UI Mindfulness
UI Mind is a resource program started by Jamie Derrick that helps promote mental health on the U of I campus. This program introduces students, faculty and staff to mindfulness best practices and teaches them how to practice mindfulness in their daily lives.
Jamie offers a weekly drop-in meditation group and has a variety of resources available for those who are interested in starting (or maintaining) a mindfulness practice.
Is Mindfulness Right for You?
Mindfulness is intentional training our mind to steady and our heart to open and accept our true experience — no matter what!
It’s a stabilizing practice on a path of self/spiritual discovery and healing. Through practice, we relate to ourselves and our experiences in more wholesome, grounded, and enlivened way.
We practice mindfulness so we can bring our steady mind, our acceptance, and our open, kind hearts into every aspect of daily living.
We then bring mindfulness into eating, walking, talking, listening, driving, cleaning …everything! And pretty soon something magical happens. You feel more enlivened and are better able handle your life — even the tricky parts.
Before you can start practicing mindfulness, you first have to decide if the benefits of a practice are worth the effort required to build and sustain it. You decide for yourself.
How will you know? By giving it a try. But take 3-4 weeks, at least, figuring this out. Our minds get pretty agitated at first.
You’ll have good days and bad days —that’s normal. But if it’s not your jam, no worries. Look for other ways to take good care of your mind and body.
- Be UNCONDITIONALLY gentle with your ups and downs. It’s normal to have hard days.
- Start in short bits (1-5 minute guided practices). Try at least 2-3 times a week.
- Your mind WILL get agitated. Stay steady; this will get better. Really!
- About 80% of beginners experience benefits after 3-4 weeks. But 20% never find a groove. If that’s you; no worries. Find what works better for you.
- Use online resources. They help. Don’t go it alone!
Jamie Derrick
UI Mindfulness Founder
Jamie Derrick founded and runs the UI Mind mindfulness resources program on the University of Idaho campus. She serves as an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychology and Communication at U of I and is a licensed psychologist, as well as a certified mindfulness teacher.
Mindfulness FAQ
- Less Stress: Practicing mindfulness 10-20 minutes a day had average 11% reduction in perceived stress.
- More Calm | Easier Relationships: Mindfulness protects against the stressful effects of conflict (Barnes et al., 2007) and leads to better communication (Dekeyser el al., 2008).
- Your Brain Will Work Better: Mindfulness increases information processing speed (Moore & Malinowski, 2009), and decreases distracting thoughts (Lutz et al., 2009).
Lots of people can guide a meditation — quite well. But supporting you to build a sustainable, supportive mindfulness practice? Well that is another matter! A mindfulness practice is a journey — with twists and turns and bumps and blind alleys — and having a trusted, experienced teacher makes it MUCH more likely that your practice will become a place of healing and refuge. There are a lot of misconceptions out there in the world.
It’s a bit like finding a good therapist: you can learn a lot about anxiety or relationships from a book or a Youtube movie, but when you’re in the thick of it all and questions arise, it’s nice to have someone to have honest conversation with. Mindfulness is no different. The human factor & consistent teachings of someone you trust take you further.
Let’s talk misconceptions here. You can meditate sitting in a chair, lying down (be careful you don’t nap though), & standing up. It’s good to pick a quiet place & a quiet time of day.
Your mind won’t go quiet. But eventually you’ll start ignoring it. You won’t experience yogic levels of enlightened calm. But you’ll learn to stay present and compassionate EVEN WHILE everything is happening.
Well, if you don’t like it after giving it a good try, pat yourself on the back for learning something important.
You can still practice mindfulness in your daily life — staying present, non-judgmental, & open in all your activities. You can learn to work mindfully with your negative thoughts. You can be more grateful & forgiving. You don’t have to meditate to become more mindful! (It just helps).
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