The campus serenity space provides all students, faculty and staff of Nicholls State University a chance to take a load off and temporarily forget about the stresses of life.

The space was created at Nicholls halfway through the 2014 spring semester, making this the first full semester it has been open. The original idea of having the campus serenity space came from Michele Caruso, Dean of Student Services, who thought it was important to the Nicholls community as a whole.

The serenity space, located in the Student Services office in Elkins Hall, is equipped with several items like a massage chair, visual and audio relaxation, Zen decor and a Buddha Board. 

“The Buddha Board is a Zen inspired relaxation tool consisting of the board itself, a brush and a small container of water,” Christina Coulon, administrative assistant of the Student Services office, said. 

“With just a dab of water, users can write frustrating or stressful things going on in their lives at the time. As the water slowly evaporates during their serenity session, the writing fades away, symbolizing that your hardships will fade away as well,” Coulon said.

Along with easing the mind and helping to focus better on tasks, the serenity space is known to have several health benefits as well through massage therapy. These health benefits include treating back pain, reducing the chance of getting headaches and migraines, reducing the chance of cancer symptoms and helping relieve anxiety and depression. 

After using the serenity space for myself, I began to feel calm and more at peace after five minutes of being there. I found the visual and audio aids very soothing, and the massage chair loosened up tensions I had from stress. I found myself relaxed and ready for a test I was going to take in a few hours. 

The serenity space is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and each session is thirty minutes long. Walk-ins and scheduled appointments are both accepted.