Episode 27: The Mindful College Student
Episode 27 of M3CS’s Contemplative Science Podcast saw Dr Eric Loucks come on to the show to talk about the reasons and remedies for rising stress levels in young people, and his work teaching mindfulness to college students.
For the full podcast, check out the episode here.
In this episode, we cover...
Why the prefrontal cortex is integral to the way we react and engage with the world.
How he tailored Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) to engage with students.
How his work enables him to learn from young people through the teaching process.
Dr Eric Loucks is a professor, researcher and pioneer in the study of mindfulness and health. Currently director of the Mindfulness Centre at Brown University, he recently authored The Mindful College Student: How to Succeed, Boost Well-Being, and Build the Life You Want at University and Beyond.
Here are some of the key insights from the conversation...
Modern tools like social media can pose a well-being problem for young people.
”It’s just like with any tool that comes up in society, we need to figure out how to use it well. So how can we use social media well? It’s an amazing tool in so many ways but we can get caught… and mindfulness can help us know when we are getting caught.”
Meditation can be a minefield for individuals who have suffered from trauma - but there are established methods for approaching such cases.
”David Treleaven wrote a really beautiful book called Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness, that really looks at how to consider trauma history when we're working with mindfulness practices. And so if we do it gently and with skill and preferably with a skilled teacher, it can help us start to take a step back from those strong emotions and thoughts and be able to look at the roots. And once we understand the roots, often a skilful path for healing appears.”
Mindfulness can have a huge impact on our cognitive abilities.
”In the neuroscience of mindfulness and meditation, one of the discoveries I found most interesting is increased connectivity between different regions of the brain. Can we harness our entire wisdom? It's almost like mindfulness is like an arrow that brings our wisdom into the present moment. Can we remember to bring all the wisdom, wherever we got it from - whether it's from our parents or wise people in our lives or something we've read or whatever it is... can we bring it into this moment?”
The best place to find Eric is here.
See you next week!
