Learning Efficiency And Meditation

As such everyone, irrespective of age and activity, is a learner. The  learning efficiency improves, if one is a smart  and with experience in life,  one also learns to improve efficiency, with more and more practice. However, the youth, with less exposure to experiences of life and with a purpose to study for a career path, in modern times, is always under pressure to learn effectively, to be employable for a career path chosen. They are fortunate to be guided formally and informally by teachers, parents as well as by mentors during their  studies.

Their effort during their studies is distracted by various factors, which include clutter in education ecosystem around them, aspirations and friendship related issues, social media interactions, etc.  All above distractions, with varying degree of engagements, are unavoidable and one has to learn to live with these, while at the same time, managing the studies to satisfactorily become employable for a chosen career path. The distractions are most of times NOISE (if the engagements are not useful towards improving the  skills of a person, then these can be considered equivalent to NOISE) and such NOISE lingers  in the memory system of the youth during their studies  and thus affecting the studies.

Human body is physiologically inclined towards being always at peace and at relaxed level. However, because of need of survival and for  keeping up with the aspirations, one needs to be active, both physically and mentally.   But the body and the mind always look to  find  time to keep itself at peace. This also keeps happiness and health of the person in a natural situation.   And this is a very important aspect for the success of a person, keeping natural balance between activity and peace, both for body and mind. However, with the distractions around, it is extremely difficult, to find such a balance for desired health and happiness.  This can result in loss of appreciation of situation around , loss of confidence, loss of interest and loss of efficiency in learning.

If we look holistically at above problem, we can think of a solution, which would be an antidote for the  above NOISE. This antidote is SILENCE. If we are able to create a SILENT zone and time according to our requirements or suitability, we should be able to find peace and relaxation for the mind and the body.  This SILENT zone can not be created in a isolated physical structure, but a regular practice of isolating self for some time can help create a SILENT zone. The practice can help one move away from NOISE for some time and hence help inch, over a period of time, towards the balance between activity and relaxation. This is akin to someone  finding temporary relaxation while listening to  a piece of favorite music.  Such a practice may help a well aware and self motivated person temporarily to some extent, but a RESET is required, so that  the body and mind remain fresh to manage with distractions in a regular mode.

Mediation has been recognized all around for centuries as a tool for isolating self from the NOISE or in other way, for being with inner self.  It has always been part of human practice for health, happiness and longevity, but in modern times, it has  become more  important tool as an antidote to distractions and its effect has been recognized in improving a person’s capability as well as  life skills. It has also been observed that  practice of Meditation enables a person to effectively manage the day-to-day stress in the midst of above mentioned distractions.

Different Meditation processes have been in practice and an international  review (A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TRANSCENDENT STATES ACROSS MEDITATION AND CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITIONS, Helané Wahbeh, Amira Sagher, Wallis Back, Pooja Pundhir and Frederick Travis,  Explore, January/February 2018. Volume 14, No. 1,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2017.07.007)  has discussed  majority of traditions of meditation and physiological impact on individuals. However most of the traditions focus on training the mind for the meditation process.  The innovative  Transcendental Meditation (TM),  which was invented by world renowned Saint Scientist Mahesh Yogi ji. During TM mind is not guided, rather allowed to-be-as-it-is and it transcends to a sleepless conscious state without training or guiding it during Meditation.  The experience of pure consciousness during TM  has also  been described as “SILENCE”.  And this SILENCE is the need of a person, to RESET self and isolate from the distractions for peace of mind and body. Although it is easier said than done, it has been observed by TM practitioners that  with regular practice, they are in a position to acquire the much needed SILENCE, as and when they feel.  TM practice is done for an identified duration (around 20 minutes) at least twice daily, of course, ofcourse initiating it under the guidance of a certified Teacher of TM. There are courses and organizations worldwide for training to become a certified TM Teacher.

For learning efficiency to improve, TM has been found to be quite effective. It can certainly  help the students, as they find concentration as the major issue with their studies and assuming that they have requisite attribute and attitude for their education stream for a chosen career path.  With its overall long term affect on human health, both directly and indirectly, TM can be identified as core tool for gaining happiness and health, which is so crucial for a purposeful existence in the society.