Feeling good - every Friday

It was Friday, and it was time to feel good.

Last week, outfitted with cushions and clementines, the Penn Women's Center kicked off Feel Good Fridays, a weekly program featuring free public workshops, with a seminar on nutrition led by local health counselor Jillian Bird.

Throughout the remainder of the semester, PWC will host classes in everything from healthy sleeping and sexual healing to karate and even juggling.

Feel Good Fridays was created by PWC director Michele Goldfarb and assistant director Felicity Paxton in response to student feedback about high stress levels.

Penn students as a population are extremely high-achieving and, as a result, they are often highly stressed, Paxton explained. Between academic success, overbooked calendars and active social lives, it's no surprise students often have difficulty balancing work and play.

"They want to reach for the stars, but they don't want to burn out en route," she said.

The resulting tension manifests itself negatively, particularly among female students, who demonstrate disproportionately higher levels of anxiety and depression, Paxton said.

"Our women are demanding so much from themselves that they don't give themselves permission to just relax," she said.

Bird echoed that sentiment, explaining that the human body has a great capacity to heal itself if given the proper tools and care.

"When you're young and busy it can be hard to stop and check in, but that's one of the most important things you should do," Bird said.

So, with the help of a brand new PWC student advisory board, Feel Good Fridays was born. On this fast-paced campus, it's a chance to take a breath.

The introductory workshops welcome students and faculty, men and women, beginners and the more experienced. In these classes, there's no need to "perform" or "be better than anyone else in the room," an anomaly in the highly competitive Penn environment, Goldfarb said.

"You don't have to be good," she continued. "You just have to feel good."

Rather than shelling out a wad of cash for a long-term commitment to a yoga or aerobics class, Feel Good Fridays is a "smorgasbord" of free workshops, Paxton said.

And with such a central location on campus, Penn Women's Center is equipped to service those students who have neither the time nor the money for more formal stress-release classes.

"It's hard to commit financially and emotionally to a ten-week thing you've never tried," Paxton said.

And for students like College junior Lavanya Madhusudan, Feel Good Fridays is an introduction not only to Tai Chi and meditation but to the Penn Women's Center as well.

Madhusudan had never been to the Penn Women's Center before she attended last week's Feel Good Friday, but said she plans on returning for future programming.

Come this Friday, Madhusudan knows she will be feeling good.

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