1. meditation and university
student health
by Maria Molfino
Last update: 01/09/14
MARIAMOLFINO.COM

2. hello, nice to meet you!
•
Stanford-trained
behavior designer:
more on my website
•
•
personal growth coach
•
research background in
behavior science and
neuroscience
certified yoga and
breathing instructor
MARIAMOLFINO.COM

3. meditation is good for you
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research shows
meditation can increase
well-being, decrease
stress, and boost
immune function
(Davidson et al., 2003).
•
meditation can actually
enlarge part of the
brain associated with
self and others (insular
cortex, Lazar et al.,
2005)
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4. selling points for students
✓ stress less/manage your energy to increase
productivity and efficiency.
✓ meditation is the new napping: recharge your battery
in 20 minutes.
✓ be relaxed + focused, instead of relaxed + lazy OR
stressed + focused.
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5. biggest challenge
students have trouble sustaining a personal meditation
practice on their own, after they’ve learned it in a course
WHY?
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motivation is fickle (motivation waves, BJ Fogg)
they haven’t learned how to fit the practice into their
busy, hectic, irregular student schedules
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6. preparing for drop-off
what most meditation teachers and students don’t know
is that while students learn meditation, they must also
learn ways to counteract natural drop-off in practice.
time
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7. preparing for drop-off
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I know this because I have taught about 200 students
meditation at Stanford, and over time, as schedules
get busy, my students experience significant drop-off
in their practice over time.
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I surveyed 16 of these students formally, 10 reported
they no longer practiced or practiced inconsistently
after taking a course. And these were some of my
most motivated students.
ouch: 10/16 dropped off!
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8. preparing for drop-off
during a focus group discussion with alumni who were
giving advice to recent graduates of the course, all
expressed regret that they hadn’t sustained the practice,
but no one had a clear idea how to do so.
man, I wish I
had kept
going...
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9. how to prepare for drop-off
what most people don’t know is that the best way to
counteract drop off is by teaching students to design the
meditation habit to fit into their own student driven life
?
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10. how to prepare for drop-off
I know this because I have worked closely with six of my
students this past quarter and have actively prepared
them for drop-off by teaching them that especially for
students:
✓ space matters
✓ community matters
✓ other habits matter
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11. space matters
how to prepare for drop-off
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during a course, students are given a comfortable and
safe space to practice
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do not assume students have an appropriate space to
practice on their own!
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work with students during the course to identify a
space they can practice on their own.
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12. space matters
how to prepare for drop-off
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students with roommates are too shy to meditate with
their roommates around, students are often not fully
aware of the extent to which this is turning them off
from their practice.
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anecdote: I noticed two freshmen in my course weren’t
practicing on their own. It boiled down to roommates! I
had them each name an alternative *nearby* space
option in their dorm, such as a common lounge/room
they could *easily* access. I had them test out the
alternative spaces.
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13. community matters
how to prepare for drop-off
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identify communities of practice which are practical
such as meditation buddies who live in student’s dorm.
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regular follow-up sessions where students see the
same fellow students; ex: Sunday meditation sessions
on campus.
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teacher, coach, mentor figure who creates
accountability; ex: credit course, weekly practice (nonclass) time with coach/mentor.
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14. other habits matter
how to prepare for drop-off
•
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identify students’ routine habits during the course
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I worked closely with one of my students, Lina, to
identify her most stable daily habits: (1) she makes her
bed after waking up, and (2) she puts on her pajamas
before going to bed.
important: student schedules are irregular; they have
irregular sleeping and eating patterns. Most of their
stable habits cluster at the beginning and end of the
day.
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15. other habits matter
how to prepare for drop-off
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Lina tested doing the practice right after she made her
bed, but she felt too rushed in the mornings. Since the
practice takes 20 minutes, it didn’t work.
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Lina tried to do the practice right after she put on her
pajamas at night, and this worked far better. Now, this
is what she does.
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I gave Lina a framework (based on BJ Fogg’s Tiny
Habits) to test her own practice in her life during the
course.
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16. to conclude
during a meditation course, teach students 2 things in
parallel:
1. how to meditate AND
2. how to keep meditating on their own
from the beginning
✓
✓
✓
teach
space matters
community matters
other habits matter
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17. Want to keep up a breathing
meditation practice? Take my
free online course
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