Dr. Ann Friedman discusses mindfulness with students

Wellness Club brought in Dr. Ann Friedman to host mindfulness sessions with students and faculty during lunch from Feb. 7-9.

In 2006, Friedman’s house flooded, her mother began having brain seizures and her husband was transitioning between jobs, so she began the practice of mindfulness.

Friedman’s course covered stress and anger management techniques, which she believes will be helpful to everyone in confronting pain and challenging emotions.

“I wish I had known this at a younger age,” Friedman said. “It would’ve saved me years of anxiety and suffering because I learned to let go and be a more relaxed person.”

Friedman engaged participants by not only speaking about ways to de-stress, but conducting practices over the three days. Students learned breathing techniques and trained their senses to be more aware of their surroundings.

Many students who attended the sessions found the information to be valuable to their school lives.

“It’s important to practice this because at St. John’s we’re all super stressed out,” senior Katharine Duffy said. “Seniors have a lot of decisions to make soon, and freshmen are trying to get oriented at a new school.”

Director of Clinical Services Tesa Stark, who has been practicing mindfulness for the past three years, thinks it can help students with their stress management.

“If students can let things go and not stress out as much, they would realize that more than likely, it’s all going to be okay,” Stark said.

Friedman hopes that the sessions she conducted will help students and faculty members practice mindfulness and control their stress levels not only at St. John’s, but in their daily lives as well.

“I learned mindfulness, and it changed my life,” Friedman said.