Students seek to explore the body, mind, spirit

Sixty lucky students will attend Dave Wilson's Body, Mind, Spirit class this fall. Only a fortunate few were able to register for one of McMaster's most popular classes this summer before it filled after just 20 minutes on the Student Online Academic Registration system.

Wilson is not surprised. In fact, it's the same every year.

“Students are increasingly interested in spiritual and holistic topics and human potential in general,” says the kinesiology professor. “These aspects of human knowledge and experience are rare to find in a university setting.”

This year the class was capped at 60 due to the experiential components of it, Wilson says. “There have been up to 85 in some of the past classes with a waiting list as high as 150 students.”

Introduced in 1987 by Eugene Coombs, a retired religious studies professor, the course has been taught by Wilson since 1988. An exploration of eastern and western traditions for the development of human potential, the course includes concepts of health and healing. Topics such as yoga, meditation, healing, peak performance, social action, creativity and futurism are presented in lectures, readings, discussions, films, guest speakers and experiential sessions.

The course has also been offered at Henderson Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital. As well, professor Paramjit Singh has taught the course in the Department of Kinesiology.

Students learn a lot about themselves from the course, Wilson says. “They learn about themselves and their peers through discussions, group projects and practical aspects of the course. Hopefully they have a new tolerance and understanding for the diversity of human beliefs and body mind spirit practices. They also take away practical skills including relaxation, meditation and alignment techniques, creative and visualization skills.”

Wilson also teaches Dance Performance, a 65-hour dance studio course, History in Modern Dance and Dance in Contemporary Society. These courses are cross-listed in the School of the Arts and enrolment ranges from 20 to 30 per course.

Offering experiential education at a university is essential, Wilson feels. “It is important for a university to offer courses that have an experiential component linked to theory,” he says. “It is important for students to realize that using the body as a way of knowing is a valid method of research and learning. Somatic (mind-body integration) intelligence in undervalued in western society as a whole.”

The course is offered as an elective to undergraduate students in Level III or higher in a non-kinesiology program.

For more information about this or other courses that McMaster offers, visit the Office of the Registrar's Undergraduate Course Calendar http://registrar.mcmaster.ca/calendar/