Motivation – Tutoring By Christine

Meditation for Students

TBC Staff — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 14:30:22 +0000

Many students are searching for healthy practices that relieve stress, calm frazzled nerves and help them relax. Mindfulness is a natural, easy-to-follow meditation method that offers college kids who are feeling the grind important physical, emotional and psychological benefits. No fancy meditation equipment to buy, no member’s card to acquire: a few minutes a day is all that’s required.

It seems like from grade school to college, today’s students can barely find time to take a breath of fresh air and smell the roses. College students in particular find themselves completely engrossed in campus life, from classes and exams to the requisite parties, and they may feel like they have no time for themselves. The intense rhythm of college activities can be relentless; as a result, many students suffer from stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation. This can have a negative impact on their health, grades, relationships and joie de vivre.

For this reason, more and more colleges and universities as well as high schools, recognizing the positive impact on their students’ well-being, are offering dedicated meditation spaces to help students destress and replenish.

Top 5 benefits of student meditation

Decreased stress

A reasonable amount of stress is healthy – it prompts us into action and helps us achieve our goals. Too much stress, on the other hand, is extremely unhealthy. Most students have to deal with an assortment of stressful situations: assignments, tests, admissions exams, co-curricular activities and social pressures are all part of the college experience.

Scientific evidence has shown that mindfulness meditation improves our ability to cope with stress. A regular practice – even a few minutes once or twice a day – gives our batteries time to recharge. Those who build a meditation practice and stick with it develop the inner resources they need to find that place of serenity and attentiveness when they need it most.

Improved concentration

Meditation also helps improve concentration – a top priority for any student. Through guided meditation for focus, we train in placing the attention on the present moment. When we begin meditating, one of the first methods we learn is how to settle our attention on the breath. This disciplines the mind to focus on a single activity at a time. It actually takes a lot of willpower to set the mental clutter and chit-chat aside and concentrate on the here and now. Research has found a compelling link between regular meditation sessions and enhanced attention spans.

Emotional wellbeing

Meditation practice has also been shown to promote creativity, improve happiness levels and foster peace of mind. These are all crucial facets of emotional health. Tokpa Korlo, a sobriety activist and meditation instructor, teaches that mindfulness helps us overcome the fear of now. By acknowledging what we presently feel and working with it directly, we develop a more positive mindset. Exam meditation, for instance, helps students overcome their fear of disappointing results so they can develop a more positive attitude towards the exam process here and now.

Creativity

Confident minds also enjoy the challenge of finding inventive solutions to problems and puzzles. Good professors generally appreciate students who are willing to think outside the box. Meditation has been shown to bolster creativity and give inquisitive minds free rein to innovate.

Better sleep

There is conclusive evidence that mindfulness meditation promotes quality sleep and is an effective treatment for insomnia. For students, it’s often difficult to find time to sleep. When they do finally turn in, their minds are so busy that they find themselves ruminating about the next paper or exam instead of falling asleep. Once again mindfulness comes to the rescue! Just a few minutes of regular practice can help train body and mind to disconnect from the busy-ness and pressures of college life. Research has shown that regular meditation can be a more effective remedy to sleeplessness than medication.

Meditation vs. substance abuse

Addiction has become the new reality in learning institutions worldwide. It’s the elephant in the room that doesn’t often get the attention it deserves. Addictive behavior is caused by an assortment of social and psychological triggers that include, but are not limited to, stress, peer pressure, relational conflicts, a need to escape, the absence of healthy coping mechanisms and the search for meaning. Most studies and programs – such as the University of Virginia’s Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention – have focused on the use of mindfulness to help prevent backsliding into addiction, which is easier to quantify than addiction prevention itself. Many experts believe that meditation exercises can also go a long way in heading substance abuse off at the pass. For more information on a path to recovery, see Tokpa Korlo’s program on Journey from Addiction to Meditation.

Guided student meditation

A specific benefit for students, exam meditation can help reduce the fear and anxiety associated with taking tests. Many students, regardless of how well prepared they are, worry about exams. Unfortunately, the negative energy and anxiety associated with exams can make students perform poorly, even if they know the material. By creating space in your mind, meditation instils a renewed confidence into yourself and a more balanced view of life, allowing you to handle exam questions better. If you want to handle your whole life better, you could try guided gratitude meditation.

If you’re interested in learning how student meditation actually works, check out our blog Beginner’s Guide to Meditation and sign up to our Mindworks Meditation Courses even from your smartphone. You could choose a zen guided meditation if that appeals to you and set the mindful ball rolling. Have fun as you develop a more confident approach towards college life, and remember that (meditation) practice makes perfect.

By reading this article it’s clear that you’re interested in the practice of meditation and its results: making life more joyful and meaningful. And so are we! Mindworks is a non-profit organization with a mission to share authentic meditation guidance to you and our worldwide followers. Click the link below to find out more about our limited time free course offer. You’ll discover:

How to work with mind and appreciate every moment
How meditation enriches your life
How to integrate meditation into your daily routine

About the Author: Mindworks Team

Mindworks provides essential and extensive training in meditation practice and life coaching. Our international team of meditation experts is comprised of highly accomplished meditators, scholars, psychologists, and professionals dedicated to helping people create lasting positive change. Learn more about our awesome Mind Trainers here. Mindworks is everything meditation. We offer meditation courses, articles, and a robust free meditation app. Mindworks is a startup non-profit 501c3. Subscription contributions enable us to bring more accessible, authentic meditation guidance to our users worldwide.

Techniques to Motivate Your Child to Read

TBC Staff — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 12:33:03 +0000

Reading is an invaluable tool and a necessary baseline accomplishment for success as a member of society. It’s something that is a crucial element to the early schooling of your child and which no school puts anything less than the upmost emphasis on. However, it is also a blessing and a world of opportunity for learning and escaping through all the wonderful literature and other forms of written language out there. From your child’s perspective, a lot of how they associate reading will come from you and how you portray it to them and motivate them to get to grips with it. So, let’s look at how you can build a positive association in your child’s mind and motivate them to get reading.

Allocate Good Periods of Time

Avid readers can pick up a book at any time of day under any circumstance and start reading. But that’s a rare talent that takes development. Having the time to really get into some reading requires a proper reading session. You should try and put aside a ‘reading hour’ amongst all the other activities in your child’s life, so that they have a scheduled routine and so they can clear their mind of anything else that could otherwise preoccupy them.

Read with Your Child

Children like to feel included by adults in things that seem grown-up. “It’s inspiring for a child to see that their mom or dad are as enthusiastic about the act of reading. Make that even more strongly felt by reading with them to create that sense of a shared activity that they can be excited about,” advises Lois Weiss, teacher at Writinity and LastMinuteWriting. You know when the child has their toy steering wheel next to the parent driving, or their little doll next to the parent holding the baby sibling? That’s the effect that you should be going for.

Create a Little Reading Room

It doesn’t have to be a whole room; it can be more like a reading nook. But the point is to allocate some designated space where all that is done is reading. “Having a reading space is a really big psychological boost to how your child thinks of reading and it’s likely to increase focus if they know that all they do in the space is reading,” says Harry Whitehouse, tech educator at DraftBeyond and ResearchPapersUK. Make sure the space is nicely designed, cozy and a pleasure to be in. This is another positive association that is very much worth investing in.

Don’t Push Too Hard

Reading can easily become a chore for your child if you aren’t careful. Pushing them to do too much reading, or to try and read at a level that is beyond them, is a really bad idea and will cause a lot of issues in the long run. Again, it’s about associations. Reading should be a joy, not a chore and being too insistent about certain things can be really dangerous for your child’s appreciation of reading.

Read to Your Children

Reading aloud is great for a couple of reasons. One of the most compelling reasons is that you are able to get them to experience material above their reading level that will nevertheless interest and thrill them. The second reason it is particularly useful is that you can start to create a love of stories and a desire to seek out stories in your children, which can really help to inspire them to read more further down the line. It’s also quite simply a great bonding experience for parents and children. Connecting with your child through the act of reading will help reinforce the affection they have for it and will build positive memories that will encourage them as they grow.

Conclusion

Overall, reading is something which can be quite easily introduced to your child as a worthy pursuit. Hopefully this list will show you what you need to know how to begin to build those positive associations for your child and to get them to start wanting to read for their own enjoyment.

Ashley Halsey is a professional author working at LuckyAssignments and GumEssays, writing on all sorts of lifestyle topics across the country. A mother of two children, she enjoys travelling, reading and researching the topics that inform her writing.