Starting this semester, students and faculty will have an opportunity to incorporate mental fitness, through meditation classes, at the Alumni Memorial Union.
On Thursday’s from 12:10-1 p.m., Larry Birkett, the instructor and Director of Retail and Licensing for Intercollegiate Athletics, will be offering meditation sessions in the AMU interfaith mediation space, room 233. Those wishing to attend can show up, or register here.
The room has open lighting to look over Marquette’s courtyard. There are meditation cushions provided, and no meditation background or experience is needed.
Birkett said he discovered meditation over ten years ago at a Yoga Journal Conference. Birkett has been practicing meditation for over 10 years, including teaching yoga and meditation for employee wellness and student wellness. He has also completed a 40-week yearlong Buddhist studies program with Ethan Nichtern, an author, and has taught mindfulness meditation to incarcerated peoples in jails and prisons around Milwaukee.
The class itself, is not directly guided, although Birkett said he provides up-front instructions.
“It’s like I give whoever is showing up for class the recipe, but you have to bake the bread yourself, if that makes sense, so I give you the road map,” Birkett said. “What I teach is basic mindfulness meditation, you might think of it like breath awareness.”
Birkett said he was approached to teach from the employee wellness center at Rec Sports, who offer classes such as yoga, spin and power sculpt taught by instructors. For this semester, they are integrating meditation into one of the classes they are offering.
“So much of our life, and of our day is goal orientated, like producing, and this is a chance to do nothing,” Birkett said. “It’s like giving yourself permission to do nothing and just be present with your body, mind, thoughts, emotions and feelings for a certain time period.”
For this class, the primary technique taught by Birkett, is more reality-based and focused on breathwork.
The instructions include taking posture to start, whether that be on a chair, a bench or seated on the cushions on the floor. The practice then involves placing hands on the legs or thighs, with eyes open, as it is an open awareness practice.
“We’re not excluding anything, so we take our breath, we take our posture and we place our awareness and pay attention on the breath,” Birkett said. “The third instruction, which is probably the most important, or when things get interesting, is when you notice that your mind has wandered away from the breath. You label that as thinking, no matter what it is, without judgment, and then you start over.”
Birkett said that developing mental strength is like a bicep curl for the mind.
“We go to fitness classes to get stronger, to develop our cardiovascular system. This is to work on our minds, so we’re strengthening the mind to focus.
Some misconceptions about meditation, Birkett said, is trying to stop thoughts when meditating, instead of practicing to slow those thoughts down. He said practices can differ, and some days there will be space in between thoughts.
“A lot of people will say ‘it’s really hard for me to meditate because I can’t sit still.’ To me, that’s like saying, well, I can’t lift weights because I’m not strong. That’s why you do it. You do it to get strong, it’s a practice, we don’t say meditation perfect,” Birkett said.
Birkett said repetition is key in becoming more mindful and a skillful thinker, and that even engaging in meditation practices on occasion is beneficial in some form.
This story was written by Trinity Zapotocky. She can be reached at [email protected]
