Do you find it difficult to concentrate when you are studying? Do you need to reduce your stress levels? Applying mindfulness to education can be the key to fostering creativity, reducing anxiety, and improving your attention span. Find out all about its benefits and how to put mindfulness into practice.
We live in a world full of non-stop stimuli, in a large part because of the internet and social media: we constantly receive WhatsApp messages, emails, we read the news, look at ads, memes, videos, photos, etc. Over-exposure to information can lead us to reflect on the need to stop and look inside ourselves to attain tranquillity and an awareness of our emotions.
According to a study conducted by Teesside University (UK) and presented at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society, mindfulness helps teachers and students to efficiently manage stress. Their research showed that as the understanding and awareness of mindfulness grew, in both teachers and students, stress was significantly reduced. But mindfulness offers many more benefits besides. So, what exactly is mindfulness?
As Jon Kabat-Zinn —a pioneer of its therapeutic application— explains in his book Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, mindfulness can be defined as the act of paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally. Mindfulness can be applied to a variety of contexts such as the workplace or education, and it helps us to understand what is happening inside and around us.
Kabat-Zinn also highlights several fundamental factors in the practice of mindfulness:
In recent years, various programmes have been conducted that focus on teachers and students, with the aim of encouraging the development of mindfulness. The benefits reaped through the application of mindfulness in education are as follows:
Mindfulness applied to the field of education benefits both students and teachers.
If you want to practice mindfulness and take full advantage of its benefits for education, just follow these steps:
You can practice mindfulness for 5 minutes a day and gradually increase this time until you reach 20 to 30 minutes a day, or even more.
Applying mindfulness to education not only helps you to focus and achieve better results, but also to acquire transferable skills such as empathy, leadership, and negotiation skills, which can all facilitate inclusion in the job market.
As a result, mindfulness in education has become a highly valued approach due to its positive impact on students' emotional and cognitive well-being. However, for this practice to be effective and have a real impact on the educational environment, it is essential that teachers acquire solid training in mindfulness and develop their pedagogical skills to ensure a holistic and quality education that promotes the holistic growth of students in a healthy educational environment.
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