Mindfulness Mondays, an impactful way to release stress at Scottsdale Community College (SCC).

Meditation sessions run every Monday from 12 p.m to 1 p.m at the Student Center building.

Kim Kingsley, counselor of SCC talked to nevalleynews of the importance of mindfulness and meditation.

“Meditation is shown to decrease the area of the brain that tends to worry and resets the nervous system for relaxation, changes the structure of the brain and also strengthens the area associated with impulse control”, Kingsley said. “We want to create not only an environment but also a weekly ritual where people can come and release stress and also build on the community,”

Mindfulness is defined as being “the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.” according to Mindful, a website designed to inform on a “healthy mind, healthy life” lifestyle.

To practice, Kingsley advised starting mindfulness meditation at least for 15 minutes because focus is an important step to the impact of the session.

The session is open to the public and community.