By Elizabeth Herman | Posted: August 13, 2019
As students head back to school, parents and teachers prepare them for all the challenges that will come their way, including high-stakes tests, extra-curriculars, bullying, time management, study habits and skills, etc. To meet these challenges, gain relief from stress, and increase your mental powers, meditation can be a big help.
Including meditation in your daily routine is like a magic potion for boosting concentration and memory. In fact, a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania showed that even a few minutes of daily meditation can help improve focus and performance dramatically.
Here are 7 tips on how meditation and other things can help when you need to be extremely attentive, and score higher grades without stress.
1. Love what you study
When you love a subject, it loves you back. So, if you generally dislike any academic discipline, then just for a day, intentionally stop your distaste for it. Simply tell yourself, “Today, I shall read this textbook with a lot of love.”
Give it a try and notice the change. Do you need to make an effort to concentrate on a sports event or an interesting movie? You’re attentive just naturally, correct? Similarly, enjoy studying and you’ll be able to concentrate better. The result will be success in school and higher grades.
2. Get a good night’s sleep
Late-night chats and hangouts might seem very ‘cool,’ but they’re terrible for your memory. The brain needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night. During your exam-preparation time, you may have too much to do and too little time, which is exactly the best time to meditate. Twenty minutes of meditation every day, preferably in the morning or before lunch, sharpens the brain cells. If you practice regularly, it also increases the gray matter in your brain.
3. Eat healthy for a calm, energized mind
You are what you eat. Chocolate, gummy bears, ice cream, potato chips, french fries, and other junk foods are tempting, but they’ll leave you with a restless mind and lethargic body. Naturally, your mind wanders, affecting your attention span. Simple connection, right? So, choose what you eat carefully. Avoid food with too much spice or sugar, and reduce the intake of fried and junk food. Include more fresh fruits and vegetables, juices, and salads in your diet.
Ayurvedic medication can also boost concentration. Sri Sri Tattva’s deva vati and brahmi tablets are a big help. Please consult a Sri Sri Ayurveda doctor for more guidance on ayurvedic diet and supplements.
4. Daily yoga asanas keep you engaged
Sun Salutation and shoulder stand help increase blood circulation to the brain. As a result, you experience increased alertness and awareness. Your mind doesn’t wander. You also perform better in every area of your life.
5. Do pranayama to make life fun
Can you believe that a two-and-a-half-minute breathing technique can help you retain and improve concentration for three hours? The concentration pranayama, taught during Art of Living youth courses, does just that. It helps improve memory and retention power as well as reduces the time needed to finish your studies. This will allow you to have more time for play and fun with friends. Join the YES! or the YES for Schools program to learn this and other fun techniques.
6. Practice Sudarshan Kriya with meditation daily
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar gave the world a powerful breathing technique, Sudarshan Kriya. It cleanses the body and mind, aligning them with rhythms of the universe. It’s a one-stop solution for a good mental and physical health. Practicing this breathing technique daily will free your mind of fears. You’ll be confident enough to tackle any exam on any subject, and you’ll have greater clarity, which will aid you with decisions and inspire you venture into new challenges.
In concert with your practice of Sudarshan Kriya, you can slip quietly into meditation during breaks at school, at your college campus, at home, or even with friends in a park. In fact, meditating with friends has a bigger impact. You can beat the exam blues with a few minutes of meditation. It will help you gather your thoughts and give you clarity of mind. Enhanced concentration and focus are also byproducts of meditating daily.
7. Attend a workshop on intuition
Intuition is your sixth sense, your gut feeling and you were born with it. Children inherently have sharper intuition than adults. The education system today teaches us to rely on intellect, so in the long run, we often forget to listen to an inner voice. You might go wrong with decisions made from your intellect, but intuition won’t fail you. There are so many examples showing how people who follow their intuition excel more in life.
An amazing intuition process, developed in India and currently taught occasionally in the U.S., helps you to get in touch with your inner voice. Suddenly, difficult academic work becomes child’s play. Math and numbers become exciting; chemistry and carbon atoms appear more friendly; political science seems more interesting; and dates in history are easier to remember. Fear of tests vanishes and you can even learn to identify and solidify your grasp on material that gives you the most trouble.
For meditation techniques or the intuition process, you can easily look up the Sahaj Samadhi course, Happiness Program, or Intuition Process program near you!
Inspired by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's wisdom talks
By Elizabeth Herman - PhD in English, with concentrations in Rhetoric and Composition, and Literature, she offers writing support to clients, teaches locally, lives in Boone, NC, and volunteers for a better world.
