Fostering conditions for kindness with Mindful USC

On a warm afternoon, seven Trojans joined Mindful USC instructor Heidi Shaw for an hour of nature-filled bliss at a location many often overlook on their busy commutes.

Sandwiched between the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences’ physical education building and the Bovard Administration Building on USC’s University Park Campus, Associates Park hides in plain sight for those rushing to the nearby student bookstore or food court.

In arguably the most wooded area on campus, participants stood in a circle amid a background cacophony of skateboards and rolling backpacks hitting concrete, passersby chatting, a raven making percussive sounds in the distance, and flights to and from Los Angeles International Airport rumbling overhead.

To kick off Mindful USC’s “Sense and Savor” Nature Walk, Shaw led participants through a grounding exercise where they were encouraged to notice the feeling of their feet on the ground, take deep breaths — and pay attention to the sounds and smells of the world around them.

“Oftentimes for participants, this is the first time they were able to slow down on campus and actually enjoy it and see its natural beauty,” said Shaw, a psychotherapist and mindful meditation teacher.

This activity is just one of the experiences curated by Mindful USC, a service offered by the USC Office of the Provost through the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. Mindful USC provides mindfulness-related courses and events designed to foster connection and compassion between the diverse communities of USC. The program helps Trojans experience mindfulness in the format that works best for them through classes, retreats, workshops, trainings and other events that are free to faculty, staff, and present and past students.

“Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to what’s happening within you and around you and doing that in a way that’s open and isn’t judgmental,” said Allyson Pimentel, a psychologist, longtime Insight meditation practitioner and director of Mindful USC. “A big part of being mindful is also being compassionate, because through mindfulness we cultivate compassion toward ourselves and for the world around us.”

Mindful USC: Fostering conditions for kindness  

USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni co-founded Mindful USC with Professor Emeritus Allen Weiss of the USC Marshall School of Business in 2014. The goal of the program was to use an upstream model of care to bring techniques and technologies to the community to support well-being, increase groundedness, and make the stressors of academic and professional life more manageable.

Soni described being inspired to help create the program after noticing that more students, faculty and staff were talking about struggling to thrive and feel a sense of belonging on campus. He drew from his own university experiences seeing the potential of meditation: After spending a semester studying Buddhism and living in a Buddhist monastery, he taught friends how to meditate and saw how the practice eased their anxiety. Soni joined forces with Weiss — who at the time was also a senior instructor at InsightLA, an influential mindfulness organization — and began offering free mindfulness classes on a shoestring budget with no staff.

“As soon as we put up these free mindfulness classes, they would be filled almost immediately — and there would be a waiting list that was extensive,” Soni said. “What had changed between when I was a college student and the time where I was doing this for college students was that a lot of people are meditating now. By 2014, we didn’t have to prove the concept and create a literacy campaign about meditation.”

Many of the classes were also set up as research projects, where the pair captured data from participants to think about whether meditation could combat issues such as insomnia, substance abuse, anxiety and stress.

“What’s unique about a research university is that we can do not just the practice, but also the research — and the research helps us better offer the practice,” Soni said.

As the program grew, Soni brought Pimentel onto the staff; the team now consists of 16 contracted instructors. While at first all offerings were in person, the team eventually developed the Mindful USC app and added an array of online classes and programming.

Soni estimates that Mindful USC provides mindfulness training for thousands of participants each year between the program’s app, online and in-person engagement. As Mindful USC passes its 10th anniversary, Soni believes more than 50,000 people have gone through the program and that USC has trained more people in mindfulness than any other university in the United States.

“When we started Mindful USC, we were the largest mindfulness program in the country,” Soni said. “Since then, other universities have tried to take our model and build out similar programs across the country.”

Something for everyone at Mindful USC

Pimentel said she and her colleagues aim to develop an array of classes that meet students where they are in their mindfulness practice. Courses are taught over several weeks and range from “Introduction to Mindfulness” to more advanced classes such as “Developing a Home Practice,” “Mindful Self-Compassion,” “Untangling Anxiety,” “Processing Climate Grief,” “Cultivating Kindness, Compassion, Serenity & Joy,” “Mindful Writing,” “Mindful Creativity” and more. Specialized programs are designed for affinity groups including neurodiverse meditators, educators and health professionals, and meditators who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

In-person events include beach mini-retreats at Santa Monica Beach, Sense and Savor Nature Walks on campus, and a new series of earth-honoring practices planned for spring. A popular course called “Mindful Parenting” helps parents stay present and compassionate during the ups and downs of parenthood.

New ways of reaching people during tumultuous times

Mindful USC’s growing popularity is easy to understand. Instructor Gauri Kolhatkar said she and her colleagues have noticed concerning trends amid what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has labeled a mental health crisis across the country. “Unfortunately, rates of depression, anxiety, general distress and physical ailments have all increased post-pandemic,” said Pimentel, who described present times as a moment of collective anxiety. “I’ve seen an increased need for practices and tools and ways of being in the world and looking at the world that support well-being.”

The pandemic also gave birth to new ways of reaching people that transcended traditional, in-person gatherings. “That’s been a really beautiful kind of development post-pandemic — we’ve really leaned into offerings and ways of gathering in a virtual or hybrid way that feels meaningful and important,” said Kolhatkar, who is on faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and is an attending physician at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Both instructors agreed that the past tumultuous years had revealed a kind of resilience in individuals — a quality they believe mindfulness can enhance.

“What’s beautiful about mindfulness practice is that it acknowledges the strength and the resilience and the capacity and the compassion that’s already there,” Pimentel said. “It offers ways to develop and increase those qualities that we have inherently, that fortify us and naturally enable us to deal with the challenges that we face.”

Mindful USC event a ‘luxurious’ experience

Participants in the Sense and Savor event spent 25 minutes wandering the park and nearby areas, noticing the plants, feeling the sun and the breeze, and gazing at the sky. As they reported back, one student said a squirrel had touched its nose to her toe. Another student took the time to look at the branches of trees and notice the fibers of the wood. As participants thanked Shaw for the experience, one student described the brief window of time as “luxurious,” being able to pause and observe nature in between classes and meetings.

“I came to Mindful USC during a stressful time — it’s my senior year and I’ve taken on a lot of projects, so having the dedicated time to just sit and be present was important to me,” said Sophia Hammerle, a fourth-year student at USC Dornsife majoring in narrative studies and gender and sexuality studies.

Fellow USC Dornsife student Lola Kark agreed. “I believe the importance of mindfulness is something that should be considered every single day in a student’s life,” Kark said. “I’m on the pre-med track, but for all students at USC, they’re obviously under a certain amount of stress and very hardworking. Being able to connect with one’s surrounding and stay in the present moment can really help.”