meditation.
We dive a little deeper and investigate how to cultivate more awareness through shared discussion, a Walking meditation, and the repetition of a Gatha, or meditation poem.
We learn how to relax through the use of Guided Imagery followed by a meditation to help us release our thoughts by way of recognizing, observing, & labeling them.
We conclude with an Eating meditation (when is the last time you paid attention solely to the food you were eating without looking at your phone, reading a book, or doing school work?) and will build on the Labeling Thoughts meditation we practiced in week three.
In a randomized controlled trial, college students who went through Koru reported feeling more calm, more mindful, more rested, and had less self-judgment than students who did not go through the Koru program.
To find out when the next KORU class is scheduled, please contact the Student Wellness Center.