3 Credit(s)

This experiential course is an introduction to mindfulness and meditation. Students will learn the basic principles of mindfulness and meditation and apply these principles in their life. Classes will combine lecture, discussion, and practice. (Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Prerequisite(s): FLHD 1500  - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C
Registration Restriction(s): None

Christiansen, S. & Simpson, B. (Preliminary Edition, 2024). Building a Mindful Life: Applying Mindfulness and Meditation Principles to Everyday Life. Cognella Press. 

The textbook is published by Cognella Academic Publishing and titled Building a Mindful Life.

Purchase direct from the publisher here: https://store.cognella.com/84175-1A-002

If you select an ebook for this title, you will have immediate access upon purchase. After creating a Cognella Store account, signing in, and purchasing, go to the section My Digital Materials where you will find a link to your ebook.

These course materials include information that we will reference and use in class regularly, so you should be sure to purchase your own copy of all required materials. Please keep in mind that our institution is strict about copyright law and course materials should never be copied or duplicated in any manner.

Recommended Texts

• Sockolov, M. (2018). Practicing mindfulness: 75 essential meditations to reduce stress, improve mental health, and find peace in the everyday. Emeryville, California, Althea Press.
• Watkins, P. (2019). Meditation made simple: Weekly practices for relieving stress, finding balance, and cultivating joy. New York, Crestline.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Identify the historical and philosophical foundations of mindfulness and meditation.
2. Apply mindfulness and meditation principles to everyday life. 
3. Develop a personal mindfulness and meditation practice.
4. Explore mindfulness and meditation’s impact on health and therapeutic outcomes.
5. Explain the theory, practice, and research on mindfulness and meditation and how this knowledge applies to education, therapy, and individual practice.

Course Assessment Table

Assignment Outline

All papers are turned in through the Unicheck software program. Papers must have a green rating and have a rating of 25% or less to be accepted. Papers that are not rated green or have a rating of 25% or more for similarity will not be accepted for points. Please click the syllabus statement link below for information about SUU's Academic Integrity policy if you have questions about plagiarism.

Reflection Papers

Reflection Papers (30% of your final grade). You are to complete a typed written reflection paper for every set of readings and videos. Each reflection paper is worth 6 points towards your final grade. There are 10 reflection papers over the semester, so there are 60 points possible. 

After reading each chapter, any additional articles, and watching the module videos, write a minimum of 750 words (about a page and a half) of the main ideas and your reactions and thoughts about the principles in the readings and videos. Please write the reflection papers for yourself. Reflection papers should not be busy work but an opportunity for you to engage in the content in a meaningful way and learn new ideas to enrich your life. Your reflection paper should include four sections. 1) The first section summarizes key principles from the readings, 2) the second section summarizes key principles form the videos, 3) the third section discusses what you learned and found most interesting from the readings and videos (These are ideas that you can discuss with your peers in the class discussions), and 4) the fourth section discusses how you can apply what you learned from the readings and videos into your personal or professional life. Please use headings for each of the four sections in writing your reflection paper. I have attached a sample template of how you might organize your paper. 

Reflection Paper Template 

Reflection Paper Example (Your reflection papers do not have to be this long if you don't want them to be, but this is a good example of writing your reflection papers for yourself and not me. Since this was written I separated the discussion of the readings and videos so you reflection organization will be slightly different).

Reflection Papers should be a minimum of 750 words (about one page and a half). Papers are single spaced, 12 point font, with a space between paragraphs. Reflection papers are turned in through the Unicheck software program. Papers must have a green rating and have a rating of 25% or less to be accepted. Please use quotes sparingly and be careful with paraphrasing to make sure you are using your own words. Since reflection papers are a summary and your own thoughts about the readings, they should be written mostly in your own words. Points will be deducted for papers that are less than 750 words, do not include the four sections, and are not thoughtful or are poorly written. Please see assignment rubric for grading expectations.

Reflection Paper Discussions

Class Discussions (15% of your grade). Three points will be given for each discussion you participate in Canvas. There are 11 discussions so there are a total of 33 points possible. Your initial post is due the day after your reflection paper is due. Your initial post will be your thoughts, reactions, and/or questions about the reading (not a summary since everyone has read the articles). These are the insights you gained from the reading and what you found interesting that you would like to share with your classmates.

After your initial post, you need to have a minimum of two more comments to other student’s posts. In summary, you will have a minimum of three posts per discussion. You have until when the next reflection paper is due to make comments about the readings and discuss with your online peer learners. Please post your comments and reactions to the readings no later than the day after the reflection is due so it allows time to discuss and comment before the discussion closes. Please be kind and encouraging in the discussions.

Discussion Post Examples 

Daily Personal Meditation Practice

Meditate at least five days per week for the designated amount of time as outlined in the weekly schedule. Your meditation practice is reported on the Weekly Report Forms (5 points each week). Your meditation practice will start the second week of class and go until before the Thanksgiving break. Your daily meditation practice report forms are worth 20% of your final grade.

Weekly Meditation Journal 

Example of a Completed Weekly Meditation Journal 

• Weeks 1-4: 5-10 minutes per day 
• Weeks 4-8: 10-15 minutes per day
• Weeks 9-12: 15-25+ minutes/day

You are welcome to use an app, guided meditations, or break up the time through the day.

Here are some suggested books for meditation: 

Sockolov, M. (2018). Practicing mindfulness: 75 essential meditations to reduce stress, improve mental health, and find peace in the everyday. Emeryville, California, Althea Press.

Watkins, P. (2019). Meditation made simple: Weekly practices for relieving stress, finding balance, and cultivating joy. New York, Crestline.

There are many apps that can help you manage the time. I like using the Insight Timer App. You can select the amount of time you want to meditate and a sound like a bell and how many chimes you want to hear when you begin and end your session.

Mindfulness in Daily Life 

Choose an area in your life you are interested in exploring and practicing mindfulness (i.e., eating, emotions, studying, stress, anxiety, technology, single-tasking, relational mindfulness, etc.). Even though for this assignment you are intentionally exploring mindfulness in one specific area of your life, you will notice that the practice will flow into other parts of your life. Remember, whatever you do, do it.

Once you choose where you would like to practice mindfulness, apply mindfulness strategies (art, music, journaling, observing, seeing, listening, breathing, acceptance, body scanning, self-compassion, walking/movement, etc.) to this area of your life over four weeks (daily or minimum 5x week). You will start this assignment on Monday March 24th and continue for four weeks until the end of the semester. You will be doing both a meditation and mindfulness tracking journal for the last four weeks. You are welcome to explore apps that track progress or enhance your experience.

After applying mindfulness to a specific area of your life for four weeks, you will include a reflection of your experience as part of your final paper. This paper will due the last day of finals. The details for this paper are found in the Mindfulness and Meditation Final Reflection assignment. The mindfulness section of this paper will include what you did (the area of your life you applied the strategy and the mindfulness skills you practiced), how your strategy went (including how long you practiced it), any challenges that arose, any benefits you noticed, and next steps. You will submit your tracking sheets weekly. The tracking sheets are worth five points per week and will count for 5% of your grade and the final paper that includes your reflections on your mindfulness experiences is worth 15% of your final grade. Thus, the tracking sheets and paper are 20% of your final grade. 

Weekly Mindfulness Journal.docx

Community Meditation/Mindfulness Reflection

You will attend a meditation or mindfulness related class or event in the community. You will turn in a one paragraph reflection of the experience.

You can check for community events in your local newspaper or you may visit a yoga studio or similar center that offers mindfulness or meditation experiences. If you choose to do yoga, find a class that is slower and more intentional rather than a workout based yoga class. In your reflection paragraph, include location, date, and how it went, your thoughts on the experience, and what you noticed. This assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

Mindfulness/Meditation Share, Teach, Reflect

The best way to learn something is to teach it. This assignment will help you better internalize your mindfulness and meditation practice by sharing it with others.

You will teach an individual or a group about mindfulness or meditation. This can be informally with friends or family or formally in an educational or professional environment. You can use some lecture in your presentation to share key principles but your teaching should primarily be experiential. For example, a guided meditation or yoga flow experience. You can share with children, adolescents, or adults. If your audience is children, the resources we reviewed during Module 5 will be helpful. If you share with adults then you have several resources from throughout the semester. 

This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade. You will be graded on your lesson plan, teaching the lesson, assessing the experience of your participants, and reflecting on the value of the experience.

Lessonplanexamples3450-1.doc 

Mindfulness and Meditation Final Reflection

The purpose of this assignment is to summarize and reflect on your mindfulness and meditation practice over the semester and the principles and lessons you have learned.

Write a letter to me on your strengths, challenges, and next steps of your mindfulness and meditation practice. This letter should be double spaced, 12 point font, and a minimum of two pages.

It should have an introduction that outlines how you implemented mindfulness and meditation into your life over the semester and a summary or conclusion that describes the lessons and principles you learned over the semester about mindfulness and meditation and how you plan to implement these practices throughout your life. The lessons and principles you learned may be from your own practice or from videos or readings over the semester. Between your introduction and summary or conclusion you should have two main sections with subheadings. One section will be focused on your meditation practice and the other section will focus on your Mindfulness in Daily life practice.

For example the first section should follow this outline: 1) the practices, routines, rituals, and structure of your meditation practice (what you did over the 12 weeks of your practice), 2) any challenges you found in your meditation practice, and 3) your development and growth over the semester from meditating (how you changed).

The second section will be a reflection of your mindfulness in daily life experience: 1) what you did in your four weeks of intentional practice, the area of your life you applied the strategy, and the mindfulness skills you practiced, 2) any challenges that arose, and 3) any benefits you noticed.

See the assignment rubric for detailed grading criteria. This assignment is worth 15% of your grade.

Example Paper Organization Template

Mindfulness and Meditation Final Reflection.docx

Grade Scheme

The following grading standards will be used in this class:

Late Policy/Make Up Work - Late work will be accepted at a 10% penalty per day up to 2 days after due date

Attendance - This is an asynchronous online course and therefore synchronous attendance is not required. Your participation in the course activities and discussions are essentially your attendance.

Program and Course Fees

Instructor's Response Time & Feedback

Online classes provide unique challenges for interaction. Feedback is an important part of learning, please look for feedback on your assignments. To find feedback look at this tutorial How do I view assignment comments from my Instructor.

It is my goal to:

• Respond to student messages within 3 business days
• Provide grades and feedback within 5-7 business days from the due date

Canvas Information

Canvas is where course content, grades, and communication will reside for this course.

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• 435-865-8200
• support@suu.edu
• IT Service Desk
• For Canvas help:
• 435-865-8555
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Financial Security Statement

Finances are an integral part of maintaining your wellbeing. If you are struggling financially or wish to know more about budgeting, please visit the Financial Wellness Center in room 201C in the Sharwan Smith Center, contact Ashleigh Zimmerman at (435) 865-8436, or text the Financial Wellness line at 435-708-1952.  

AI Use

AI is a useful tool and it is one that you will likely want to be familiar with as you look for a job. That being said, the purpose of this class is to train and develop critical thinkers that can analyze, solve problems, and apply research. In this class you are welcome to use AI to help you during the brainstorming and research gathering part of the class as well as checking grammar and syntax. However, during the composition of the assignments, the work needs to be your own. AI used to answer questions or create drafts for your discussion posts, assignments, or projects is in violation of academic integrity under plagiarism and will result in punishments from failing the assignment/class up to being expelled. AI checkers and plagiarism checkers may be used for any discussion, assignment, test, or project. The responsibility for violations of intellectual property laws, misinformation, or unethical content lies on the student. If you have any questions, please reach out to me.

SUU Campus Resources and Services

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