The College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, Michigan, a recognized leader in art and design education, is also now a leader in ensuring its students have the tools to fuel their own creativity and overcome stress.
“The students who are attracted to CCS are ones who are very passionate and very driven,” said Michael Coleman, the college’s Director of Student Life. “The need for our students to have some way to calm themselves, to focus, to prioritize, to get in touch with what is truly important to them is immense.
Adds Imre Molnar, Dean at CCS, “Quite unapologetically this institution puts people under a lot of stress.”
Which is exactly why CSS faculty member Molly Beauregard began offering the stress-reducing, creativity-enhancing Transcendental Meditation technique as part of her class on “Consciousness, Creativity and Bliss.” How did the CSS students in her class respond? Watch the video below and find out.
Here are some excerpts from the video:
Kevin, transportation design student:
Kevin - Design Student
“The minute you walk in the door you’re jumping on a moving train. Students quickly learn that if they’re going to get the work done they need to they typically are not going to sleep…. Since I have started TM I have notices a lot of different changes both on a small scale and a big scale in myself. I feel like I’ve never been organized before my entire life and I feel like I’m slowly getting organized which is probably good being that I’m going out into the working world soon.”
Chelsea, film student:
“When I came out of my first meditation I knew right away that it was going to be something I would carry with me for the rest of my life. I helped Molly in the process to bring this to CCS because I was just really passionate about other students feeling what I was feeling because she’s been just adamant about doing this for years and years.”
Tyler, transportation design student:
“You come out of it and you just feel great, it’s like you just took a two-hour nap.”
Esther, photography student:
Esther - Photography Student
“I started noticing in the first week that ideas started flowing again. Things were coming naturally. I didn’t have to force ideas; they were just sort of flowing in.”
Julie, graphic design student:
“Just knowing that it was only twenty minutes to just like meditate and then after that just feel so good about it, that just blew me away.”
Brittany, crafts student:
“I definitely have been a lot chiller, like when something breaks in the glass department now or like a cup falls on the floor, I’m just like okay and move on. I definitely used to get kind of upset about that kind of stuff.”
Dorian, stop-motion animation student:
“I feel like I’m me and I’m purely happy from it, like just truly happy.”
Michael Coleman, Director of Student Life:
“The main thing about [TM] that I liked was that it was going to provide students with a way to become more resourceful and reliant on themselves in how to deal with stress or difficult situations that are going on in their life on their own… and if we could figure out a way to teach our students that while they’re here at CCS… I just thought that would be an amazing thing.”
Cliff Harris, academic advisor:
Cliff Harris - Academic Advisor
“They need to have a means be able to tap into the deep resources of their souls to get to that creative spot. A course like Molly’s course helps them to gain access–to go past whatever that block is and access that internal information that they need to be able to get back into their whole creative journey.”
Molly Beauregard, CCS faculty, whose class integrates the practice of Transcendental Meditation technique with the study of consciousness and creativity:
Molly Beauregard - CCS Faculty
“This class addresses the epidemic of stress in this country by offering students the opportunity to be quiet. My great joy is hearing that students say, ‘I just feel happy,’ and I’m not even sure how much they know they’re learning, but that’s what education should be about: ‘I’m happy to be learning!’”