Spartan Daily Vol. 162 No. 8 by Spartan Daily

WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Volume 162 No. 8 SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934

WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY

GRAPHIC BY KAYA HENKES-POWER

Mindful students meditate

By Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF WRITER

The Student Wellness Center hosted its weekly “Mindful Mondays” event on Monday evening. Facilitated by Dr. Sarah Strader-Garcia, a licensed professional clinical counselor and registered expressive art therapist, the event is for students to learn ways to lower stress levels and feel energized through guided meditation and expressive art, according to the San José State University event calendar. Strader-Garcia attended the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology for her graduate program where the school encouraged a holistic approach to her practice. “I love yoga, I love meditation and I just think it’s so powerful,” she said. “Why not incorporate that into helping someone with their thoughts?” During “Mindful Mondays”, Strader-Garcia takes 10 minutes to teach students a short lesson about the importance of meditation and its purpose. Following her short lesson, students practiced guided meditation with gentle music playing. Guided meditation is when someone forms mental images through meditation by thinking of senses including smells and physical sensations in the body

or visualizing places that help them relax with the assistance of a teacher or guide, according to the Mayo Clinic. Strader-Garcia said she uses guided meditation as a way for students to connect creatively without overthinking. “I do a guided meditation (so) we’re really in our bodies and not our minds,” StraderGarcia said. “(It's) important to feel grounded like that and approach the creative process from an embodied state.” After the guided meditation, students had the option to write or draw about the experience with materials provided by Strader-Garcia. Once students were done with their creative expression, they reflected as a group on what the process was like for them. Expressive art therapy is a multifaceted approach that uses different creative methods such as art, music, drama or dance as a way for people to achieve personal growth, according to Verywellmind.com. “I think art is so healing and it’s such an amazing way to express yourself,” StraderGarcia said. Art therapy is a formal practice that was established in 1942 by British artist Adrian

Hill where it was observed through tuberculosis patients whose drawing and painting practices provided them a sense of freedom that they lacked while bedridden, according to the Adelphi Psych Medicine Clinic. Art therapy was also used in mental institutions through the work of British artist Edward Adamson. This further connected artistic expression with emotional release, according to the same website.

students to come to the event whenever they like. StraderGarcia said that she wants students to feel like they can express whatever they want with no pressure. Strader-Garcia said she meditates every morning and in-between counseling sessions with students. “It (meditating) helps me be more present with the person that’s in front of me,” StraderGarcia said. “I think that’s so important because I think the biggest gift we can give people is our time.” Design studies junior Azucena Nieto-Vera has been attending this event for two weeks and said that Dr. Sarah Strader-Garcia it has helped her Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and get out of her dorm Registered Expressive Art Therapist and become more comfortable in San José. Strader-Garcia said that After learning about the expressive art therapy uses the event through an email, Nietoright side of your brain, which Vera said she wanted to see is the creative-side of the brain, what things she hadn’t tried on so it can bring you into a deeper campus before. knowledge of yourself and give “If I were to just walk to you a new perspective on daily class I see buildings but they struggles. feel very closed off,” Nieto-Vera “I think for a lot of students said. “But now, I know what it it’s a great first step to know looks like in here and I know ‘Oh I’m a counselor and I’m not what is in here.” scary’,” said Strader-Garcia. Strader-Garcia said events This event is considered a like these can help with stress drop in event, which allows relief among students, in hopes drop-in

It (meditating) helps me be more present with the person that’s in front of me.

that they walk away feeling calmer and rejuvenated. “We’re (always) going from one place to another and it’s really important to slow down and we’re not taught that,” Strader-Garcia said. Research has shown that eight in 10 college students experience frequent periods of stress and 61% of college students have sought counseling for anxiety, depression, academic performance, family issues and relationship problems, according to The American Institute of Stress. After attending “Mindful Mondays”, Nieto-Vera said she was flooded with even more resources. “Before this, I was too scared to come in,” Nieto-Vera said. “Now it’s like I don’t feel as burdened by the need to come in and use the resources they have.”

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