The house is a mess. Rent is due. No clean clothes. Ten-page paper due and printer is down. Bike is broken. Job sucks.

College students are always stressing - and we have reason to. 

From our professors to our parents we're expected to do a lot. We're expected to get the grade and the job, but right now we're just trying to keep the kitchen floor clean.

"Our minds are cluttered with many, many thoughts of various importance," said Dr. Maura Sullivan, a meditation professor at Chico State. "Often we are not even aware of what we are saying to ourselves in our own heads."

So after the grueling day in the computer lab what is our first thought? A drink?

No.

A drink?

No. Try meditation. It takes 20 minutes out of your day and can clear the clutter in your head.

Sullivan started practicing meditation in the 70s when The Beatles and Ram Dass were practicing it. She said it got her away from the bombardment of stimuli in the environment. 

Since then, meditation has taught her the importance of letting thoughts come and go without judgment and that the wandering mind is hard not to control.

"Developing the ability to observe without judgment is such a refreshing concept for so many people. We can be a very critical bunch - both of ourselves and of others," she said. "Developing a compassionate acceptance of our own consciousness can be transforming."

A misconception of meditation is that it must always be serene or that the meditator will enter an altered state of mind. 

"Sometimes when I meditate I have lots of thoughts racing around in my brain - it's a more active kind of meditation. Sometimes my experience is very quiet - very still. Both are what they are and there is no right or wrong," Sullivan said.

Back to lead story.

Check out the benefits meditation offers!

An easy step-by-step lesson!

My experience as a meditating college student.