Mindfulness to Help the Wandering Mind
Grace Stigant
PSYC 2341 – 001

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Mindfulness to Help the Wandering Mind
Do you ever catch yourself daydreaming or mind-wandering during class time? Perhaps
your physics professor is not as engaging as you need, or you find yourself distracted by the cutie
sitting across the classroom, and your attention unfortunately strays for longer than it should.
This issue is especially problematic during high-load tasks, or tasks that require a lot of brain
power. This of course can reflect badly on grades, because loss of attention directly affects how
much class content we recollect come time for the exam. So, what can be done to curb this
attentional deficit? Changing the environment around you is always helpful – taking away
distractions and noise to give mental clarity and comprehension – yet this isn’t always possible.
You can’t control the person loudly chewing gum next to you, or the busy street outside your
window, but you can in fact change your mind, through active mindfulness itself. The question
is, how exactly does one change their ability to focus and learn through the active practice of
mindfulness?
As it turns out, something as simple as meditating for 5 minutes before class can make a
difference to your ability to hold attention in class. A university study in the US near New
England found evidence for this through the incorporation of two kinds of mindfulness practices
into the classrooms of 72 Biopsychology students (O’Hare & Gemelli, 2023, p. 5). The students
were separated into two groups, one directed to participate in a self-compassion mindfulness
practice, and the other a focused-attention mindfulness practice. The self-compassion
mindfulness group took the first 5 minutes of class to sit up straight, close their eyes, and repeat
the phrases ‘May I be happy’, ‘May I be calm’, and ‘May I be well’ to themselves silently before
continuing with the lecture (O’Hare & Gemelli, 2023, p. 7). The focused-attention mindfulness
group did the same as the self-compassion group, but instead of repeating phrases in their heads,

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were instead told to focus on their body and breath for the first 5 minutes of class (O’Hare &
Gemelli, 2023, p. 6). The study concluded that the effects found on the student’s ability to
control their attention was significant in that both groups – particularly the self-compassion
mindfulness group – scored higher on class tests after 10 weeks of the incorporated mindfulness
practice.
In another study by Pattrawadee Makmee (2022), this time done in an elementary school
in Thailand, two groups of sixth grade children were involved in an experiment which tested the
effects of an audio-visual mindfulness program on attention (p. 111). The program lasted thirty
minutes a day, three days a week, for four weeks. The audio-visual mindfulness program
consisted of an array of special images such as mandalas and landscapes that were presented
alongside special sounds to the mindfulness group, while the other (control) group of children
did not receive the mindfulness training (Makmee, 2022, p. 111). The students who received the
mindfulness training had significantly increased attention scores in comparison to the group who
did not receive mindfulness training (Makmee, 2022, p. 114). This shows evidence that the
incorporation of mindfulness into a learning environment can increase attention span and class
performance among young children during higher-load tasks.
Attention, being a massive part of our daily lives, heavily impacts how we learn. With
ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) being one of the most common
neurodevelopmental disorders with a prevalence of 5.3% of the world population and increasing
(Espinet et al., 2022, p. 1) there is much more demand for techniques that will help attentional
issues within a learning context. As exemplified in the elementary and university studies,
attention is particularly relevant to learning and academic performance, regardless of age group.
Mindfulness practices, in many different forms, made a difference to each experimental group’s

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learning abilities, even if it was only temporary. This is incredibly significant for the future of
our education systems, because it provides a possibility for people, both with
neurodevelopmental learning disorders and without, to increase their focus and ability to succeed
and learn effectively. Whether it’s in a sixth grade class, or a university undergraduate course,
having the ability to focus is greatly beneficial for student’s overall success and wellbeing.
Taking a few minutes out of your day to do some simple meditation exercises, or silently
say positive self-compassion phrases to yourself can make a big difference in your academic
performance. Unfortunately, mindfulness is not going to do all the work for you, but it can most
certainly help you pay better attention to your physics lecture. Through the power of organized
and continued mindfulness practices such as the above studies exemplified, attentional deficits
can be significantly decreased among all age groups and genders, creating a hugely positive
impact to learning and comprehension. So, why not try to reign in your wandering mind with the
magical powers of mindfulness?

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References
Espinet, S. D., Graziosi, G., Toplak, M. E., Hesson, J., & Minhas, P. (2022). A Review of
Canadian Diagnosed ADHD Prevalence and Incidence Estimates Published in the Past
Decade. Brain Sciences (2076-3425), 12(8), 1051.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.langara.ca/10.3390/brainsci12081051
O’Hare, A. J., & Gemelli, Z. T. (2023). The effects of short interventions of focused-attention vs.
self-compassion mindfulness meditation on undergraduate students: Evidence from
self-report, classroom performance, and ERPs. PLoS ONE, 17(1), 1–20.
https://doi-org.ezproxy.langara.ca/10.1371/journal.pone.0278826
Pattrawadee Makmee. (2022). Increasing Attention and Working Memory in Elementary
Students Using Mindfulness Training Programs. FWU Journal of Social Sciences, 16(3),
107–119. https://doi-org.ezproxy.langara.ca/10.51709/19951272/Fall2022/8