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From the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Prepare

Practice Mindfulness

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A man in a plaid shirt and glasses sits on a rock beside a shallow stream in a forest.

How to Do It

Research suggests we can reduce social biases by building moment-to- moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings through practices like meditation.

  1. Find a relaxed, comfortable position. You could be seated on a chair or on the floor on a cushion. Keep your back upright, but not too tight. Hands resting wherever they’re comfortable. Relax your gaze or close your eyes, whatever feels most comfortable for you.
  2. Notice and relax your body. Try to notice the shape of your body, its weight. Let yourself relax and become curious about your body seated here—the sensations it experiences, the touch, the connection with the floor or the chair. Relax any areas of tightness or tension. Just breathe.
  3. Tune into your breath. Feel the natural flow of breath—in, out. Allow your breath to flow naturally. Try to let go of the need to control each breath in and out. Notice where you feel your breath in your body. It might be in your abdomen. It may be in your chest or throat or in your nostrils.
  4. Stay here for five to seven minutes. Notice your breath, in silence. From time to time, you’ll get lost in thought, then return to your breath.
  5. After a few minutes, once again notice your body, your whole body, seated. Take a deep breath. Let yourself relax even more deeply and then offer yourself some appreciation for doing this practice.
  6. It might be particularly useful to try this practice before entering into a conversation or situation where you might be at odds with someone. And over time, as you do it more often, see if you can incorporate some of its elements into a heated conversation. For instance, try taking a deep breath before you respond to an upsetting comment or notice if your body is tensing up, which may suggest you are feeling stressed and might be primed to react hastily to the other person before considering your words or actions. 
     

Research suggests we can reduce social biases by building moment-to-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and surroundings through mindfulness practices. 

On college campuses, mindfulness can help students, faculty, staff, and administrators stay grounded in difficult conversations, navigate conflicts, and manage stress in high-stakes situations—whether it’s a campus protest, a controversial speaker, or a complex classroom dialogue.

  1. Find a relaxed, comfortable position. Sit on a chair or floor cushion. Keep your back upright, but not too tight. Hands resting wherever they're comfortable. Relax your gaze or close your eyes, whatever feels most comfortable for you.
  2. Notice and relax your body. Try to notice the shape of your body, its weight. Let yourself relax and become curious about your body seated here—the sensations, the touch, the connection with the floor or the chair. Relax any areas of tightness or tension. Just breathe.
  3. Tune into your breath. Feel the natural flow of breath—in, out. Allow your breath to flow naturally. Try to let go of the need to control each breath. Notice where you feel your breath in your body. It might be in your abdomen. It may be in your chest or throat or in your nostrils.
  4. Stay here for five to seven minutes. Notice your breath, in silence. From time to time, you’ll get lost in thought, then return to your breath.
  5. After a few minutes, once again notice your body, your whole body, seated. Take a deep breath. Let yourself relax even more deeply and then offer yourself some appreciation for doing this practice.
     
  6. You don’t need to sit in silence to practice. Mindfulness can happen in real time—pausing before responding in a tough conversation, noticing your breath when emotions run high, or checking in with your body during a disagreement.


 

The Practice on Campus

Leading up to the 2024 elections, faculty, students, and staff at the University of Maryland led a series of mindfulness exercises in classrooms, student centers, and virtual spaces. These meditations and mindfulness-based practices were designed to help the campus community manage stress, regulate emotions, and engage in more productive dialogue across political and other differences.

In particular they focused on body-based awareness. They used breathing and movement-based mindfulness exercises to help them tune into their bodies and understand how they were really feeling in a given moment, and they used short meditations on paying attention to their breath to help them manage difficult emotions in moments of distress.

They also emphasized research showing that mindfulness can interrupt unconscious bias, making it a useful tool for reducing prejudice and fostering a more inclusive campus community. Guest speakers invited to campus reaffirmed these lessons.

“When doing this work, we focus so much on the thinking, conscious brain—promoting intellectual humility or fostering emotional intelligence. But when it comes to emotion regulation in interactions across differences, there’s so much to learn and honor in tapping into the wisdom of the body, as well.”
— Beth Douthirt-Cohen, PhD, Clinical Faculty & Director of Strategic Initiatives, University of Maryland School of Public Health

The Research

Studies the practice is based on.

The nondiscriminating heart: Lovingkindness meditation training decreases implicit intergroup bias.

Kang, Y., Gray, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2014). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1306–1313. 

Mindfulness meditation reduces implicit age and race bias: The role of reduced automaticity of responding.

Lueke, A., & Gibson, B. (2015).  Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(3), 284–291. 

Mindfulness practices moderate the association between intergroup anxiety and outgroup attitudes.

Price-Blackshear, M. A. et al. (2017).  Mindfulness, 8(5), 1172-1183. 

 

Related Resources

Grounding for the Greater Good: Cultivating Patience to Interrupt Reactivity and Racial Bias

“In our culture, higher education is one of the only places where there can actually be real conversations about difficult topics,” says Beth Douthirt-Cohen, a public health professor at University of Maryland, College Park. In 2017, the university brought in Douthirt-Cohen to build the capacity of students, faculty, and staff to engage with differences in power and racial identity in healthy, ethical ways.

They found that when we’re equipped with mindfulness tools, it is possible to make higher ed a space where we can have a really difficult conversation and stay in it. In fact, mindfulness can help us feel connected to our agency. Instead of reacting, we get grounded and find the patience we need to make choices and even interrupt unconscious bias.

Watch this interactive conversation with Douthirt-Cohen and psychologist Sarah A. Schnitker (Baylor University), who will draw from her research to explain how grounding practices like these cultivate our patience and exercise our curiosity, courage, and empathy. Hosted by Juliana Tafur, GGSC’s Bridging Differences Program Director.

Watch

Navigating Emotions for Teens: Parenting to Nurture Skills to Bridge Differences

Meeting new people can bring up a wide range of emotions for teens—from excitement to anxiety. Many teens want to understand people who are different from them, but big feelings or social anxiety can make those moments feel overwhelming. Parents can support their teens by teaching the skill of acceptance, which helps them notice and navigate emotions without judgment.

In this video, Matt talks with his teen, Luna, about how to navigate emotions when meeting someone new. Acceptance involves mindfully paying attention to your inner experience—your feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations—without trying to push them away.

Watch