Mindfulness

What is mindfulness?

At its heart mindfulness training teaches how to pay attention in the present moment.

Mindfulness training for students gives you tools to help you remain calm, sustain your attention and be able to focus more consistently and appropriately in the face of demands and pressure.

It does this by helping you to pay attention to the present moment through breathing and mindfulness practises including, scanning the body, meditation, eating and movement these practises increase awareness of thoughts and feelings so as to reduce stress and anxiety and boost levels of concentration.

There is a growing focus and interest in universities and higher education to attend to student wellbeing. Furthermore, a number of universities both in the UK and elsewhere have begun to address the impact of stress on learning and are offering mindfulness training to their students as part of their wellbeing.

Why is mindfulness particularly appropriate for students?

Successful completion of a degree programme inevitably involves periods of stress. Mindfulness training can offer all students tools that help:

  • Students who are performing well to perform even better as well as assisting those who are struggling

  • To minimise the negative effects of stress as and when they are occurring.

  • To manage low mood/depression and reduce anxiety

  • To maximise general well-being building tools for life such as empathy, self-compassion, emotional resilience and tolerance.

Is there any science behind mindfulness?

There is a large and growing body of research showing the evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness techniques. Research on the benefits of mindfulness has been gathered from a wide range of different settings, this includes neuroscientific evidence.

Visit the Mindfulness for students website for online mindfulness practices.

To find out more about mindfulness and how it can help you check out our Introduction to Mindfulness Guide.