Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and Deepak Chopra, renowned holistic health doctor and author led several hundred members of the University community in a large-scale public meditation session on the Lawn Tuesday afternoon. The University’s Contemplative Sciences Center, which launched last spring, hosted the event.
Huffington is chair and president of the Huffington Post Media Group, and was twice named to Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Chopra is a global leader in holistic medicine, author of more than 75 books and has taught at Boston University, Tufts and Harvard.
Huffington’s appearance on Grounds provoked backlash from a few University alumni and faculty prior to the event. The individuals signed a petition claiming Huffington plagiarized former University Prof. Lydia Gasman’s work in 1988 in her piece “Picasso: Creator and Destroyer.” The petition sought 1,000 signatures prior to the event, but was signed online by 67 people. Huffington denied the accusations in a 2008 New Yorker piece.
Chopra directed the meditation from the Rotunda steps. He reflected on the prevalence of stress within society and its effects on the human body.
“Stress is the number one epidemic of our time,” Chopra said. “It’s indirectly or directly connected to everything we’re doing right now.”
Chopra encouraged the audience to release stress through a contemplative process called the STOP formula — Stop, Take three deep breaths, Observe and Proceed with love and compassion. Regular practice of such habits can hardwire the brain to behave with less stress, he said.
Through the half-hour session, Chopra guided the audience through activities promoting self awareness, self reflection and transcendence.
Huffington then spoke about what she called “The Third Metric,” a theory that emphasizes focusing on redefining success to include well-being, wisdom, wonder, compassion and giving.
“When you tap into it, everything in life takes a new sense of color,” she said. “You move from struggle to grace. Bringing in that sense of grace means we are more connected.”
The mantra is particularly relevant for University students in high-stress environments, Huffington said.
“Especially for those in college, learning to disconnect is important,” she said. “The key here is to open up the conversation — whatever you are learning in this journey, to share it with others.”
David Germano, director of the Contemplative Sciences Center and a professor of religious studies, said he hoped the contemplation event would be the first in a series of similar events.
“Over the last year, the University has achieved momentum in making contemplation a part of everyday life,” Germano said. The center hosted the event on one of the University’s Fall Reading Days — a time of high stress for many students — to encourage mindfulness as a stress reduction process.
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