Ready, set, focus! 
 
Mindfullness – the art of awareness – is the opposite of living on autopilot. You practice staying close to your feelings. No judgement or immediate actions, just observing and accepting them as they are. By actively training this process, you become more conscious of your physical state and learn to feel when it’s time to take a break.  
 
With the help of mindfulness trainers, you’ll go through some exercises and guided meditations that will help you start the day with a relaxed mindset.

Flashing screens, buzzing push notifications – in a world filled with stimuli it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. As a student, this thread of sensory overload is never far away. Travelling in a packed bus, crowded buildings at the USP, and a pubcrawl with your study association afterwards. Do you also feel overwhelmed at the end of a long day? Let’s talk about it!

Everyone reacts differently to different stimuli, such as sound, light, temperature, and scent. Too many of these stimuli can make you emotional, stressed, fidgety or tired. But what is sensory overload exactly? With the help of experts, we’ll discuss how to recognise the signs of sensory overload and talk about ways to prevent it or recover from it. There’s lots to take away for both neurodiverse as well as neurotypical people!

Marjolein Olsthoorn is a coach for highly sensitive people. She’ll dive into what sensory overload is from a neurotypical and a neurodiverse point of view and tell us about the other extreme: understimulation.

Caspar Barkey is a trainer who helps students with ADHD. He will address how to recognise your needs and give practical tips on how to deal with this in your daily life – from creating a fitting study environment to planning downtime.

Are you staying with us for the free lunch afterwards?

Everyone has their own way of looking at the world around them. In this workshop botanical drawing we’ll try out three different ways to capture what we see on paper and find out what fits you best! Do you like to note down every detail? Or do you prefer to let your mind wander and draw from imagination? Experience what works to spark your creativity and how the act of drawing can help to get to know your own brain. Does it bring you focus or help you clear your mind? We’ll discuss how to apply what you learn to your day-to-day life.

The workshop will be led by Mai Linh Ly, a visual artist and art educator. Nature is one of her largest sources of inspiration and she couldn’t think of a better place for a drawing workshop than the Botanical Gardens.