A Mixed Study on the Somatic Mindfulness Meditation of College Students －Focused on Mindfulness, Body Awareness, and Ego-resilience

Abstract

This study examined the effects that a somatic mindfulness course had upon the body awareness, ego-resilience and mindfulness of college students. The participants included 91 students attending C college, located in Gyeonggi-do. 51 students were assigned to a somatic mindfulness meditation course, and 40 students (the control group) were assigned to a humanities course, without any mindfulness and body awareness training involved. The results of mindfulness, body awareness, and ego-resilience upon the two groups were assessed in week 1, and again when the course was over after 14 weeks. Homogeneity using a variance test, the mean, the standard deviation, and a mixed ANOVA were performed using the SPSS 2.0 program. In parallel with this, a focus group interview was conducted with eight students in order to evaluate their personal experience of the somatic mindfulness meditation course, along with their experience of practicing the course’s techniques at home. Finally, the study assessed any changes that the students might have felt as a result of taking this course. The students were selected based on their attitude toward the course, their attendance record, and their home practice rate.<br/>The quantitative data results showed that in all mindfulness (F=10.531, p<.01), body awareness (F=19.867, p<.001), and ego-resilience (F=4.349, p<.05), the interaction effects between the groups, and the time of assessment, were statistically significant. Based on the qualitative analysis, the results were classified into four areas: 1) physical, 2) emotional, 3) cognitive, and 4) everyday life, as well as into 15 subcategories. The subcategories included ‘decrease of mind-body discomfort’ in the physical area, ‘being able to maintain some distance from negative emotions’, ‘reduced frustration’ in the emotional area, ‘being aware of differences between thoughts and reality’, ‘becoming generous with myself’ in the cognitive area, and ‘choosing a meditation method for myself’ in the everyday life area.<br/>The findings indicated that the students managed the stress they experienced from their school work and in their personal lives using what they learned from the course. Based on these results, the use of mindfulness as a way of educating self-care for mental health, and as a tool for future character education at the college level, is further discussed.