Smashing Stress | 08.11.17

As a part of our documentary research, we decided to go to the mindfulness event that was being held that at the SU by the Well Being Society. We didn't know or expect much, however thought there would be some ideas or inspiration that we could pick up there.
The set up of the space was nice, as it only used a small square of the SU. There were sofas, chairs, and bean bags arranged so you could sit how you pleased and as well as this there were smoothies you could get for £2 and tea & coffee out to get. The set up was simple, yet effective and the tapestry at the back added some colour to the space as well as creating a welcome and chill atmosphere. We really liked the smoothies and drinks idea too, it was nice to be able to have a break half way through and get a drink of tea.

The talk was by a DJ from LA called Darin McFadyen who was very engaging and interesting. He gave a talk about Buddhist philosophies and our place on the Earth and questioning the connection between happiness and gratitude and the problems of trying to find happiness in, before leading on to the meditation. The meditation was very interesting and effective. He talked us through the meditation, focusing on parts of our bodies and clothes, before prompting us to think about the process in which our shoes were made. Where we're they before you got them? The Store. How did they get to the store? Someone drove them there. What about before they were drove there? Someone sewed the together. Before that? Someone made the material. Et cetera.
I really enjoyed the experience, even though I personally didn't connect to 100% of it, it was still interesting to see another viewpoint.
This made me think and I realise that mindfulness is like being self-aware of the whole world; knowing you are a part of it and being aware of each other to channel this is happiness.

Overall, this was very useful for our research as we picked up a lot of things we could interpret into our own way and at the end we got to chat to the society about our idea and they seemed interested in helping out.