Meditating your way through university
Meditation isn’t only for those who want to feel enlightened. Decades of research has led to the practice of meditation in many areas of personal development, from the business world to the sporting field
Monash University’s Mindfulness Meditation program may assist students who are hoping to reduce their stress levels or overcome procrastination.
By TOLI PAPADOPOULOS
Meditation isn’t only for those who want to feel enlightened. Decades of research has led to the practice of meditation in many areas of personal development, from the business world to the sporting field.
Common improvements credited to meditation range from increases in concentration to general reductions in stress. But does it work as a study aid?
Daniel McGurty, a 23-year-old student studying medicine at Melbourne University, has been meditating for the past six months to cope with the high pressures of his studies. He says meditation has assisted him greatly.
“A 20-minute meditation break really helps me to stay focused,” he said.
Meditation is increasingly becoming a mainstream treatment in modern medicine. Although there’s no hard and fast formula, one of the most popular ways to meditate is mindfulness. Mindfulness meditation involves closing one’s eyes and focusing on sensations such as breathing or parts of the body.
The goal is to learn to focus one's attentions on the here and now. This involves learning to accept distracting thoughts, rather than trying to block them out.
Monash University offers a range of different meditation programs within certain courses as well as externally. Dr Craig Hassed, a senior lecturer at the Monash University Medical Faculty, is working with Monash to embed mindfulness into the core curriculum. He says meditation has a positive effect on cognitive functioning.
“Meditation helps on a range of levels, both biologically and psychologically. It seems to have an effect of reducing muscle tension, but there’s also what goes on psychologically because a person’s perception of pain has a profound effect on how disturbing that pain is,” he said.
And just like any sport or hobby, meditation is an activity that improves with practice. For beginners, Dr Hassed recommends starting off with five minutes twice a day and slowly increasing. For more experienced meditators or those who want to see benefits quicker, Dr Hassed suggests meditating for 30 to 40 minutes a day.
Monash’s latest program, Mindfulness for Academic Success, offers a series of five weekly 60-minute sessions. The sessions are targeted towards reducing stress, overcoming procrastination and maximising learning.
Clinical psychologist Dr Richard Chambers is a key facilitator within the program. He says the program is highly beneficial to students hoping to improve their productivity.
“The research we’ve done at Monash shows five minutes of meditation a day over six weeks actually improves work engagement and significantly reduces anxiety, depression and stress,” he said.
“I find people within the first week participants could at least recognise when their minds wandered and be able to bring them back without judgement. After five weeks we find people show significant changes.
“The fact is the brain’s going to keep producing thoughts, so what mindfulness offers you is a way to ground yourself in the present so you don’t get lost in your thoughts,” he said.
Still, meditation requires ongoing practice and Dr Hassed notes it’s also essential to be mindful in our everyday lives.
“It’s also learning to live mindfully and sometimes people have been taught mindfulness and that’s not made clear to them. Because there’s no point being mindful for 30 to 40 minutes a week and being unmindful for the other 167 hours and 20 minutes,” he said.
monash.edu/counselling/academic-support/mindfulness.html
