Do you care for yourself the way you care for your students? Creating Equity with Mindfulness
A brief excerpt from the dissertation, Mindfulness Practices among TRIO Professionals in Higher Education.
In historical transition periods, monumental events often forced political, social, economic, and technological change, driving the way organizations have run businesses; higher education institutions are no exception (Bennis, 1989).
Face-to-face learning is a people-intensive enterprise. Managing and running residential facilities, dining operations, athletics programs (varsity and recreational), and other aspects of student life require an army of people (Kim, 2020, para. 5).
In student affairs divisions, frontline employees experience limited opportunities to reflect on individual and emotional reactions and values (Adams et al., 2006). Front-facing positions (defined as direct interaction with students) deemphasize the individual and create a need for mindful practices (Redmond, 2022).
The statement above pulls from an excerpt that references many of the changes that occurred in our lives during the pandemic and other tragic events that stirred up social unrest and cause a lot of emotional and stressful turmoil in 2020, continuing today. In the spring of 2022, I recently defended my dissertation. While it’s fresh on my mind, I wanted to share some mindfulness practices that have helped me throughout this process. The purpose of my study was to explore the lived experiences and perceptions of frontline workers in student affairs who reported regular use of mindfulness practices. I believe that incorporating more intentional mindful care towards ourselves creates an environment in higher education that supports those around us. That intentional support of ourselves, spreads to our students and colleagues and increases the necessary care needed today.
In my dissertation, I interviewed ten student affairs professionals who worked directly with first-generation, low-income, and students with disabilities. Participants also had at least one year of experience with mindfulness and worked at least one year in student affairs. They were employed at a U.S. college or university receiving federal TRIO funding and had a caseload of students that they worked with daily. This group of participants provided equity to students in both secondary and post-secondary education.
Overall, my research highlighted that their mindfulness experiences helped them as student affairs professionals as they interacted in their personal and professional daily lives. I hope that these practices provide some insight that might also help continue the necessary self-care needed for yourself and those you serve. I want to share brief key points from my results section regarding intentional care in this article. Here is what I cover:
Understanding Equitable Mindfulness in Higher Education
- What is Mindfulness?
- Equity in Higher Education
- Mindfulness supports Equity in Higher Education
Intentional Care Techniques
- Awareness of the Mind and Body
- Creating an Environment that brings Calm
- Short and Purposeful Practices
Additional Resources to Explore
Understanding Equitable Mindfulness in Higher Education
What is Mindfulness?
I define mindfulness as paying attention to your thoughts and the present moments of your life without judgment of what is occurring as good or bad. A more popular definition is "paying attention in a particular way non-judgmentally" (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p.4, 2005). In addition to these definitions, we can set an intention to create a mindfulness-based practice (meditation, yoga, tai chi etc.) or bring attention to our five senses on something we are doing and keep constant awareness of how we engage and interact with others in our daily lives. I want to note that sometimes we get into a daily routine where we are not always aware of what we are doing, such as driving to work, eating our lunch, or even interacting with those around us. Mindfulness helps us intentionally pay attention. We can become more aware of our day so we can make better-informed decisions and respond to what happens in our lives, rather than reacting to things that come our way.
Equity in Higher Education
First, I would like to define equity in higher education.
According to the Center for Public Education (2016), “Equity is achieved when all students receive the resources they need, so they graduate prepared for success after high school” (p. 1). While this definition focuses on secondary education, TRIO student affairs professionals serve both secondary and post-secondary students in education, and the concept of equity is the same. In my study, I interviewed TRIO professionals who maintain grant objectives and require staff to support first-generation college students who may not have had educational access, resources, or the academic support needed to get to or complete college. Mindful practices helped the interview participants reflect on how TRIO influenced the higher education environment at their institutions.
Mindfulness supports Equity in Higher Education.
During conversations in my focus group interviews, participants shared that much of their stress occurred when the staff took on the stress of the students with whom they were working. Sometimes, they further reflected that they must let go of that stress to take care of themselves.
Intentional Care Techniques: Awareness of the Mind and Body
In a one-on-one interview, the participant shared the practice of check-ins with the self, also known as body scans or mind-body awareness, where one takes the time to become aware of the sensations or tensions in the body (Lin & Edwards, 2019).
So, it's [mindfulness] purposeful intention to check in with yourself. Whether it's by checking in with your body, are you feeling stiff, or you're contracting some of your muscles, are your shoulders up ‘cause you can't figure out how to do something on your computer, or because somebody came in and they're just having an off day, and maybe you're having an off day.
The intentional care that the staff saw for themselves presented as an overflow into their student’s well-being.
I'm more eager to do my job. Like I said, I'm present, I'm aware of what I'm doing, who I'm working with, how I'm working with them. And because I've had, as my practices required me to reflect and remember in all of these things that's going on in your central. I've then come to work and realized that I'm better at reflecting and remembering and getting my students to reflect on things and getting my students to be mindful. And I'm realizing that some of my practice, what I do is flowing into them, and I like it. And it helps them out, and we all get a positive interaction about it at the end of the day.
In these two excerpts, participants shared how their intentional check-in with the mind and body impact their interactions with others.
Intentional Care Techniques: Creating an Environment that brings Calm
While the first mindfulness technique flowed from the inside out, this following technique helped create a more present awareness from the outside environment, generating more inner attentiveness.
Participants intentionally placed items in the work environment to enjoy calm moments. They personally defined mindfulness as "finding their calm.” Participants shared that they added plants to their space, utilized aromatherapy, and implemented background noises that might impart a positive mood, like a waterfall machine or soft music. The person who created the environment and those around them often enjoyed these personal spaces.
And then both at home, and in the office, I have a diffuser. And so, I will put in different scents that bring me calm. And I love to mix them, to see what wonderful smell will come out. And many times, my coworkers are like, ‘Can you put in a few more, so that it goes all throughout the office?’ So, I will put that diffuser on, open my door wide, and we will infuse the entire office. We also have gotten some plants in our office, they just help. The plants we got, were specifically supposed to purify the air. Not 100% sure if that's doing any work, but just the mental of knowing that that's what it's for has helped all of our sanity.
The previous statement reflected that while the manipulation of the environment is not a mindful practice, the environment influences the mental awareness of the staff.
Intentional Care Techniques: Short and Purposeful Practices
Starting and maintaining mindfulness practice does not have to be long and drawn out. In my study, the participant above who talk about her environment followed up with a discussion of a more formalized meditation practice. She shared that the office staff’s goal to keep mindfulness in the workplace turned into an intentional plan to provide meditation activities with students.
And then we actually have started just doing mindfulness in the office. So, I'll listen to maybe a YouTube 10 minute or so mindfulness practice, and we also have, I forget what she called her title. Maybe our health and wellness outreach? We've actually brought her into several staff meetings to lead us in guided meditation, and we intend to do that for our students this year as well.
Participants also shared their intentional practices that occurred at different times of the day. Most participants agreed that short and purposeful practices at work are effective. In a morning routine, some participants took the time for quiet reflection and engaged in moments of stillness. In the second focus group, one participant shared a view of her workspace through her webcam.
So I come in in the morning, and I usually don't have my overhead lights on, so I just use that over there [shows a small
?], so I just kind of keep it calm, and quiet, and I start every day with my door closed, and as my kettle is brewing, I just, deep breaths, and I give myself some positive motivation.
The key point in this excerpt that spoke to me is that she engaged her senses. She’s aware of the lighting, she hears the kettle and intentionally breathes. I believe that sometimes, we rush into our workday. Especially those days when we’re running behind. Her intentional moment is one that brings mindful calm to her experience and that is the beauty of what she shared. It's her intentional present moment experience.
While this is only a tiny piece of the intentional care practices that can help support a person, there are many other practices that I hope to share in the future. I hope that if you have not tried mindfulness, I encourage you to do so. Suppose mindfulness is not something you are interested in. In that case, I encourage everyone to have a practice that allows them time to reflect and take a moment for themselves because the best way to support others, especially the students we serve, is to take care of ourselves.
Additional Resources to Explore
Here are a few resources that might interest you to continue or start your mindfulness practice.
Interested in a free course? Here is an online MBSR training that you try. This was a training I took in person to start my journey in exploring mindfulness.
https://palousemindfulness.com
Additionally, here is a link to a course that was created at our university campus to incorporate mindfulness and tai chi.
UCO Mindfulness Course
https://rise.articulate.com/share/LVsUAXckh1nzWoTYtHY-AzX7BBX7AKhz#/
Meditations
Here is a meditation I recorded that focuses on breathing.
Here is another meditation I recorded that focuses on a body scan. https://youtu.be/wAzsqh9-yAo
Here are some free apps to download to your phone.
Insight Timer
UCLA Mindful App
Thank you for taking the time to read my article. Hopefully you took away some ideas to support yourselves as you continue to serve the students who will be our future.
References
Adams, R. E., Boscarino, J. A., & Figley, C. R. (2006). Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76 (1), 103-108. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.76.1.103
Bennis, W. (1989). Why leaders can't lead: The unconscious conspiracy continues. Jossey-Bass.
Center for Public Education. (2016). Educational equity: What does it mean? How do we know when we reach it? https://www.nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/cpeeducational-equity-research-brief-january-2016.pdf
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are: Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. Hyperion.
Kim, J. (2020, September 28). COVID-19 and the future of higher ed staff. Inside HigherEd. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/learning-innovation/covid-19-and-future-higher-ed-staff.
Lin, J., Culham, T.E., & Edwards, S. (2019). Contemplative pedagogies for transformative teaching, learning, and being. Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Redmond, C. S. (2022). Mindfulness practices among TRIO professionals in higher education [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. Oklahoma State University.