About the Serenity Center
Located in The Union, Warren 419, the Serenity Center is a welcoming sanctuary where students, faculty, and staff can retreat, relax and recenter. Its calming environment features natural light, greenery, cushions, blankets, artwork, and a small library of books focused on contemplative study. Weekly event offerings provide opportunities for guided meditation, restorative practices, and self-discovery. The Serenity Center is committed to being an inclusive space where people of all identities and backgrounds can connect and foster a strong sense of community and belonging.
What are presence, mindfulness and meditation?
Presence is intentional attentiveness in each given moment; being in the moment. For example, presence could be you silently watching the trees and noticing every detail.
Mindfulness builds on being present. It can help improve awareness and deepen intimacy with yourself, with others, and your environment. These practices can include meditation, yoga, prayer, breath-work, dance, artmaking, exploring a path within the woods, etc.
Meditation is a mindfulness practice that can strengthen the muscle of “presence”. Some examples include sitting still on a meditation pillow and observing your thoughts, feeling your heartbeat and the temperature of your skin, or walking through the arboretum and intentionally listening to nature.
Information
The Serenity Center is open during The Union's hours of operations.
Have questions about meditation or the Serenity Center? Contact Mark Gabriele, Lead Coordinator and Meditation Guide, at gabrieml@jmu.edu.
Serenity Center Events (Fall 2024)
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
Th 5:00-6:00pm
08/29, 09/05, 09/12, 09/19, 09/26, 10/03, 10/10,
10/24, 10/31, 11/07, 11/14, 11/21, 12/05, 12/12
Location: The Serenity Center: The Union, Warren 419
Facilitator: Dr. Mark Gabriele
An inclusive offering for those interested in exploring their sense of self and techniques for quieting the mind. Through practices in awareness and presence participants will learn to make space from their thoughts (past and future), enabling them to live more fully in each moment. If you're feeling stressed, worried, anxious, depressed, angry, or frustrated, and want to rediscover the peace and calm that already exists within you, look no further.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
Th 2:30-3:30pm
09/05, 09/12, 09/19, 09/26, 10/03, 10/10,
10/24, 10/31, 11/07, 11/14, 11/21, 12/05
Location: The Serenity Center: The Union, Warren 419
Facilitator: Dr. Jared Featherstone
Join teacher Jared Featherstone for a class that offers a variety of mindfulness-based meditation practices for reducing stress, developing personal insight, and cultivating kindness toward yourself and others. Each class will include practices, short talks, and questions.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
Su 6:00-7:00pm
09/01, 09/08, 10/06, 10/13, 10/20, 10/27, 11/03
Location: The Serenity Center: The Union, Warren 419
Facilitator: Dr. Art Hamilton
Each meeting will introduce the participant to one of a variety of commonly employed techniques to train greater attention and awareness to the ordinary activities of living and to the content of your mind. Practicing these techniques will help to tone down discursive, uncontrolled, unwanted thinking. Greater mental clarity, emotional stability, and creativity are the initial benefits. Each meeting will begin with a brief discussion of a technique followed by an optional guided meditation practicing the technique.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
M 4:00-5:00pm
09/16, 10/14, 10/28
Location: The Serenity Center: The Union, Warren 419
Facilitator: Heather Harris, RD
This workshop is for those interested in nourishing nutritional well-being from a mindful, non-diet approach. Participants will be guided in practices that build capacity to listen to the wisdom of hunger/fullness cues, catch and reframe negative defeating eating messages, rediscover the satisfaction factor of food, increase body respect, and ultimately honor health through joyful movement and gentle nutrition. If you are seeking peace in your relationship with food and body, this is a non-judgement space for you to begin healing.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
M 4:00-5:30pm
09/09
Location: UREC 390, Mind-Body Studio 2
Facilitator: Suzanne McCahill Perrine
Did you know that how we set up our daily routines can have an enormous impact on how we show up in our lives? In this workshop, we'll look at ways we can use the natural rhythms and cycles of the day to create simple, healthy routines to help us thrive during the semester and beyond! This workshop will include a brief discussion, handouts, some journaling, and guided meditation.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
M 4:00-5:30pm
10/07
Location: UREC 390, Mind-Body Studio 2
Facilitator: Suzanne McCahill Perrine
Exhale, you've got this! During this workshop, we will explore various breathing practices, breath awareness and even the science behind the breath to help us release stress, clear our minds, and revitalize us. Participants will not only have simple tools and techniques that will help regulate their nervous system, but you will feel the mind and body unite.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
M 4:00-5:30pm
11/04
Location: UREC 390, Mind-Body Studio 2
Facilitator: Suzanne McCahill Perrine
As the days grow colder and the challenges of the semester increase, it's easy to feel depleted. In this workshop, we'll explore simple tools to help you prioritize self-care, relaxation, & ease. We'll look at fueling our physical, mental, and emotional bodies with that which builds our immunity and resilience. Feel free to bring a journal. We will also practice a meditation based on your reflections.
*This is a passport event and requires pre-register through JMU Be Involved app
M 4:00-5:30pm
12/02
Location: UREC 390, Mind-Body Studio 2
Facilitator: Suzanne McCahill Perrine
Have you ever noticed how we tend to gravitate toward things that pull us off balance when we're under stress?! This practice will be an opportunity for us to look at ways we tend to move out of balance, especially in times of stress, and invite in more of that which brings us into harmony. We'll finish with a yoga nidra practice (and each student will get a recorded practice).
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Holidays and Other Exceptions
