How Focused- Attention Meditation (FAM) can help you learn efficiently?
Whenever you try to learn something, you must learn efficiently rather than waste hours and hours of your precious time in front of the books.
What if your mind blanks out due to exam tensions and what if you are not able to remember a single word from your notebook? What if you are not able to prioritize what you should be reading for the Math test tomorrow? What if a mobile phone notification is enough to make you lose attention while reading? What if there is a movie playing on the television that deters you from solving the math sum?
In fact, science shows that our attention span reduced drastically from 12 minutes to 5 minutes because of technology. Technology affects memory also. In a study conducted by Kaspersky Lab, it is proved that more than 90% of the people in America admit that they are dependent on the internet for remembering information.
Managing learning problems is no small feat!
While studying, it becomes extremely important that you train your mind to focus on the reading material, here Focused- Attention Meditation(FAM) becomes useful for improving your memory and attention.
What is Focused– Attention Meditation?
In simple words, Focused- Attention Meditation (FAM) is training the mind to focus on a particular stimulus such as a sound, an image, or an object. The major advantage of FAM is that you can do it without an instructor or a coach.
What are the benefits of Focused- Attention Meditation?
Practicing Focused- Attention Meditation influences the way you think. A study shows that FAM improves convergent thinking skills. The convergent thinking skills are central to learning processes.
Simply put, convergent thinking is the process of arriving at solutions for problems through logical reasoning. By regularly practicing FAM, you can sharpen your convergent thinking skills and avoid mistakes while devising solutions for problems.
A recent scientific study conducted in 2020 shows that practicing Focused- Attention Meditation improves attentional control. Attentional control improves your capacity to choose what to pay attention to. By developing good attentional control, you would be able to concentrate without getting distracted by things around you.
Likewise, a study conducted by Russell. W. Chan shows that Focused-Attention Meditation increases cognitive control. Improved cognitive control can help you take focused decisions based on set goals. Cognitive control reduces uncertainty and improves attention.
So, you won’t be confused about what you should be learning. Moreover, practicing FAM physically transforms the human body. It influences heart rate variability (HRV). The HRV refers to the time interval between heartbeats.
Studies suggest that Focused- Attention Meditation practices lead to an increase in HRV. As the result, the body’s nervous system is well- balanced and this, in turn, increases the ability of the body to function under stress.
How to get started with Focused- Attention Meditation routine?
Given below is a list of easy instructions for the FAM routine to kickstart your day.
Find a quiet place: Early mornings are great given that you can meditate in a noise-free environment. In a scientific study conducted in London by Joerg Huber of Roehampton University, it is proved that people who get up in the morning tend to be happy and healthy. So, wake early and get started with FAM!
Choose a target: You can choose to focus on a sound or you can focus on your breath itself. Otherwise, you can focus on the sound of the fan in your room. Any target point will do as long it is convenient for you.
Meditation position: If you are sitting on the floor, you can cross your legs. However, sit straight and keep your spine erect. Don’t slough. Otherwise, find any comfortable position of your choice but don’t sleep off.
Focus on the target point: If the breath is the particular target in the meditation, silently observe how you inhale and exhale air. Don’t try to change your breath pattern, just observe it gently. While focusing on the target, you can see that your mind wanders off. Gently bring the mind back to the target point and focus on it.
Give yourself time: Any meditation practice requires patience and effort. Keep meditating every day. Don’t give up the practice!
