by Claudine Ryan for ABC Health and Wellbeing Feeling less stressed, having better concentration and a greater resilience to life’s challenges are some of the commonly-cited reasons for trying meditation. But this quest for inner… Read More »Mindfulness meditation: boosting young people’s brain power?
From Science Codex Focusing on the present rather than letting the mind drift may help to lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, suggests new research from the Shamatha Project at the University of California,… Read More »Mindfulness from Meditation Associated with Lower Stress Hormone
From LiveScience If you’ve ever struggled to keep your mind from wandering during an important test or another task that requires laser-like focus, researchers say a little meditation could help you concentrate. Mindfulness training, which… Read More »Mindfulness May Boost Focus on Tests
Back in October we posted an article about meditation helping students. While introducing mindfulness to students is incredibly important, shouldn’t teachers be learning to meditate too? I was very happy to come across this Science… Read More »Mindful Teachers
by Jessica Graham My teacher Shinzen teaches that mindfulness meditation has three parts: concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity, which all together lead to a reduction in suffering. But sometimes people have “freak-outs.” A freak-out is… Read More »Dying with Dad, Part 2
by Michael W. Taft Yesterday I was deep inside a website, working on a project that took my full attention. Just as I was getting really focused, a neighbor busted out his leaf blower and… Read More »Concentration and Silence
We’ve been discussing concentration lately on the blog. Here, meditation teacher Shinzen Young shares his views on concentration. Fascinating and helpful. Part one of a three part series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq1IL_DnC98
A good friend of mine recently returned to school. As an adult learner, he set a goal for himself to do the best job possible, to ace every class he could. As someone with slight… Read More »Concentration: The Hammer
by Chris Edgar Most productivity writing is about tips for organizing our workspace — creative ways to arrange our e-mail inbox, write to-do lists, color-code folders, and so on. These techniques can be useful, but… Read More »Meditation Teaches Us about Productivity
by Michael W. Taft Concentration is the eternal secret of every mortal achievement – Stefan Zweig There is an ancient story from India that tells of five young princes who were practicing archery in the… Read More »Concentration: An Iterative Approach to Focusing the Mind
by Michael W. Taft You’re working on a paper, and the kids need dinner. Music is playing in one room, and the tv is on in the other. You don’t want to miss tonight’s episode… Read More »Multitasking Fail