Stress reduction course draws harried students
First, let’s set a relaxing mood: Lights are off in a studio of UW–Madison’s Lathrop Hall, except for sunlight filtered through a south window.
Across the polished wood floor, 20 students lie on their backs on foam mats, eyes closed, arms parallel with the body, palms open. The silence is engrossing, save the muffled sounds of piano recitals from a studio below.
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The idea of taking a course to learn how to do nothing, and do it well, is pretty amazing for students.
Phyllis Sanfilippo |
Then comes the soothing voice of instructor Phyllis Sanfilippo:
“Allow yourself to sink into the mat … sensing heaviness in all the muscles … a wideness through the back … allow the face to relax, the eyes to feel heavy …”
The stillness seems to deepen in the room, as if the students’ senses are being drained of their contents. The group lies in silence for one, two, even five minutes before receiving another gentle series of prompts from the instructor.
“Turning your attention once again to breathing … inhale, lengthened exhale, pause …”
“Turning attention to the palms of the hands … allow warmth to come in, fingers to lengthen …”
This is a typical day in Physical Education 134 – Relaxation Technique and Exercise. For the past 20 years, the one-credit elective course has been a top draw in the physical education department, filling so quickly that freshmen and sophomores have difficulty getting in. Each semester, more than 150 students enroll.
Sanfilippo, who’s taught the course since 1975, enjoys the underlying irony of the course. “The idea of taking a course to learn how to do nothing, and do it well, is pretty amazing for students,” she says.
This upcoming week marks one of the most stressful periods for many students on campus: final exams. But negative stress has always been a byproduct of the college environment, and those involved in the Sanfilippo course say its popularity doesn’t stem from any new epidemic of stress facing modern college students. Students are simply wising up to ways of dealing with it.
“They are becoming more physically aware and understanding of how tension plays a role in their feelings and behavior,” says Sanfilippo.
Relaxation student David Ross, a senior in information systems analysis from Chicago, is definitely aware of his stress-related baggage. Ross holds down a part-time job and two student leadership positions, including web administrator for the student-run WSUM Radio. The demands are often all-consuming.
Ross says his stress manifests itself in a short fuse with friends and co-workers. He also has trouble sleeping when his mind is racing with thoughts about the coming day.
The course is allowing him to drown out all the second-guessing and nervous anticipation that nag at his concentration. He thinks of it as burnout insurance. And he’s not willing to give up any of the activities he relishes.
“You only get one chance at college.” he says. “Work comes first, and I’m paying $10,000 a year for this experience for a reason.”
Mychale Schertz of Wauwatosa,Wis., one of the rare freshmen in the class, is looking for a way to cope with the stress of her coursework, especially math. She has found relaxation “not as easy as it seems.”
In fact, she thought she had mastered the technique in the first few weeks, when she began falling asleep during class. But sleeping is actually counter-productive to the exercise, which needs to be conscious and focused.
When it works, she feels “really refreshed,” Schertz says. “You don’t have to think, just be, and put all your other worries outside of you.”
The technique the students refer to is actually a unique product of UW–Madison’s history. Called the “Schade Technique” after former physical education and dance professor Maja Schade, it incorporates mental relaxation with physical release, and places emphasis on controlled breathing.
“Breathing is one of the first things affected by anxiety,” Sanfilippo says. “The body’s startle reflex tightens the muscles and shortens the breath.”
Schade developed this technique in the late 1940s – long before stress reduction and mind-body awareness were household terms – and it made a great contribution to the scores of relaxation techniques that exist today.
Julia Brown, an emeritus professor of physical education and dance who worked with Schade, says the genius of Schade’s technique was in making it an educational experience. “The whole idea was to develop a skill for life, and not just talk about relaxing,” she says.
“Her approach was, ‘one idea in the mind at a time,’ ” Brown explains. “Have the mind focus on one part of the body, and through a series of repetitions, have it express change in the body.”
The course actually dates back to the late 1940s, Brown says. Schade developed the course, “Fundamentals of Movement,” which was required of all freshmen women up until 1975, when the course took on its current format. Brown says thousands of UW–Madison women alumni not only know who Schade is, but her teachings may still influence their quality of life.
Ronnie Carda, director of the department of kinesiology’s physical education elective program, says students are getting smarter about controlling stress early in their lives. In recent years, athletes – including the women’s volleyball team – have taken the course, using relaxation as a performance-enhancer.
“I think the need has always been there, but the recognition of that need is coming to the forefront,” he says. “Students in this class start to take stock of how they are living their life.”
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