A Place to Be Mindful—on Campus

Carnegie Mellon University's new Mindfulness Room is part of a growing trend on college campuses: designing mindful spaces for students.

Jane Karr, writing for The New York Times, describes the Mindfulness Room at Carnegie Mellon University as an “Earth-themed room with a waterfall, plant wall” and an “inspiration whiteboard”—basically, a space on campus where students can take a break, and get a boost from the relaxed, nature-themed environment. Truly, a place to be mindful. Visitors are encouraged to leave their homework and digital devices outside of the room.

The Mindfulness Room is one of many mindful spaces popping up across college campuses—you can check out another place to be mindful in your area on Mindful’s resources page.

Bentleigh Secondary College in Melbourne, Australia, took things up a notch last year when they designed a meditation center on campus. Regular classes on meditation, indigenous culture, and environmental sustainability are taught at the center. The inside is designed to be conducive to meditation, “using calming forms and materials” such as rounded columns of polished wood, says Nick Cini, the center’s designer.

Students are so keen that many are now requesting more meditation classes. Wouldn’t you be?

Meditation and Indigenous Cultural Centre at Bentleigh Secondary College

[18/11/14]

Photograph from Carnegie Mellon University website