I took Pol S 384 with Karen last fall and took the in-class contemplative practices with her, but I didn’t feel the power of it until our first in-class practice this quarter. The whole practice was about a simple question: How are you? But I felt energized and refreshed after that.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty of a new learning style, and the stress of being alone in a country away from home made me feel depressed and stressed out. I could not stop worrying about the exacerbating problems of COVID-19 and focus on my study. However, through the practice, I calmed down and started to feel the innermost emotions and energy.

Follow Karen’s guiding questions and her soft, gentle voice, I began to ask myself: who am I? Do I feel good now? How can I live and study normally if the world is normal? Can I keep being healthy and optimistic under such huge anxiety? What if I take a break and accept all the unusual things as the new normal?

After the ten minutes of asking myself and seeking for answers, I was clearer about what I should do and realized that I was trapped in negative thoughts and it’s OK to be not OK. I felt full of power and energy after doing that contemplative practice. I became efficient and positive about life again. In my opinion, contemplative practices give us an opportunity to focus on our thoughts and have some insight into the problem. That’s why I like to do the practice right before our class. It helps me settle down to be prepared for the class. And I especially like the in-class ones, since they make me feel the class is united and we are all together in this extremely hard time.