The loud bouncing of basketballs, the noisy clanking of weights and the heavy stomping of feet on treadmills are all sounds that are a part of the everyday atmosphere at the Eppley Recreation Center. But, in the midst of the frenetic ERC environment, students have the opportunity to achieve inner-peace and tranquility on Tuesday evenings.
Each Tuesday, at 6 p.m., the University Health Center offers a free mediation class — tucked away in the office of The Center for Health and Well-being. The mediation sessions are led by Edie Anderson, a Chopra Center For Wellbeing certified meditation instructor and Smoking Cessation counselor at the University.
Despite hectic days filled with stress and classes, some students were able to find an inner-quite during the session.
“It’s just serene, and I felt calm,” said Paige Hamilton, a freshman letters and sciences major, after completing her first mediation class with Anderson. “I’m kind of a hostile person, so I thought this would be good for me.”
While relaxation is certainly an essential part of the class, Anderson hopes that students will gain a better understanding of themselves as well.
“If you get to know truly who you are, letting go of the outside world, then you’re in touch with your own gifts and talents,” Anderson explained.
In order put to students in contact with “who they are,” Anderson uses a technique called Chakra meditation.
Chakra meditation, which is an ancient meditation method mentioned in ancient Hindu Vedic texts such as the Upanishads, involves seven points along the body starting from the base of the spine traveling upward toward the top of the head. Each Chakra location is associated with a specific hormonal gland and a certain component of the Nervous System.
At each of these Chakra areas, participants are expected to focus on a specific color, recite corresponding mantras — basically soft chants — while employing proper breathing techniques.
The seven Chakras are said to keep the various senses and mechanisms in the body functional and balanced.
When stress manifests in the body, it can block the function of these Chakras and thus throw the body into a state of dysfunction. This dysfunction is the root cause of physical ailment in the body.
Anderson learned to lead this method of meditation while studying at the Chopra Center in California for two years. And, compared to other forms of meditation, Chakra meditation is the preferred method of meditation for one student.
“I thought it would be useful to get a more focused way of meditating,” said Ollie Berg, graduate physics major, who practiced meditation during his study of the Korean martial art, Taekwondo.
Berg was initially thrown off by the fact that Anderson allowed participants to sit in chairs or in any other position they felt comfortable in. “I thought it would be harder than it was, [but]the back rest was helpful,” Berg said lightheartedly.
Anderson’s focus is not on where or how the students sit — but just on the fact that they are together meditating in one room. She believes that the energy emanating from each participant creates a powerful force of energy that everyone can feed off of.
“Everyone here is on a journey that is very significant to the whole,” Anderson explained.
Above all, Anderson said that Chakra meditation helps people understand their self-worth and importance in the world.
“If you start understanding who you are, coming back to your soul, then you’ll flourish,” Anderson said. “There will never be another one of you.”
