Mindfulness Meditation,
May 19th,
2020.
Introduction.
There are several issues that might interfere with your ability to learn.
External distractions,
Decreased attention due to fatigue,
Or a lack of motivation among other possibilities.
But your previous knowledge could also deter your ability to learn new material.
This phenomenon of previous information diminishing the ability to learn new information is called proactive interference.
When proactive interference occurs,
It decreases the effectiveness of our working memory or the mental notepad we rely on to remember newly learned information quickly while we package and store it for future use.
A study on mindfulness done in 2019 by Harvard Medical School and the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital showed how it helps us reduce interference in our working memory.
In the study,
Half of the participants were taught mindfulness and the other half were taught a creative writing task.
Both groups were shown a series of cards with letters on them and asked to determine whether the letters they saw were the same or different as those they saw before.
The ones with mindfulness training were quicker and more accurate in differentiating the details.
Several previous research studies had already shown that mindfulness is associated with increased growth of the hippocampus,
A brain region involved in facilitating memory and learning.
But this study was the first to show that,
One,
Mindfulness training can protect against proactive interference and,
Two,
That these benefits are related to hippocampal volume increases.
In other words,
Mindfulness is not only enhancing the structure of your brain,
It's improving your brain's ability to function.
Starting our practice for today.
Find your seat.
Sit up comfortably and close your eyes.
Start to check in with your internal landscape.
Notice how the breath feels.
Notice how your body is feeling today.
With your next inhale,
Lift up through the chest and lengthen the spine.
Exhale to relax the shoulders down and back.
Inhale to reach the ears gently away from the shoulders.
Exhale to ground down through your sits bones.
No stress on your lower back from bending too far forward.
And no tension in your abdomen from leaning too far back.
Releasing any tension here,
Take a few rounds of deep conscious breaths on your own in your centered balanced position.
As you observe,
See if you're feeling that you're looking at the breath from an outside point of view.
Are you trying to aim your attention at the breath?
If you feel that you are,
See if you can be aware of the sensations of breathing from within the sensations themselves.
You are not separate from this experience.
Become one with each breath as it continuously flows into the next,
Allowing everything else to move into the background.
No need to think about how the air moves in and out.
Simply merge with the breath.
Allow the breath to breathe into itself.
You may notice physical sensations.
An itch or a tickle.
A sense of numbness.
Tingling.
Or perhaps restlessness.
Simply notice this becoming aware that sensations are changing from moment to moment.
Coming and going.
Appearing and disappearing.
Then gently return your attention to the breath.
Be patient with yourself and with your body.
Noticing the experience of the busy mind.
Of emotional ups and downs.
Of boredom.
Of sounds or physical sensations.
Then letting go of whatever tries to capture your attention.
Just bring your attention back to the breath and rest here.
In this moment.
Fully awake and alive.
In the last minute of this session.
Let go of all of your efforts and just rest your mind.
Allowing the awareness and presence of this practice to merge with the rest of your day today.
