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| Setting aside ten minutes a day to do absolutely nothing but focus on 'being' is really healthy! |
In recent years, the concept of 'Mindfulness' has gained recognition for it's ability to help people in many aspects of their lives. For some, with focus and reduced distraction, for others it has been used to help with depression, and in the lives of many people it reduces blood pressure, stress and enhances self awareness.
So it is no surprise that scientists are also engaging in studies with students that live with dyslexia symptoms, to see if it can help with their study skills.
Before we get into that, let us take a look at what Mindfulness is.
The following TED video from Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe explains how taking 10 minutes a day to practise mindlefulness, can improve the quality of our lives.
Andy states that our mind is the most important part of our lives and is at the centre of everything that we do, but we don't often do anything to look after it and often this results in stress. So it is useful to be able to manage stress with this technique. As stress is a major factor in the lives of many dyslexic students, then it stands to reason that Mindfulness could be a useful tool.
The basis of the study centred around the study by Tang et al (2010) whose work found that merely eleven hours of meditation induced changes in the brain which could help with better self regulation.
The study by Dr Krcmar and Tina Horsman showed how students with Dyslexia, ADHD and other SpLDs, benefited from using Mindfulness to enhance focus and reduce distraction.
The Mindfulness For Students website says this about the benefits of Mindfulness for students;
"Mindfulness training for students is enjoyable and creative as well as productive. It helps to maintain calmness, focus and helps to better manager the pressures of student life."
Personally I recommend the Headspace resource for convenient lead, meditation which can be focused on different aspects of our lives. Headspace have an app on IOS and Android that can be used conveniently.
What are your thoughts and experiences on this subject? Please comment below.