The Connection Between Meditation and Learning - Essay Example

How does meditation help education? Is there a connection?

Meditation is an increasingly important issue when discussions about reforming the education systems are raised. Fundamentally, meditation refers to the practices of not only open monitoring but also focused attention, often encompassing the idea of mitigating thoughts especially those that inhibit appropriate thought process. Alternatively, meditation is the practices of training one’s own attention and awareness while seeking to achieve an emotionally calm, mentally clear, and stable state. This paper takes the standpoint that meditation can help education by improving learning and student capabilities through enhancing their overall focus and concentrations, which augments their cognitive abilities, academic performance, emotional performance, and well-being. This study will take a systematic approach to prove this viewpoint. Foremost, the paper will explicate the issue, illustrating what the previous studies have argued about the problem. The paper will then present the main argument, showing the philosophical reasons for the direction taken in the study using a deductive approach. Consequently, the paper will outline some objections and respond to them accordingly.

An explication of the issue

A set of studies have investigated the issue of meditation and whether it is connected to education, and if so, the essence of the event. Among the most prominent studies is that by Helber, Zook, and Immergut (2012). This study sought to investigate whether mediation within the higher education sphere enhance the cognition of the students. It was revealed that meditation, commonly referred to as contemplative practices, presents a host of benefits to the higher education students, often prompting higher level cognitive abilities. The study showed that in a sociology course that encouraged students to engage in contemplative practices, the students signified an increase in their level of cognitive abilities over the semester. The study also showed that the more time the students spent on meditation, the more cognitive abilities they achieved. Ramsburg and Youmans (2013) confirmed these findings, stating that with meditation, it followed that the retention of information conveyed during a lecture improved tremendously where the students engaged in meditation training before attending the session. While this is the case, the study illustrated that relaxation, mood, and class interest remained the same. This suggested that meditation improved the cognitive skills of the students only.

In another study by Miyahara et al. (2017), it was revealed that meditation, whether a sitting meditation or a guided compassion meditation, has the potential to trigger lowered level of stress, hence improved cognitive ability, among the early childhood education students. While this is the case, the researchers contended that students preferred compassion meditation more. Tang (2017) supported the cognitive benefits of meditation among students. Accordingly, the author illustrated that mindfulness improved conflict resolution, attention, school test scores, creativity, and learning ability. The findings by Waters, Barsky, Ridd, and Allen (2015), negated those of other researchers, showing that the majority of the participants investigated did not show any improvements in their outcomes upon meditation. While this is the case, the researchers are quick to note that the setting through which meditation training was delivered might have diminished any beneficial outcome.

Primary argument

The thesis presented above illustrates that meditation can help education by improving learning and student capabilities through enhancing their overall focus and concentrations, which augments their cognitive abilities, academic performance, emotional performance, and well-being. At the heart of meditation is the achievement of a calm, mentally clear, and stable state. This means that meditation necessarily helps a person to achieve peace of mind. An undisturbed state of mind means that a person will necessarily have the ability to experience proper cognitive processes. He or she will manifest improved executive functioning. This necessarily mean that the student will have a better working memory while illustrating a flexible thinking process. The proper functioning, as well, will prompt improved self-control are also outcomes of adequate working memory. With improved cognitive abilities, it is inevitable that a student will manifest enhanced emotional performance. This outcome is especially elicited through burgeoning self-control capability. When a person has improved self-control, it follows that he or she does not react to adversities in an exaggerated manner. Instead, despite tension building up, a person, a student as it relates to this assignment, will manifest calmness and relaxation. Hence, he or she will fight negative emotional impulses.

The person will avoid as much as possible to show angry outbursts or event, sadness, and jealousy. Furthermore, as meditation improves a person’s working memory, it is likely that a student’s academic performance will be enhanced. According to Miller, Lundqvist, Bastos (2018), working memory is responsible for a person’s reasoning. In addition to this, working memory serves to guide a person’s behavior and decision-making process. Reasoning is one of the primary necessities for a student that want to excel in their studies. For example, when presented with an exam question, he or she has to try and think of the issues the query is seeking to test. While some questions might appear straightforward, there are usually hidden motives. It requires a student to reason well to uncover the hidden demands. Ultimately, proper decision-making due to working memory ensures that the student will not engage in risky behaviors, for example, binge drinking in the face of looming important lectures. This helps to ensure academic and social well-being.

Response to objections

Despite the vivid positive effect of meditation on education as illustrated by the student’s success, some commenters have tried to show that meditation does not have any beneficial outcomes to the learning and teaching process. A good objection is presented in the study by Waters, Barsky, Ridd, and Allen (2015). The researchers appear to show that meditation is not wholly responsible for improved student outcomes. Instead, it only contributes a small portion of the overall effect. This finding is indeed worthwhile and, given that it is based on an empirical, primary research, it is sound. While this is the case, this does not imply that the finding is short of fallacies. One of the apparent fallacies is that the finding does not point out to the share of beneficial outcomes that different techniques contributes.

Based on the outcomes of the findings documented through the literature review, meditation is not limited to the mental states it affects, perhaps unlike other strategies. Just as a recap, with working memory, a person experiences exemplar executive functioning, a flexible thinking process, proper functioning and improved self-control. Therefore, the effects of meditation are holistic. If this is indeed the case, then it is logical to claim that the induction of students to meditation has the capacity to promote the most benefits when compared to other techniques. This is indeed a great possibility, given that other techniques or approaches often focus on a single area. Therefore, the models cannot be as comprehensive as the meditation process.

Conclusion

Conclusively, this paper has signified that meditation can help education by improving learning and student capabilities through enhancing their overall focus and concentrations, which augments their cognitive abilities, academic performance, emotional performance, and well-being. The current body of evidence seems to support these findings, owing to the notion that with meditation, working memory is improved. Working memory is the basis for cognitive abilities, academic performance, emotional performance, and well-being. Other commentators have showed the insignificance of the meditation as relevant to education, but this paper has shown that these commentators have relied on faulty research designs and reasoning manifesting apparent fallacies. Therefore, the beneficial connection between meditation and education is ascertainable.