The roles of stress and focus in Studying

Are you relaxed to create?

1. You practise sensing the body following the movement of your natural breathing to be balanced between being relaxed and ready (for focused flow) - with the intent of being aware of this present moment.

Studies show that if you take 30-second pauses to sense your body during your day, you will increase energy up to 50% and improve productivity up to 15%.

2. In everyday life, it is less stressful if you are present with your process – when studying, for example, flowing from one portion of a subject to the next. Feel free to read my blog post about allowing in the sanctity of simplicity. 

3. Know that you will master the difficulties in your study material with spaced repetition. Going back and fro between focus and rest (like a game of ping-pong) is important to finding solutions and to master anything. Do these by dividing your time into 25-minute sessions of focus with 5-minute breaks. Give yourself a reward after finishing 8 of these sessions.

Tips for your exam preparations:

•           Use a timer to help you divide your day into sessions.

•           Space repetitions of your work over a number of days/weeks.

•           Plan sessions the night before and note what time you will complete your tasks the next day.

•           Be present in only one session, in the moment as it happens.

•           Reward yourself after completion of planned sessions.

•           Believe in your own abilities.

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What is the Complete Study Course?



The Course is meant to give you or your children practical insight

 on how to learn more effectively and with less frustration. The
lessons in this course can help in learning many different subjects and skills.
Whether you love language or math, music, physics or history,
you will have a lot of fun, and learn a LOT about how to study!


It is provided to students on school or university level.

There are 2-week Courses available during the holiday!


Contact Details

Lucia Brand
082 782 4747
luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za

The role of Focus in Studying

Modern psychologists refer to this state of absolute absorption or concentration in what we are doing, as being "in flow."

Focus.

 As a child, I remember teachers at my school shouting at us to “Pay attention!”, but yelling at someone doesn’t train anyone to focus.

Paying attention, luckily, is a skill that can be learned.

                                                                                                       Photo Credit: Unsplash


What are the instructions for focusing?

• The ability not to be distracted and
• Deliberate attention on one thing at one time

What are the ingredients of focus for making it sustainable?

• ·    Spaciousness and lightness (a softness, instead of an intense focus)
• ·    Interest and curiosity (Asking for example, ‘How does my body/body part feel? Light? Heavy? Tight? Opening up yourself – pausing playfully - and not hurrying this answer.)

Why do you get to know your strengths in the Study Course?

There are modalities in your brain that work better for you to pay attention. Some people have to hear to focus well while others have to see the information or feel it more intuitively with their bodies. Each one has to know their dominant modality to orientate themselves. In the Complete Study Course, you discover what this is. It is like tuning your instrument before tuning it together with other instruments of an orchestra (i.e. at school).

Tuning your instrument is an analogy of getting in touch with yourself and it balances the doing with being. You use what you are naturally drawn to – visualisation, listening or feeling – to get in touch with yourself and to study more effectively.

Meditation is a practice of training your mind to focus and be more present and remind yourselves when you are distracted. It is removed from the business of life and activities. 

And then, on the other hand, there is the application of mindfulness. The latter is using the new sense of calm and ease and applies it to activities like studying. You will find focused flow creeping into all activities of your life. Have a look at Yuja Wang playing the piano “in flow”.

During the sessions in this course we apply memory techniques that suit your strengths.

2-week Courses available during the holiday. 

To book contact:

Lucia Brand
082 782 4747
luciabrand@cybersmart.co.za

MORE RULES OF GOOD STUDYING

MORE RULES OF GOOD STUDYING

  Focus.

Turn off all interrupting beeps and alarms on your phone and computer, and then turn on a timer for 30 min. Focus intently for those twenty-five minutes and work intentionally, as diligently as you can. Give yourself a small, fun reward the last 5 minutes... and a longer break after the timer goes off for the 4th time. Two or three of these sessions per day can really move your studies forward.
                                                         

 Good habits

Set up times and places where studying - not glancing at your computer or phone - is just something you naturally do.

... FOR MORE INFO, READ THE STUDY COURSE PAGE - WE FOLLOW A MINDFULNESS APPROACH TO STUDYING

Learners who did mindfulness exercises had 15% better math scores than their peers... click to read more: