By student request, Madison College will hold a Stress Reduction Workshop every first and third Thursday throughout the spring semester.

The goal for Massage Therapy Program Director and instructor Amy Nicholson is to connect with individuals around campus who really want to learn about stress reduction, management and mindfulness.

“I’m really wanting to provide students with opportunities to learn more about mind body medicine,” said Nicholson who is duly licensed in massage therapy, and who holds several credentials in mental health.

The workshop is held several times during the semester, so things like self-massage, yoga, mindfulness, sound healing, aromatherapy, essential oils, and breathing techniques will be displayed.

Nicholson referred to the workshop as a self-care class and has high hopes that it will later become a structured course instead of a workshop. “That way, by the time you get through it, you really, really have a good idea of how to manage stress,” explained Nicholson.

According to student health educator Denise Holin the faculty in the school of health education are seeing an increased need for stress and wellness activities. Because stress can play a large factor in lifestyle diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, Holin and Nicholson believe it’s important to help students get through whatever they’re going through.

In addition to lifestyle diseases stress can also play an important role in academics. Typically, when students’ brains are relaxed they do much better on both academic and personal tasks. “Your mind benefits from it, your body benefits from it, but your academics also benefit from it,” said Holin.

For students who suffer from anxiety and/or depression, stress usually plays a large role in that as well.

“Stress exasperates anxiety and depression, so if you have symptoms of anxiety and/or depression, often times, it’s the result of a dysregulated nervous system and what we want do, is teach people how to regulate their nervous systems in a way that triggers the relaxation response,” said Nicholson.

Both women agree that while the Stress Reduction Workshop is an important and exciting thing for Madison College students and staff, they also understand it will take some trial and error to get right. Understanding this they have a few things they want to implement over the Spring semester, like having the students take stress surveys and seeing what time of day and day of the week works best for them.

This workshop is important because “a lot of people don’t understand how important it is to manage your stress, “which “impacts your behavior and how you feel,” said Nicholson. “So, it’s not just stress…it’s the disease of our time. Stress is everything.”