UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Center for the Performing Arts Student Engagement department, in collaboration with the Penn State Student Affairs Health Promotion Wellness initiative, is hoping to give students creative and artistic techniques to help them manage stress and enhance mental health.
"Mindful Making" is a five-week creative workshop series aimed at sharing arts-based wellness practices that can help to improve overall well-being. The series will be held at 3-4 p.m. on Thursdays, Sept. 10–Oct. 8, under the patio tent in front of Eisenhower Auditorium.
“I am hoping these workshops will offer students the space and permission to slow down and partake in some self-care,” said Hope Falk, Mindful Making coordinator and student engagement manager at the Center for the Performing Arts and Student Affairs.
The Mindful Making series schedule features art journals (Sept. 10); “I Am” mixed-media prints (Sept. 17); self-care box decorating (Sept. 24); mindful calligraphy (Oct. 1); and stamp making (Oct. 8). Each workshop will include the craft activity as well as discussion of how to practice self-care, meditation, wellness and kindness.
“I have found engaging in something creative to be a more accessible way for me to be in the present moment and achieving that sense of calm people often associate with a formal sitting mediation,” Falk said. “I hope that students interested in mindfulness practices might see these workshops as a stepping-off point for their journey.”
Visit Student Affairs for more details about the range of wellness and self-care activities, including the Mindful Making schedule.
Find the Center for the Performing Arts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.