Neuroscientist Amishi Jha’s mindfulness exercises to improve attention

“You have lost 50 percent of your life,” wrote Amishi Jha, a neuroscientist and professor of psychology at the University of Miami, in her new book, Peak Mind. Decades of research have shown that Jha is very likely to distract humans.

This distraction can be sacrificed. For example, it can affect your work life and miss deadlines and important instructions. It can affect your relationship and cause you to miss important messages from your loved ones when they need to hear you. If you are not paying attention to how you react, it can even affect your daily emotional regulation.

“Attention is a currency, a versatile resource,” she writes. “We need it in almost every aspect of our lives.”

Jha’s research focuses on mindfulness exercises and other tactics to control a multifaceted attention system. At the end of the book, she plans to run a four-week mindfulness exercise program for 12 minutes a day, at least five times a week. This is the minimum amount of time it takes to initiate a brain pathway change.

I tried this month’s program. How did this affect me?

In “Peak Mind,” Jha defines four different exercises.

• Find your flashlight Helps identify where and when you are focusing. You sit, close your eyes, and focus on the sensation of breathing, like the sensation of going in and out of your nostrils. When you find your mind wandering elsewhere, you simply rewind it into that sensation.

• Body scan It helps to clearly understand the physical sensation of a given moment and helps to absorb it better. You start by getting up and refocusing on your breathing sensations, then scan your body no matter what it feels. For example, a breeze may blow on the soles of your feet, your back may be strained, or your stomach may rattle. Whatever it is, work upwards and be careful.

• River of thought Sharpen your meta-consciousness, or “the ability to clearly pay attention to and monitor the current content or process of your conscious experience,” Jha writes in the book. You stand, lift your legs from your hips, extend your palms, and place your arms on your side. You start with a sensation of breath and imagine you are standing at the foot of a river, and whatever thoughts, feelings, or sensations arise, you imagine them floating past the river. increase.

• Connection practice That means sharpening the attention system when running in a relationship. You sit down, find a sense of breath, and repeat the following three phrases for a few minutes. “May I be happy, healthy, safe and live in peace.”

  You think of someone you love and repeat those phrases for them. You think of someone you don’t have a real connection to and repeat those phrases for them. Think of the book as a “difficult person” and repeat the phrase for them. Finally, you move to everyone in your home, community, state, and country, and to everyone in the world.

As an adult with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, I personally started this program at a disadvantage. As the name implies, my particular disorder impairs some executive functioning of the brain. However, these exercises cannot radically change the way this brain works, but according to the book, even people with ADHD then see some difference in attention. So I dive.

The program is set up to combine a basic flashlight search exercise with another new exercise each week. The first week focuses on searching for flashlights, the second week focusing on switching between flashlights and body scans, the third week switching between it and the River of Thought, and the fourth week focusing on practicing connecting with it.

I got up 15 minutes early every morning and decided to do these exercises first. They were challenging, especially find a flashlight. I think it’s the most boring of the four, and my mind already tends to wander. Most of the time, while doing that, I found myself spaced.

Fortunately, all three were more exciting and connection practice was probably my favorite. It left me a warm and vague feeling every time.

By the third week, I started to feel some kind of change. Jha states that the effects of altering the brain’s pathways are not just about being able to focus more on the task at hand. They also give you greater awareness of what is happening to your body and your emotional temperament.

I realized that was the case. For example, I usually drink coffee once or twice a week, but when I bought a cup at a shop near my office on Tuesday, the third week of exercise, I suddenly realized what the coffee was doing to me. .. .. I noticed a vague feeling of fatigue and trembling after drinking.

When my heart was wandering, I found that I knew better when it was happening and where it was heading. For example, you can consciously decide whether to continue on that path to check your mail or close the tab to complete your current work.

I think the most valuable element of this program to me is that Jha really emphasizes divorcing emotional reactions from where your attention is directed. Historically, especially because I’m often distracted, I’ve been angry with myself when I realized I was watching YouTube instead of doing what I was supposed to be doing.

Now I have noticed an increasing sense of calm overall.

Jha’s exercise emphasizes the importance of removing all judgment from the task of refocusing attention. They are just aware of what is happening. In other words, you are just aware of what is happening. What I train my brain to do every morning is not only to rewind it to the work at hand, but to do so without disturbing my emotions.

I still exercise 5 times a week, 12 minutes a day, when I wake up in the morning. As a result, we hope that you will have more control over your attention.

By training, Jha wrote in the book, “We will strengthen our ability to fully experience and enjoy our moments, embark on new adventures and navigate life’s challenges more effectively. You can do it. “

More from growth: