Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week.

Photo by Léonard Cotte on Unsplash

In a few days, midterms will be upon us, which likely means that many of us are spending some time over the weekend studying. It’s a stressful time, especially after coming back from summer break, where it sometimes feels like your brain has done a factory reset. Being at least a little stressed or overwhelmed is somewhat inevitable.

One way to reduce some of that inevitable stress is mindfulness and meditation. It might seem boring or silly, but it actually can be a very effective self-care technique. So, this weekend’s recs will give you some mindfulness recs to help you relax in preparation for the week ahead.

If you have 30 seconds…and are feeling anxious, follow along with this deep breathing TikTok.

If you have 5 minutes and 15 seconds…and need to de-stress with a quick study break, follow along with this quick guided meditation.

Bonus: Need more time for mindfulness? Check out our Mindfulness Monday session on Oct. 2 from 1-1:30 p.m.

If you have 15 minutes…and want to learn about the positive effects mindfulness and meditation can have, read this article compiling some of the research on mindfulness. Although it’s not an entire cure-all, it has been shown to positively affect mental health and well being, which are certainly important during midterms.

Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

If you have 27 minutes and 38 seconds…and don’t like meditation tapes, watch this (or any) episode of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. Although it’s not a guided meditation, Bob’s peaceful voice is still pretty effective at soothing any stress.

If you have 2 hours…and need some calming sounds to relax (or study) to, check out MyNoise.net. They have a free library of relaxing sounds and songs, from calming rain to white noise to soothing instrumentals. Plus, all of the sounds and songs have customizable sliders, so you can change the presets to isolate certain tracks or change the equalization. My personal favorite is the “Duduk Song,” which is hauntingly beautiful.

Bonus: if you need some more meditation songs, listen to Spotify’s “Peaceful Meditation” playlist.

If you have 4 hours…and are new to mindfulness, read this introductory guide for using mindfulness to ease stress, available online through Falvey.

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.