By BILAL SYED

Students say mindfulness classes at uni have helped them stay focused as exams get closer.

During the semester, Monash University runs five-week courses in mindfulness – the state of keeping oneself in the present while fully engaging with the outside environment and within their own mind – to help students boost their productivity during study periods.

In particular, students say a five-minute meditation exercise where they are encouraged to close their eyes and feel every part of their body with their mind creates a relaxed and energised state that helps them learn more easily. 

“Mindfulness has been a lifesaver for me,” says Rasika Mahajan, a business student at Monash Caulfield campus.

“The sessions in class make me feel like the shackles of all that stressful energy have been taken off me.”

Other students say mindfulness classes have not only helped them in their studies, but also in everyday life.

Master of Business student Zaria Khan says going to mindfulness classes has helped her more than trying to learn the practice via an app.

“Allowing yourself to be in the present and not worrying about the past or future … has helped me extremely in my life,” she says.  

“Doing mindfulness in classes makes me more aware of things I wouldn’t be able to learn through an app, including interaction with real people, making connections and understanding how it works in real life.”

After taking part in mindfulness sessions with a number of fellow students, Ms Khan also says students tend to want to relax after a long day of university and work, which limits use of the app.

Monash student and mindfulness app user Gabriel Rehmtulla says practice through private, self-conducted sessions helps him maintain a sense of calm in his everyday life while “on the go”.

“Before my sessions, I am always in a hurry running around like crazy … but the moment I do my mindfulness exercises using the app, I am completely at ease … and can calmly go on with my day,” he says.

However, according to research by Dr Zindel Segal, a clinical trainer at the University of Toronto, practising mindfulness through apps does not guarantee results, with a number of unsubstantiated claims being made about the benefits.

Dr Segal explains, on the site mindful.org, the problem of unsubstantiated health claims associated with mindfulness apps using the example of Lumosity.

Aimed at an older population worried about losing cognitive function, the company behind the Lumosity app paid out $2 million early this year to settle an action by the Federal Trade Commission about misleading claims. 

Dr Segal says that while the app was supposed to “reduce or delay cognitive impairment”, there was little or no science to  back up the claims, and they were relying on the science of mindfulness to establish credibility.