Azrael Montoya
amontoya@foghornnews.com
Nursing major Joy Williams emerged from the Zen Zone for the first time, feeling relaxed.
“I really enjoy the Zen setting because it’s relaxing and calming. I also like the essential oils because they’re also relaxing. I use it to get away from the noise of campus life,” Williams said.
If students need a place to tune out their busy lives, they too can find refuge in the Zen Zone. The Counseling Center began the zone in 2014.
Any student can use the Zen Zone, said counselor Rita Hernandez.
“All the student has to do to gain access to the Zen room is be a student,” she said.
The Zen sessions are usually 20 minutes but the Counseling Department offers flexibility for the needs of students.
The Zen space is whatever you want it to be, according to Hernandez. It’s not tied to any spirituality and it’s just a space to relax.
“We were not the brainchild in coming up with the Zen Zone, but felt it was necessary for students,” Hernandez said of the idea, spotted first at other campuses.
Every student needs a place where they can just zone out.
“Because of campus life it’s hard to get that Zen in every day. In the future I’m hoping it can become part of my weekly schedule,” Williams said.
There are still more bright things coming for the Zen Zone.
“In the future we hope to expand the Zen Zone for greater effectiveness so that multiple students can relax and escape the noise that is DMC,” Hernandez said.
A student can just walk in and sign up to relax in the Zen Zone, upstairs in the Harvin Center.
