During our lunch meeting 5 graduate students joined me for lunch and we had an informal discussion about stress for a straight hour. After the meeting I invited other grad students to share in the left over food. As a result I have another hour of talks about stress with 5 or 6 other students who weren’t at the original meeting. When all the food was gone I cleaned up and looked over my notes. Here’s my impression of the conversation.

What is stress?
• It can be the things that gets you up in the morning..
o We spent a good bit of time discussion the difference between good stress and bad stress. Is pressure sometimes a good thing? Often a bit helps. Is excitement the same as stress? On a certain level it is but some were very hesitant to associate the two. Some also rejected that idea that being under pressure is a positive way to get things done. In the end it seemed like the conversation lead us to the idea that stress itself is neither all bad or good. What is important is how you manage your stress.

• Stress is anxiety.
o Stress is running things over and over in your mind.

What causes stress?
• Not having control or power in a situation leads to stress. (no money, no voice, no resolution in sight)
• Expectations (both internal and external).
• Personal politics. (is someone mad at me? Who offended who? Office politics etc.)

What do you do to remove stress from life.
• Admit that it exists. Admit to how you are feeling. Express your feeling.
• Give it up to the universe or God.
• Exercise. Walk the dog, manual labor, fresh air, dancing. (everyone agreed on dancing)
• Watch TV, drink a bear, smoke pot.

General notes about the conversation.

We talked a fair bit about weather a momentary break from stress was beneficial in the end of if it simply pushed back the inevitable.

It was suggested that some activities wash you clean of stress and let you move ahead with a clearer mind. Other activities actually fill you up with positive energy as well wash you clear. One person mentioned yoga, another mentioned prayer, or meditation. These things not only give a moment to let go of stress, but also seem to add a positive energy. I have heard a definition of stress that equates stress with the difference between what you want to do and what you have energy to do. We talked a few times about what are the things that increase our tolerance for stress. What keeps us from boiling over. One stressful situation can elicit many different responses from the same person depending on what else has happened that day or that week or even that year. One person brought up these responses can be habit forming. Once we start to respond to stress with depression or anger, we might be more and more likely to keep doing that. Or vise versa.

I noticed that happiness kept creeping into the conversation. As though without anyone saying so, happiness was synonymous with a stress free environment or life. We would quickly and seamlessly in conversation move between what removes stress from my life to what makes me happy. That thinking brought the conversation to the sort of mid-western protestant ethic that happiness is somehow bad. Or having too much is somehow wrong. Someone advised focusing on what you want out of life rather than what you don’t want. Then there was a response that to try for what you want is too scary, what if you don’t get it. To dream big or to be open about what you want can lead to hurtful disappointment. I thought this related to the idea of expectations bring on stress. I wondered aloud how could we dream big and not have expectations. Someone also mentioned that in the Midwest its good to not sound too smart. The opening phrase, “I don’t know anything really, but ….� Shows a sort of hesitance to be confident and comfortable. Here I think we were getting at the work ethic idea that to be free of stress is to be lazy.

Someone mentioned a PBS documentary about stress that looked at the difference between the stress of poverty and the stress of say a CEO. The person remembered that according to PBS stress of poverty released different chemicals in the body and was more degrading to the body and mind than stress of the CEO.

Everyone seemed to have a personal relationship with stress and had thought about and talked about stress in the past. Though there were many different ideas about stress and dealing with stress there seemed to be a kind of comradery that is formed around a challenge we all face.

~Travis Freeman

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/willow/presentmoment/ww_fall07_web.pdf

Click Here to Download File

(See page 16).

Only beach stones and the softwall were used. The space is a visual respite and a space to walk into. You can sit on the stones if you choose.

Future iterations will explore seating, a central focus, lighting, etc.

It is a concept of the future presented by Philips and is being marketed for hotel rooms of the future.

This caught my attention because of some of the "imagery of the future window" as portrayed by the marketers presents "views of nature".

you can find it here

Now online, Thomas's Registry is described as, "the most comprehensive resource for industrial information, products, services, CAD drawings, and more… "

This is their national website: http://us.artofliving.org/index.html

This is their research on youth and stress
http://www.artoflivingyouth.org/research.html

~Travis

~Travis

http://www.homestead.com/prosites-closetheloop/recycled_glass.html

http://www.thegardenofglass.com/store_list.asp?categoryid=3000&groupid=&sort=

These are links to the two companies that send us samples of their landscaping glass. There is a materials calculator here: http://www.thegardenofglass.com/pages.asp?pageid=45023 which suggests that to cover a 10ft by 10ft square with one inch of glass would take about 700lbs. Prices per pound seem to range from $1.30 to $6.00 depending on amount of tumbling.

The glass seems to be visually tempting and certainly lends to the feeling of being in an space outside of the everyday. It appears to be perfectly safe and not too messy. There were concerns mentioned about the sound created by walking on the glass might very grating. Also the price is a concern. There possibility of mixing rocks and glass was also suggested.

Henry Emmons, M.D.
Adjunct Faculty, Center for Spirituality and Healing, Academic Health Center

Rebecca Krinke
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Design

Diane Willow
Assistant Professor of Time & Interactivity, Department of Art, College of Liberal Arts

Graduate Research Assistants:

Travis Freeman
Shane Peterson
Elizabeth Pezella

Undergraduate Research Assistant:

Ben Faga

The Present Moment Project
Creating a Contemplative Environment for Stress Reduction on Campus

Henry Emmons, M.D.
Adjunct Faculty, Center for Spirituality and Healing, Academic Health Center
Rebecca Krinke
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, College of Design
Diane Willow
Assistant Professor of Time & Interactivity, Department of Art, College of Liberal Arts

Premise of the Present Moment Project
If contemporary life is generally equated with a stressful life, then restoration from stress is a necessity. Workloads in corporate and campus life are high, and the physical environments of offices and classrooms are often generic at best, and frequently dismal. The student study lounge at Nolte Hall is an example of an uninspiring space, yet people use it because they need quiet places for study and recharging. And while Nolte Hall is also the home of the Institute for Advanced Study - nothing in its physical environment signals the intentions of the Institute - therefore we propose it as an appropriate setting for the Present Moment Project: exploratory investigations in the creation of a contemplative environment for stress reduction on campus.

Contemplation and Nature: Vehicles for Stress Reduction
The beneficial effects for the body through meditation or contemplation (defined as focused attention on the present moment) have been well documented by research and are exemplified by “relaxation and slowed metabolism...improved concentration and empathy…an overall improvement in health, and more effective performance from sports and academic test-taking to creativity.�

The research of environmental psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, Roger S. Ulrich and others, has indicated that contact with nature, especially vegetation has a beneficial effect on physical and psychological health. Ulrich’s studies have tested direct contact with nature, nature videos and photos of nature – and they all have produced faster and greater recovery from stress as shown by lower blood pressure, less muscle tension, and greater reduction in anger and increased feeling of well being.

Design of the Present Moment Project’s Contemplative Environment
Our intention is to initiate a series of investigations and ephemeral transformations of a portion of the Nolte Study Lounge in order to facilitate our understanding of how to create an effective contemplative environment. The lounge will not become a room where meditation or contemplative techniques are taught through classes - instead a portion of the lounge will be redesigned with the goal of the space itself being able to begin the process of inducing a contemplative response in the visitor. There is no single definition of a “contemplative environment�, but we are defining it as one that assists the focus on the present moment - quieting the mind and facilitating a developmental process where the individual has more choice over their thoughts.

Within this contemplative environment we further propose to develop a simple yet poetic biofeedback interface - to offer the benefits that are made accessible through traditional biofeedback - but in an aesthetic and sensual way. Our intention is to alter a biofeedback interface such as a fingertip monitor that records heart rate, and re-imagine the display modality as an aesthetic pattern of image, kinesthetic movement, or sound. Through this poetic feedback experience, the individual can discover that they can slow their heart rate and can be actively involved in their own stress reduction. Engaging with this biofeedback interface would be completely up to the individual, similar to if one is at the U of MN Recreation Center you have the choice of using hand sensors on workout equipment to see your heart rate. We will evaluate ways of providing support and information to individuals in the Nolte Lounge interested in engaging the biofeedback interface.

Our design of the contemplative environment will be informed by the following strategies:
• Contact with nature: This may include - natural materials or phenomena, visual projections and/or sounds of nature.

• “Being away�: This is one of the key attributes of a restorative experience as posited by the Kaplans: being away can refer to a sense of physical separation from your everyday world or a sense of being removed from your everyday activities.

• Reductive design: The reductive palette of many contemplative spaces suggests the validity of “overload� and “arousal� theories that posit that human perceptual systems can become overloaded and stressed in places that have a great deal of complexity.

• Visual central focus: Contemplating a distinctive visual focus helps to arrest attention and assist the focus on the present moment.

We are proposing that this contemplative environment will be a “overlay� on the existing Nolte Study Lounge – for example, something may be a suspended in front of the walls, a new type of surface element may be added over the top of the existing floor. We may add lighting, sculptural object(s), new seating elements. The biofeedback interface may be integrated into the seating, in a pillow-like object, or into something wearable, like a glove or shawl.

We are planning that this initial phase of the Present Moment Project will result in a temporary installation, probably one-two months in duration. During this one-two month period, we may test more than one iteration of ideas – those that we bring and those that may emerge as we involve visitor/participants of IAS/Nolte in the process. We view this proposal as setting the stage for a year two of the Present Moment Project: a more long-term installation and testing of the Project, at Nolte or elsewhere.

Assessment
To begin the process of assessing the effectiveness of our contemplative environment, we will evaluate and select from the following methodologies: survey people in Nolte Lounge via questionnaire/interview before the contemplative environment is added and after it is installed; employ a feedback book onsite and/or a feedback blog; assess the effectiveness of the biofeedback interface through observation/survey.

Significance of the Project
Our goal with the Present Moment Project is to weave a contemplative environment into a campus setting, making it part of daily life. As contemplative environments are generally regarded as separate rarified realms (such as meditation centers or stress reduction clinics), the Project has the potential to be an important prototype of a contemplative environment that is publicly accessible and socially engaged. We also plan that our biofeedback interface will be something not seen before. We are interested in shifting biofeedback’s orientation from a purely medical, clinical context to a visual, spatial context. The participant will gain physiological information and insight, but in a way that is not distancing as through a medical device (the “other�) but in a way that feels integral to the person and environment. Our creative research recontextualizes ideas of contemplative space and biofeedback as it draws upon medicine, biotechnology, contemplative gardens, new media art, new materials research, and the phenomenology of interior architectural spaces and the human body. As stress is epidemic in our country, new strategies for stress reduction; especially ones that can be inserted effectively into our daily lives have immense possibility for reducing stress and promoting wellness.