In Part 1 of this series, we introduced DRBU’s Embodied Learning class and shared student reflections on how yoga, pottery, and cooking helped them engage with the liberal arts in fresh and dynamic ways. In this second installment, we hear other students’ stories uncover how the course has not only enriched their academic journeys but also reshaped their perspectives on creativity, collaboration, and the integration of learning into daily life.

Thanh Chu ’27

Culinary Arts classes have been so enjoyable and fun! I’ve learned how to cook vegetarian food of different traditions from an incredibly experienced and humble chef.  The preparations were so fun. The most challenging part was the knife handling. At no time should we be neglectful and hold it casually; as long as we have the knife in our hand, with or without people around us, we have to be cautious and mindful that a knife is a harmful object. I found that I needed to establish a relationship of respect with the knife as long as it was in my hand, because a commercial knife can be intimidating due to its shape and sharpness.

The American system of measurement is also a bit challenging, as I had to convert kilograms into pounds, centimeters into inches, and so on. It’s all about practice, and having a visual helped a lot too.

I loved the cutting part; all my attention was focused into what I was doing and on trying to replicate as closely as possible the samples Chef made for us and instructed us on. Most of the time when I worked in the kitchen, I liked to keep it quiet. This quietness opened up a space where I could feel myself as if becoming one with my tasks. Each shape and size cutting became clean, neat, and similar. Sometimes I surprised myself with the outcome of the work. I had so much inner satisfaction. I feel I still have a lot to learn, because I know I haven’t fully mastered the skills of seasoning and measuring yet. 

Thank you to Chef Squire for this wonderful experience. I hope that one day I can study cooking with him and others again.

Patrick Chin ’27

I’ve had an interest in cooking since I was thirteen and have practiced whenever I had the chance. From that I developed the habit of thinking that because I knew a couple flashy cuts, I knew how to cook. The first day I went into the kitchen, we were practicing cuts, and I couldn’t do a perfect cube. As my knife sliced through the carrots, it was somehow at an angle. Many of the shapes were irregular, and I filled multiple deli containers of scrap cuts that the kitchen uses to make soup. It crushed me. It made me feel like my efforts were wasted. I talked to the chef, and he told me that I just needed patience and that no one starts off with perfect cuts. From that conversation I learned that home cooking and cooking professionally are not the same. I internalized his advice and kept at it for a semester. Even though I still can’t make a perfect cube, my accuracy has improved and I’m only getting better.

Bach Nguyen ’26

Habits are one of the main forces that drive human behavior. We act out of habit eighty percent of our days, while only twenty percent of our activity is conscious and intentional. Our brains also tend to develop the habit of doing things based on the level of dopamine an activity provides. Yet do we ever develop the habit of being present and staying centered within ourselves? Living a fast-paced lifestyle, sometimes we neglect one of the most fundamental markers of our being: our breath.

Fortunately, the Embodied Learning pottery class truly brings me back to my balance. Once I center the clay, then the moment I lose track of my concentration and breath, the clay wiggles. Is it the mind that wiggles, or the clay?

Maybe both. The moment I become aware that things are getting off track, I’m able to realize and center myself. Over a period of time, this activity of being aware of the present and bringing myself back to concentration becomes a habit. It’s also a tool, I would say, that has helped me not only when I’m sitting at the clay wheel but in every moment of my life.

Because of this, I can say that Embodied Learning, and specifically pottery, not only helps me to apply the practice of mindfulness I learn from books and discussions in class but also enriches my soul to continue its meaningful journey, also known as life.