Loving Kindness Meditation with Dr. Amy Kline
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
Dr. Amy Kline is the Associate Dean of Assessment & Accreditation in the College of Education and Human Services. She appreciates and enjoys the calming effect of meditation and begins each morning with it. Amy understands how meditation stimulates a sense of quietness in the mind and body to help offset the demands of everyday life. Meditation represents a bridge between the conscious and unconscious control of the mind and body and creates a more panoramic vision of the environment. During times of elevated stress, the perception of the environment narrows, and meditation helps bring the field of focus to a broadened horizon. Amy recognizes the powerful and positive effects of bringing calmness to the heart, soul, and mind and takes great pleasure in opportunities to share her practice with others. For the past two years, she has served as one of the leaders of the SHU faculty and staff weekly group meditation.
Practicing kindness is one of the most direct routes to happiness. Research suggests that people tend to be more satisfied with their relationships and lives when directing intentionality towards kindness. Everyone has a natural capacity for kindness, but sometimes the stress and demands of life obstruct the ability to nurture and express this capacity to the fullest. Loving Kindness Meditation helps cultivate a propensity for kindness and mentally facilitates goodwill and warmth.
Loving Kindness Meditation increases happiness by helping people feel more connected to others— to family members, friends, co-workers, faculty members, and even strangers. Additionally, it helps reduce a vast focus inward, often causing increased stress-related symptoms and responses. In turn, when practicing Loving Kindness Meditation, the focus shifts towards genuine connection with others, and social interactions and close relationships become more rewarding.
CEHS students, faculty, and staff joined Dr. Amy Kline to participate in Loving Kindness Meditation via Microsoft Teams. Those who attended noted their appreciation and adoration for the meditation session. One participant shared, "I love what I learned. Now, I do this meditation in the morning before I go to work and before I go to sleep. It's very relaxing and soothing." Likewise, another attendee noted how Loving Kindness Meditation with Amy was "such a wonderful message about self-care and sharing love within and without."
Loving Kindness Meditation is an excellent tool that takes little time out of the day but profoundly impacts relaxation and focus. "I'm glad it was a shorter event because I have lots of stuff going on during the day, but ten minutes is the perfect amount of time to stop and take a break to relax and refocus," another student noted. The feedback and responses to the meditation led by Amy were overwhelmingly positive. Attendees talked about the significance of meditation on their day and how programs like Amy's help emphasize critical and necessary attention on mental health. One student spoke about the importance of having mindfulness programs and how they would like to see more programs like Dr. Amy Kline's in the future. "I'm glad this was offered, and I think it's important that we have programs available that promote mindfulness and mental health. I would go to a similar event in the future!"
Categories: Education
