A University of Toronto Mississauga conversation with psychology professor Dr. Norman Farb says mindfulness does not have to mean sitting still. The piece argues that movement, walking across campus and even a short break between classes can become a way to notice breath, posture and other bodily signals instead of moving on autopilot.
Key facts
- Dr. Norman Farb is a psychology professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
- He describes mindfulness as paying attention to how experience unfolds from moment to moment.
- He says interoception is the sense of the body’s internal state, including heartbeat, breathing and muscle tension.
- He recommends 3-5 minute practices for students who only have a few minutes between classes.
- He says turning attention toward experience, rather than away from it, is what makes an activity an access point.
What this means for students at UTM
For students at UTM, the practical message is that attention can be trained in ordinary places: on the walk to class, in a lecture, at the indoor track at the RAWC, on campus trails or during a brief pause between commitments. Farb’s advice is not to wait for a long meditation session, but to use short, repeatable moments to notice what the body is doing.
He says students can start by noticing their breath, posture or one sound around them for three to five minutes. He also suggests reducing constant switching between apps and notifications, because every change of attention has a cost. In his framing, even journaling, a voice note or painting can work if it turns a person toward their experience rather than away from it.
- Best for: students who feel mentally elsewhere during class or while walking across campus.
- Time needed: 3-5 minutes is enough to begin.
- Core goal: move from constant planning or evaluation into a more sensory, receptive mode.
- Campus angle: UTM’s campus surroundings are presented as a place where students can intentionally slow down and notice their environment.
What is interoception, and why does it matter?
Interoception is the sense of the body’s internal state. In Farb’s explanation, that includes the heartbeat, breathing, the tightness in the shoulders and the knot in the stomach. He says the more people notice changes in those sensations, the more easily their stories and reactions can change.
He also pushes back on the idea that people are fully disconnected from their bodies. Instead, he says they often have strong habits about what they pay attention to. Under stress, people may lock onto threat signals and miss quieter cues that suggest safety, comfort or connection.
Why does movement help with mindfulness?
Movement gives people sensations to work with on purpose. Farb says exercise can create challenging feelings, such as the intensity of cardio or the strain of weight training, but those signals are often safe and can be signs of doing something beneficial.
He warns against going beyond what the body can handle, saying the goal is the right difficulty level: enough sensation to hold attention, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming. That idea also shaped the examples given for students, from yoga and swimming to walking, trail time and steady weight training.
How can busy students use five minutes between classes?
Start by treating five minutes as useful, not too short. Farb says 3-5 minute practices are a strong place to begin, because they help people notice something they normally ignore and shift into a sensory, receptive mode. The point is not to force the mind to stay still, but to practice moving in and out of attention with more awareness.
He recommends asking simple questions: What do I usually not notice? What is my breath doing? How is my posture changing as I walk? Even one new observation can interrupt the feeling that life is running on autopilot.
Can rest be productive?
Farb’s answer is no. He says that if a break feels goal-directed, it is probably not a real break yet. His point is that people often bring the logic of work into rest, then judge themselves for not recovering. He argues that embracing a period of doing nothing is what allows genuinely new thoughts to appear.
For students juggling classes, assignments and constant stimulation, that means rest may need to be protected as its own activity rather than treated as a failure to be productive.
