Thammasat University students who are interested in allied health sciences, education, philosophy, psychology, sociology, may find it useful to read a newly available book.
Mindfulness and Meditation at University: 10 Years of the Munich Model by Andreas de Bruin is an Open Access book, available for free download at this link.
Professor Andreas de Bruin, Ph.D. teaches aesthetic education at the University of Applied Sciences, Munich, Germany.
His main field of research is the effects on physical, emotional, cognitive and social levels of mindfulness and meditation.
The TU Library collection includes many books about different aspects of mindfulness and meditation.
Professor de Bruin’s book examines the first years from 2010 to 2020 of a mindfulness and meditation program at his university.
Starting with fifteen students in a social work degree course, the program expanded to over ten times as many students in 21 different courses of study each semester.
The goal is to help students be better able to cope with everyday challenges, general pressure and stress of studies. If students learn to handle stressful situations in neutral and objective ways, then minor issues, such as family disagreements, are less likely to become more significant conflicts.
Mindfulness and meditation exercises teach students to pause instead of reacting impulsively, and think of different approaches to each situation, avoiding too much emotion.
Students reported that the course made them less interested in shopping, what is known as retail therapy. Many claimed to sleep better at night.
Professor Andreas de Bruin states that general mindfulness practices are easy to teach as part of the standard curriculum, as elective courses, or added to fields of study such as mathematics and computer science.
A quiet room is needed in which students can practice undisturbed, equipped with cushions, blankets and mats.
The university library should have related literature and films available for students to borrow. Certain university areas can be dedicated for mindfulness and meditation, such as tables in a dining room for students who prefer to eat silently.
Already in Austria, a master’s degree program at the University College of Teacher Education of Christian Churches in Vienna and Krems (KPH Vienna) has been established in mindfulness in education, counselling and healthcare.
Here are some thoughts about mindfulness and meditation by authors, most of whom are represented in the TU Library collection:
Indeed, wisdom is born of meditation; without meditation wisdom is lost. Knowing this two fold path of gain and loss of wisdom, one should conduct oneself so that wisdom may increase.
- Gautama Buddha, in Dhammapada Potthilatthera Vatthu Verse 282
During walking meditation, during kitchen and garden work, during sitting meditation, all day long, we can practice smiling. At first you may find it difficult to smile, and we have to think about why. Smiling means that we are ourselves, that we have sovereignty over ourselves, that we are not drowned in forgetfulness. This kind of smile can be seen on the faces of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
- Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)
There are three things I can recommend to you: arranging to have a breathing room in your home, a room for meditation; practicing breathing, sitting, for a few minutes every morning at home with your children; and going out for a slow walking meditation with your children before going to sleep, just ten minutes is enough. These things are very important. They can change our civilization.
- Thích Nhất Hạnh in Being Peace (1987)
There is no phenomenon in the universe that does not intimately concern us, from a pebble resting at the bottom of the ocean, to the movement of a galaxy millions of light years away. Walt Whitman said, “I believe a blade of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars….” These words are not philosophy. They come from the depths of his soul. He also said, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” This might be called a meditation on “interfacing endlessly interwoven.” All phenomena are interdependent. When we think of a speck of dust, a flower, or a human being, our thinking cannot break loose from the idea of unity, of one, of calculation. We see a line drawn between one and many, one and not one. But if we truly realize the interdependent nature of the dust, the flower, and the human being, we see that unity cannot exist without diversity. Unity and diversity interpenetrate each other freely. Unity is diversity, and diversity is unity. This is the principle of interbeing.
- Thích Nhất Hạnh in The Sun My Heart (1996)
Meditation on any theme, if positive and honest, inevitably separates the person who does the meditating from prevailing opinion, from that which … can be called “public” or “popular” opinion.
- José Ortega y Gasset, What is Philosophy? (1964)
People holds an inward talk with themselves alone, which they must regulate well.
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1699)
My third maxim was to endeavor always to conquer myself rather than fortune, and change my desires rather than the order of the world, and in general, to accustom myself to the persuasion that, except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power. … This single principle seemed to me sufficient to prevent me from desiring for the future anything which I could not obtain, and thus render me contented; for since our will naturally seeks those objects alone which the understanding represents as in some way possible of attainment, it is plain, that if we consider all external goods as equally beyond our power, we shall no more regret the absence of such goods as seem due to our birth, when deprived of them without any fault of ours, than our not possessing the kingdoms of China or Mexico; and thus making, so to speak, a virtue of necessity, we shall no more desire health in disease, or freedom in imprisonment, than we now do bodies incorruptible as diamonds, or the wings of birds to fly with. But I confess there is need of prolonged discipline and frequently repeated meditation to accustom the mind to view all objects in this light; and I believe that in this chiefly consisted the secret of the power of such philosophers as in former times were enabled to rise superior to the influence of fortune, and, amid suffering and poverty, enjoy a happiness which their gods might have envied. For, occupied incessantly with the consideration of the limits prescribed to their power by nature, they became so entirely convinced that nothing was at their disposal except their own thoughts, that this conviction was of itself sufficient to prevent their entertaining any desire of other objects; and over their thoughts they acquired a sway so absolute, that they had some ground on this account for esteeming themselves more rich and more powerful, more free and more happy, than other men who, whatever be the favors heaped on them by nature and fortune, if destitute of this philosophy, can never command the realization of all their desires.
- René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637)
If we spent half an hour every day in silent immobility, I am convinced that we should conduct all our affairs, personal, national, and international, far more sanely than we do at present.
- Bertrand Russell, “The decay of meditation” (1931)
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (c. 1595-96), Act II, scene 1
Avoid all refined speculations; confine yourself to simple reflections, and recur to them frequently. Those who pass too rapidly from one truth to another feed their curiosity and restlessness; they even distract their intellect with too great a multiplicity of views. Give every truth time to send down deep root into the heart.
- François Fénelon
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)