Mindful Oasis cultivates loving-kindness and wisdom within EdUHK campus through mindfulness practice from 2019 to 2021. It is a service under the Promoting Wellness & Positive Learning Community: Mindfulness, Resilience and Compassion (MRC) Project of SEC, FEHD. The Integrated Centre for Wellbeing (I-WELL) organized periodic Lunch Time Mindful Oasis Series (「靜觀綠洲」午間小敘) in collaboration with Human Resources Office and Student Affairs Office. There were 7 sessions being led by experienced Mindfulness teachers from Oct 2019 to May 2020, at which 2 online sessions had been held to serve the needs of EdUHK staff and students during the various waves of COVID-19 outbreak in local community.
The first session, “Mindful connection in school and home” (靜觀 師生 父母心), was held on 15 Oct 2019 by Ms. Esther Kwok, Senior Lecturer of Department of Special Education and Counselling of EdUHK, and Co-opted Member of I-WELL Centre Management Committee (CMC). “Mindful Ice Experience”, adopted from Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP), was the highlight of the session encouraging the participants to have a taste of embracing difficulties by grounding on Mindful breathing and mindful walking.
The second session, “Five ways to well-being and experience of Mindful Baduanjin.” (生活在五常及靜觀八段錦之初體驗), was led by Dr. Sunny Chan, Assistant Professor of Department of Rehabilitation Sciences in The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, on 25 Oct, 2019. The objective was to cultivate mental well-being through five different important evidence-based actions (i.e. to give; to be mindful; to be active; to connect; and to learn) and exploring “Mindful Baduanjin”.
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The third session, “Ancient Wisdom of Dealing with Anger – Education Context.” (處理憤怒的古老智慧—教育篇), was conducted on 7 Nov 2019 by Dr Elsa Lau, Lecturer of Department of Special Education and Counselling of EdUHK, Co-opted member of I-WELL CMC. Dr. Lau took the opportunity to share some ancient wisdom of handling anger and negative emotions in educational context through cultivating awareness and loving-kindness.
“Mindfulness for Mind-body Wellness.” (靜觀: 滋養身心), the fourth session of the series, was held on 9 January, 2020 by Dr. Samantha Yung, a clinical psychologist and a mindfulness teacher. Dr. Yung introduced mindfulness exercises as sitting meditation, mindful stretching and body scan with a view to guide participants to experience mind-body connection and self-care.
The fifth Session, “Mindful Self-Compassion.” (靜觀自我關懷), was conducted on 17 January, 2020 by Dr. Chloe Chin, a clinical psychologist and a mindfulness teacher. The session’s objective was to cultivate self-awareness, loving-kindness and self-compassion, especially in the face of life difficulties and challenges.
The sixth session, “Peace and Ease in Adversity.” (疫（逆）境中的詳和平安), was led by Ms. Esther Kwok, Senior Lecturer of Department of Special Education and Counselling of EdUHK, and Co-opted Member of I-WELL Centre Management Committee (CMC), on 15 May, 2020. Esther guided an online practice of mindful stretching, sitting and story-telling. Tuning in to Esther’s insightful story about peace, participants were able to anchor at the ‘here-and-now’ and calm one’s body and mind.
“Non-Striving Attitude of Mindfulness.” (不強求的靜觀態度), the seventh and last session before semester break, was conducted via online on 22 May, 2020 by Professor Lam Shui-fong. Prof. Lam is the Director of Jockey Club “Peace and Awareness” Mindfulness in School Culture Initiative and a professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Hong Kong. Prof. Lam planted good seeds of non-striving attitude with sharing video clip of Jon Kabat-Zinn, poem and gentle mindfulness practice.
Two more sessions, “Let your life speak” (聆聽內在聲音) by Ms. Christine Cheung and “Tea Zen” (茶與禪) led by Ms. Wong Miu Yung will be held in the new semester 2020-2021 to cultivate equanimity and joy. Planning and production of a corpus of Lunch Time Mindful Oasis is under progress with the hope that the words of wisdom and love of our Mindfulness teachers and participants will serve as a channel of peace to benefit more people in the EdUHK family and in the wider community.
