Mindfulness & Meditation at Yale
Stressed? Trouble sleeping? Burnt out? You’ve come to the right place!
Mindfulness is all the buzz these days, though the practice has been around for over 2,500 years – and for good reason! According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, the physician responsible for introducing mindfulness practices into Western medicine in the 1970’s, mindfulness means “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” Mindfulness and meditation practices have been shown to decrease stress, improve sleep quality, increase compassion towards oneself and others, and improve overall well-being. Check out one of the many ways to learn these skills at Yale.
Ways to Practice Mindfulness & Meditate
- Join a Yale Community Drop-in Meditation session on Zoom
- Check out free guided meditations from the Center for Koru Mindfulness
- Refer to the stress-management page for specific mindfulness skills and other guided meditations
- Mindfulness and meditation apps (note that some are free and/or have in-app fees):
- Insight Timer
- Stop.Breathe.Think
- 10% Happier (also the 10% Happier podcast)
- Craving to Quit – specifically for smoking cessation; available to students for free*
- Eat Right Now – specifically for emotional/stress eating; 3 months access available to students for free*
- Unwinding Anxiety – specifically for anxiety; 3 months access available to students for free*
*contact lauren.horner@yale.edu for an access code
Suggested Mindfulness and Meditation Books:
- Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- Real Happiness by Sharon Salzberg
- Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana
- How to Meditate by Pema Chodron
- 10% Happier by Dan Harris (also a great podcast!)
- The Mindful Twenty-Something by Holly Rogers
- The Craving Mind by Judson Brewer