Below is an excerpt from the feature article in the May/June issue of the Penn Stater magazine. View the full article.

Rob Roeser is sitting cross-legged on the floor of room 312 of University Park’s Biobehavioral Health Building. It’s early on a crisp February afternoon, and the sunlight streaming through the windows illuminates the youthful features of the students–seven female and two male–attending HDFS 297: Art and Science of Compassion, a class designed and taught by Roeser, Penn State’s Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion.

Identical round, gray felt cushions sit on top of the chairs, which are arranged in a circle.

“Feel free to sit, stand, or lie for meditation, and to use the meditation cushion,” Roeser says, “and if it doesn’t work for you, we have another kind you can try.”

Roeser himself remains cross-legged for the first 90 minutes of class without showing the least bit of discomfort. First, he guides his students through a deep breathing exercise–

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