Virtual Resources
We have compiled some resources that you can access from home, both for personal retreat and connection with others. Do you have any that you would like to share? Please email us so we might add them.
Mindfulness Resources
The 10 Minute Mind
In partnership with HAWP, we are pleased to offer students, faculty and staff FREE access to The 10 Minute Mind to help you take care of your mental health. During this program. you will have a brand-new short-guided mindfulness track every morning. All you need to do is take 10 minutes to sit somewhere quiet, put your headphones on and listen. It’s that easy!
The results are profound and far-reaching. Mindfulness has been scientifically proven to reduce stress, increase focus and overall feelings of happiness and well-being.
The Art of Meditation: Overcoming Negative Emotions
The Art of Meditation: Overcoming Negative Emotions series offered by Hindu spiritual advisor Partha Biswas this semester is available to listen to anytime.
Mindfulness Apps
There are a number of free mindfulness apps with optional in-app purchases. Try one or more of them:
More Guided Meditations and Talks
- Tara Brach offers many free guided meditations and talks, as well as a weekly live stream, available through her website. These are Buddhist in flavor.
- She and Jack Kornfield also offer this half-day home mindfulness retreat.
- "Mindfulness In Times of Stress" is a 45-minute webinar with Meghan Gardner, a local Buddhist practitioner.
Christian Resources
Guided Daily Reflections
- The Daily Examen with Fr. James Martin (podcast)
- Pray As You Go (podcast and website, audio reflection prompts based on lectionary)
- Sacred Space (website; reflection prompts based on lectionary)
- Daily Meditations with Richard Rohr at the Center for Action and Contemplation (email sign-up)
- Examen for Life During COVID-19
Hindu Resources
- Recorded sessions on a variety of topics from Hindu spiritual advisor Partha Biswas.
Jewish Resources
- Available through Brandeis Hillel.
Muslim Resources
Nature
In addition to looking online for spiritual connection, make time to connect with nature, whether it's next to your sidewalk or a larger wild place.
- Try going regularly to the same place and listen to and watch the birds — get to know who's there. Get close up with a plant, a tree or a bug, and take in all the details. You might download the iNaturalist app to help you identify species and upload your discoveries to a national database.
- Carefully notice every change in a particular small area as the days go by.
- Take time to draw something, even if you don't think you can draw, and enjoy looking so closely at details — or just take a picture of it.
- Shift perspective in your head as you encounter some living thing, and ask it/them, "What's it like to be you?" Listen for answers inside.
- Enjoy being outside after dark, using your sense of smell and take in the starry night.
- If you can't get outside, technology can facilitate your connection with nature, including virtual tours of national parks or any of the many live nature cams that are available online.