Stress and Stress Reduction (Lisa)
1) My stress level on Tuesday was very low, especially compared to the rest of the semester. Much of my stress was coming from the knowledge that I had to complete my honor’s thesis before the end of the semester and I wasn’t sure that I had managed my time well enough to do that. But since I turned in my final draft of it the Friday before, I felt like the worst was behind me and I could just relax for the rest of the semester. Add to that the nice weather last Tuesday, and I was feeling pretty good.
For the hour before the presentation, Michelle and Kelsey and I went over to the little amphitheater nearby and laid on the grass and talked and enjoyed the sunshine. It was very quiet there, and very relaxing. That hour went by quickly.
My experience of the installation in Nolte was fairly brief; I didn’t sit down there, I just walked inside and stood there for a little while. My immediate thought was that I wanted to play with the rocks, which after listening to the presentation it seems was a common response. I felt a little bit wobbly walking over the rocks, but I didn’t want to sit down because I didn’t like the fact that people would be able to see me sitting there if they happened to walk past. I wanted to be able to enclose myself in the space and not have that connection to the rest of the room be so strong.
2) I think the Present Moment project is really great. It’s true that just about everyone on a college campus is stressed out all the time, and just about no one feels they have time to devote to classes on stress reduction. Especially in the winter when people can’t go outside, I think it’s very important to have these sorts of spaces to keep people from going crazy. I would be all for having one of these spaces in every building on campus, and I’m disappointed that I will be leaving the U before the completion of this project because I think it would have had a really positive effect on my experience here.
The Present Moment project has to do with art in that it takes scientific ideas and data on how to reduce stress and responds to that data aesthetically, creating something that can exist either as a sculptural object that sparks ideas from afar or as an interactive space that provides each person with a different experience.
I think if I were to attempt something to address stress on campus I would want to organize an open discussion between students and faculty members about the issue—I think that there are a lot of things that instructors can do to help ease the stress of students and themselves, like offering a choice of deadlines for projects. This way students can schedule major assignments during lulls in work for their other classes, plus it spreads out the grading for instructors. Leading an optional mini yoga/meditation session during breaks in long classes might be helpful too.