Nicole Heller/ Staff Writer
Ellen Campos Sousa, a business doctoral student, meditation practitioner, and facilitator suggests that mindfulness and meditation have proven to reduce anxiety and stress levels significantly – especially during times of pandemic.
Sousa, in collaboration with FIU’s Graduate School, hosts Zoom sessions for students to join and practice meditation and strengthen their mindfulness.
“The idea behind mindfulness and meditation is to bring you to a place where you recognize everything that is happening, but you are a mere observer. Once you connect to yourself, to your breath, it does decrease your stress levels and anxiety,” Sousa said during the virtual session.
Mindful meditation is not related to any religious practice. It is all about training yourself to be in the present, to be in the moment by focusing on your breath and paying attention to every part of your body – something people usually don’t do.
She provided an example when people are taking a shower and do not remember if they already cleaned a part of the body. Or, when people are driving to a place and they do not recall which way they took. This happens because our mind is always wondering and constantly doing a lot of “ruminate thinking”.
They are used to thinking over and over about things that happened to us and what they could have done or said instead. According to Sousa, all of this irrational thinking is what makes us anxious and stressed.
Sousa invites students to attend these meetings which were successfully created as a space for people to join and “calm down” at least once a week. During the sessions, students participate in different themes such as gratitude, being kind, releasing stress and anxiety, body scam, as she aims to bring a different one every week.
During an interview with PantherNOW, Sousa told her story and how meditation changed her life.
She is an international student, who moved to Miami with two kids and was facing a lot of challenges. Although she was already a meditation practitioner, she started to take it more seriously and studied more about mindfulness. She is also conducting studies in mindfulness in consumer behavior, as part of her Ph.D. program.
“Then, I took a training course to become a meditation facilitator which changed my life. I am not saying I don’t get stressed, but you start to learn to not let outside things change your inside. You just find a place of peace inside and your stress level reduces so much,” she said.
Sousa encourages students to give meditation a try. She mentioned that students are always excusing themselves saying that they do not have time to do it. People also use the “meditation is not for me as my mind never stops” as another excuse for not meditating.
The business doctoral student also mentioned that it was hard for her when she started, but for some people, it is super easy and simple. So, there is no rule.
“It took me months to feel that I was able to meditate with confidence. For some people, after the first try they already feel confident about doing it,” she said.
“The trick is to train our brain. Give yourself a try and see if it can help you,” Sousa said.
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