From paint nights and tea ceremonies to card tricks, the Student Wellness Center provides students, faculty and staff with numerous in-person opportunities to re-energize, relax and focus on their mental and physical wellness.
Moments of Mindfulness are free, accessible wellness activities that emphasize reducing stress and anxiety while promoting self-care.
“We really want to emphasize that these activities are drop-in opportunities with no registration required or experience necessary,” said QuiAnne’ Holmes, assistant director of programs for the Wellness Center.
“It is really just an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to explore different things they are interested in as well as different ways in which they can apply mindfulness outside of meditation. It also gives them a chance to build community and learn about other organizations on campus,” Holmes continued.
Drum circles, held in Student Wellness Center Room 144 from 6 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays, bring people together to energize both mentally and physically by creating rhythm, the universal language of music, according to the program's page.
For those who are interested in a quieter form of stress relief, Koru Mindfulness teaches meditation and wellness through deep breathing and other techniques. Students can also enjoy the outdoors by using the yoga deck and egg chairs in the Murphy-Nimocks Meditation Garden located outside of the Student Wellness Center.
Most Moments of Mindfulness activities are held in the Wellness Center, but others are offered in the Arts Annex or the East Campus Oasis. Paint nights are held in the Arts Annex on every other Thursday evening.
Sleight of Hand, where students can learn card tricks on Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m., and Close-Knit, a knitting group on Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m., are both held in the East Campus Oasis.
Other programs include yoga, meditative art, global conversations and tea ceremonies.
The Wellness Center has a weekly Wellness Wednesday letter that provides a list of resources every week; students, faculty and staff can subscribe through Duke’s mailing list website.
“We try to make things as easy and accessible as possible for students so that they know the Student Wellness Center is there for them and there to create things for them,” Holmes said.
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Amy Guan is a Pratt senior and a senior editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.