Written by Padua Junior Chelsea V.

When I first heard that I would be meditating in my physics class, I had no interest in participating. When my mom asked about it, I told her that I didn’t really care about it and wasn’t going to try to understand what it was all about. I even told my friends how much I was dreading going to class. However, when my physics class and I meditated for the first time I actually really enjoyed it. After that class, we continued to meditate and I began to actually take an interest in meditation. I started going to some of the after school sessions that were longer than the ones in class.

Every time I meditate in class, I’m able to shut off the the rest of my worries and just focus on what is present around me. I am someone who stresses about everything and overfocuses on every little detail going on in my life. I’m usually a very busy person and I’m always thinking about what I have to do next and how many things need to be done in the week. Meditation allows me to shut out those worries and concentrate on my breath. I really feel a sense of peace when I sit down to meditate. Lately when I’m at home and my life starts to feel hectic and rushed, I just sit down and start meditating for a couple of minutes. It helps me to organize my thoughts, and then afterwards, I know what is important and what I don’t need to think about.

Even though I really enjoy meditation, sometimes it can be really hard to practice it. I still have some of those thoughts that meditation can be a waste of time and that I need to be productive. I also sometimes would rather sleep away my stress than meditate for just a couple of minutes. But what I’ve realized over the past couple of months is that when I just meditate for a couple of minutes, I feel so much better and way less stressed. I’m able to get my homework done quicker and am able to do so without feeling anxious. When I sleep to not face my stress, I only wake feeling more rushed and hectic. Meditation can be hard to implement into my life sometimes, but I really try and make time for it because I know once I do it, I’ll feel better.

From someone who originally dismissed meditation as a waste of time, I would extremely recommend trying it to see its benefits. Meditation has helped me through some really stressful times, and practicing it has really helped my mental health. Even when I’m not in physics class I try and practice mediation and mindfulness. Meditation has really benefited me this year and I’m glad that I have a new technique to cope with stress.