The committee is open to a diverse range of activities and projects. Below are a few approved grants from the 2016-17 grant application cycle.
Compassion In Action
This project is a five-part series on expressing and exploring the essence of compassion to help students reconnect with themselves, maintain healthy interactions with the world around them, and develop resilience in the face of the stressful situations by exploring inner peace and purpose. These workshops include discussions on compassion and nature, creative projects, and local service opportunities.
Massage Technique Workshops
This project is focused on teaching undergraduates massage techniques that will help them reduce stress and body pain that comes from the increasing amount of time that students spend working at the computer. Massage therapy has also been shown to lower heart rate and blood pressure, relax muscles, and increase the production of endorphins. All four sessions of the 90-minute workshop are open to undergraduates.
Puzzles Bring Relaxation
Working on jigsaw puzzles has been demonstrated to provide psychological, cognitive, and social benefits. This project is centered on providing undergraduates with the opportunity to enjoy these benefits and share in the joy of jigsaw puzzles for study breaks! Working on jigsaw puzzles require continuous activities from both sides of the brain, improving concentration, short-term memory, and creativity as well as supporting natural dopamine production. This activity facilitates conversation and socialization between group members but also allows the space for quiet and peacefulness.
Self-care Through Earth-care
In partnership with the Yale Community Forest Garden, this project hopes to provide students with opportunities to deepen their knowledge of the campus landscape and key native medicinal and edible plants. The Yale Community Forest Garden is designed and stewarded with the express goal of providing a place for respite, relaxation, contemplation, and natural communing, while also serving as an educational opportunity and space for holistic learning. Through thoughtful landscaping, coupled with community events and workshops, this project aims to teach students how this system works ecologically and how they can engage with the garden to benefit their own health and well-being.
Yale POC Meditation and Healing Space
This initiative will hold space every other week for Yale undergraduate and graduate student of color for community care and healing. The sessions will be held on Thursdays at 7 p.m., rotating through the cultural houses. The workshops will introduce topics and skillsets that specifically increase self-awareness, compassion, and resilience within the Yale communities of color.