Concentration Techniques in Kindergarten!

I did a teacher training session with the teachers from Jiva Public School on concentration techniques. My focus was on the upper classes, however there were a few teachers who attended from the pre-primary classes.

Kindergarten students of Jiva Public School do concentration techniques

After a few days, the teachers came to my office to report to to me the great success they had had with their students. They explained that they had tried starting lessons off with concentration techniques–or when students started to get out of control, they did the techniques and immediately after, were able to get all of the students to pay attention.

What was most surprising, though was the kindergarten teachers who said they were also getting results. I could hardly believe it as I  thought it would be very difficult for 5 year olds to close their eyes, sit still, and follow the teacher’s commands. So I paid a visit to the KG classes. To my surprise, they did a great job! Here are some photos of the kids performing concentration techniques. Here the teachers were asking them to put their concentration on different parts of their bodies as a means of getting them to a) understand attention as a “thing”, and b) to control it.

Building Students’ Concentration

I’ve been working with students and teachers at Jiva Public School to help students increase their concentration and memory. At this time of the year, when exams have become the singular priority, I wanted to reach into the traditional Vedic wisdom to find solutions to address the problems that surround the practice of having to study for long hours and remember copious amounts of information.

I spent a week every morning with 10 students in classes VIII and IX, providing them with tips on how to concentrate, using principles from Yoga and Pranayam (breathing techniques). For dietary issues, I drew heavily from Ayurveda. Ayurveda also provided valuable insights with respect to lifestyle practice and massage as well.

Jaishree and Rajni (Class XIII, Jiva Public School) show off their project summarizing what they learned during their concentration classes.

My aim with the program is to enable students to learn self-discipline, improve time management, increase learning efficiency, increase their learning capacity, and most of all, help them reduce stress. There is just far too much stress put on kids in general in India, and many kids don’t know how to handle it. Therefore, I’m designing this program is to equip young learners with with a new set of mental skills that they can use to become more capable, balanced, lifelong learners.

Here are some more photos of the students with graphic organizers they created, which visually (and colorfully) represent what they learned in the class. This morning, they addressed the students in the assembly to share some of what they learned.

From the new session in April, we will be implementing these techniques through a school-wide program. If you’re an educator, or have a child and want to know how he or she can benefit from this program, feel free to get in touch.

Music for Your Memory

I’ve developed some music that is based on scientific principles related to memory. If you listen to it, it has the ability to improve concentration. Here are two songs:

• Raga Mind (MP3 format, 7.6MB, 6.4min)
• Feeling Good (MP3 format, 8.4MB, 7.2min)

Give them a shot while you’re studying. Or if you are too old to learn, but have kids who are learning , have them try it out. After, please come back to this post and let me know:

1. Did you find any positive effect?
2. In what way?
3. Which song worked better? Or did they do different things?

The basic principle behind the songs is that they are slow, set at 60 beats per minute. This rhythm puts the brain into a relaxed state that is ideal for learning.

The “Feeling Good” song is based on Western classical style that utilizes counterpoint, a kind of musical grammar, which supposedly gets the brain operating in a more structured way. The other song, Raga Mind, uses an Indian raga as the basis.

You’ll notice that each piece is simple in composition–few instruments, playing simple, repetitive phrases. This ensures that the brain doesn’t become distracted by the music. The challenge is to get the brain into a state of “flow.”

I have been listening them while I study Hindi and have found them to be extremely helpful. I am also working with students at the Jiva Public School doing research with them to find out how music can positively affect concentration and memory–a major issue these days, especially with exams going on.