In October 2022, I conducted a 2-week guest teacher course for the students with the theme: Stress in society and our conditions for being able to work focused and present.

They started by taking a stress test (PSS), which showed that 51% of the students had mild to high stress levels.

I challenged both the students to make art about stress (materialization) and develop their way of working.

The course was developed along the way and included among other things:

• Lectures on stress and how to relieve it
• Retreat day - silence all day - practicing presence and focus and being together in silence)
• Body awareness exercise
• Landing at the start of the day and meetings in the form of a short group meditation and a group conversation about energy and stress levels
• Half-day mindfulness walk in the forest with exercises that provided inputs and insights into own art projects
• Sparring group meeting for students
• Lecture and exercise on how to talk respectfully about each other's art to allow creativity to flourish
• Introduction and practice in restorative work methods from the Meeting Guide 
• Mindful walk in the city in small groups -- mindfulness practice and practicing being together in silence

General rules were:

• No screens and cell phones during working hours - only possibly 13-14 for research
• Monotasking - i.e. we do one thing at a time.
• Work in 25-45 min slots with one recovery in the slot and one intermezzo between slots - both from the meeting guide

Evaluation

The evaluation of the program showed that 79% had increased their presence, 48% had increased job satisfaction and 66% had gained effective tools to reduce their stress.