A packed week of lectures, an additional working student job and then all the deadlines - occasionally university can be quite stressful and draining. It is therefore not surprising that the topic of mindfulness is gaining more and more attention among students. Because mindfulness helps us to slow down our everyday lives and reduce stress. We'll show you exactly what it's all about and how you can get through everyday university life more calmly.
Mindfulness - what does that actually mean? | An exercise
A very classic example from everyday life: To switch off a bit after work or university, you go for a walk. At the same time, music or a podcast is playing on the headphones, you write with a few friends and every now and then your mind drifts off to a few moments from the past few days. At first it might sound like a normal and relaxed walk. If you look more closely, the body - and especially the mind - doesn't really switch off.
Mindfulness means fully engaging with the here and now. And not just physically, but also mentally. It's about perceiving your own feelings, physical sensations, sensory impressions and external processes in the current moment, but without evaluating them. At the same time, distance should be gained from all thoughts that are not related to the present moment.
As an exercise, your next walk could look like this:
Try walking through the streets without music or your smartphone and instead just really notice how you are feeling at that exact moment, what you are feeling and how your body feels. In order not to drift off mentally, it can also be helpful if you concentrate on your breathing every now and then. Try to imagine how the air makes its way through the nose to the lungs, fills them and thereby gradually activates the countless processes in the body and then returns all the way back when you breathe out.
Mindfulness from a scientific and medical perspective
There are now countless studies that prove the positive effects of mindfulness. Results range from improving memory and reducing stress to improving sleep and reducing anxiety. Here are just a few studies as an example:
- The positive effects of mindfulness exercises on the perception of physical pain and discomfort
- The influence of mindful meditation on psychological well-being, reducing stress and promoting joy in life
- How mindfulness meditation has a positive effect on sleep behavior
- 10 minutes of meditation every day helps anxious people concentrate better
Mindfulness as a form of meditation
Probably the best mindfulness training is meditation. But especially for beginners, it is not that easy to meditate properly for 10, 20 or even 30 minutes. What should I think about during meditation? How long should I meditate? Is a guided meditation or a silent meditation better?
The first thing to do is to read a book about learning and understanding meditation in order to understand the techniques and considerations behind it and to get initial explanations about how to meditate correctly.
In addition to countless guided meditations on YouTube, there are also some good meditation apps for smartphones. The free app 7Mind is not only one of the most popular apps on the German market, but also offers numerous guided meditations that specifically deal with student-relevant topics such as exam anxiety, dealing with stress, focus and relaxation. What is also special here is that 7Mind Plus access is free for students at some universities . But even free access is definitely worth it!
The perfect combination of mindfulness and yoga
Yoga is also a perfect opportunity to train mindfulness in addition to physical exercise. Similar to meditation, yoga exercises are about concentrating fully on your body and your breathing. This synchronization of movement and breathing ensures that you can almost automatically engage with the here and now, both physically and mentally. It is therefore not surprising that despite the strenuous physical activity, you feel a lot more calm and relaxed, both immediately after yoga and in the long term.
Learn mindfulness through mindful breathing
Normally we are not even consciously aware of our breath. But especially in stressful situations, our nervous system causes our heart rate to subconsciously increase and our breathing to slow down at the same time.
Especially in stressful situations, it is a simple exercise to pause for five to ten minutes and breathe consciously and deeply. Because it is almost impossible to think and concentrate on your breath at the same time. This diverts your thoughts from the stressful situation in the outside world to the inside world and at the same time consciously perceives the present moment. This ensures that the tension gives way to relaxation, the blood pressure slows down again, the body receives a better oxygen balance and thus the ability to concentrate increases again.
Free audio books on mindfulness
If you want to delve deeper into the topic of mindfulness, we recommend our 5 best free audio books on the subject of mindfulness . Depending on your preference, you can also find an audio book with an introduction to the topic, but also audio books with a wide variety of perspectives and exercises to help you get through everyday life more stress-free and more mindfully in the long term.
