Concentration Exercises

One of the best concentration exercises I haveIt turns out if we take care of the pillars of brain
discovered for a lecture or conversation is tofitness, which are physical activity/exercise,
simply repeat the words of the person speakingnutrition including antioxidants and omega 3 fatty
to me inside my head.acid, sleep, stress management, and novel learning
That simple concentration exercise keeps meexperiences, we can keep our brain working at its
from preparing my retort, and it also teaches memost efficient.
to listen for the speakers gifts. Taking a momentThe discussion of the dual n back task comes
to repeat their words to myself allows me to seeunder the novel learning experience pillar, and
their strengths, and I get lots of good ideas thatEvans and Burghardt report that the research
way.shows that users of dual n back demonstrate an
If I were actually in a a counseling session, I wouldincrease in fluid intelligence, as measured by IQ
be preparing to ask my client if I were hearingtests.
them accurately, which is a very important partI was very intrigued, and bought a commercial
of the process of building trust, and the reflectiveversion of the dual n back program, and tried it
listening process.out.
The simple act of repetition in conversation willI found the task perfect for concentration and
teach me how fast my concentration wanders.short term memory. While not an easy tool to
If you have ever tried a meditative techniqueget a quick feel for, it didn't take too long until I
using a mantra, you will know that yourwas working effectively with the tool, which
concentration wanders frequently, but the soundoffers me brief sequences of auditory and visual
of the mantra will bring you back to the process.feedback that I have to remember matches for
EEG biofeedback or heart rate variabilityback two, three, or more trials.
biofeedback are useful tools for concentrationImmediately, I was aware of how fast my
exercises because those tools feed backconcentration shifted, and the dual n back kept
information about either brain wave frequency orme focused for longer and longer periods of time,
time between heart beats, and as we learn fromand I noticed an increased awareness of attention
the biofeedback that we can impact those usuallyon other tasks, so that if I wandered away, I
subconscious physiological processes, we becomewould get back to task more quickly.
more confident in our concentration, and in ourSo it appears that research and computers are
ability to impact it.offering us wonderful tools for concentration
The most exciting aspect of concentrationexercises that are much more precise than the
exercises is that they change the structure ofkinds that we learn using meditative or
the brain in a helpful way.contemplative tools.
Sharon Begley wrote in her very interesting book,So given my experience with the dual n back, and
Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain aboutmy experiences with heart rate variability
research which shows that Buddhist meditationbiofeedback tools, and EEG brainwave
can change the structure of the brain.biofeedback tools, I decided to look into a couple
But perhaps the most interesting concentrationof other online novel learning experience tools, one
exercises I have come across outside ofdesigned for Senior Brains, which was
meditative or contemplative traditions is the dual ndemonstrated in the IMPACT study to improve
back task, which I first saw discussed in Brainfitmemory by exercising auditory circuits, and
for Life a very interesting e-book written byanother a tool that you can use online whenever
Simon Evans, Ph.D. and Paul Burghardt,Ph.D., whoyou want, and both of them were excellent
are neuroscientists at the University of Michigan.concentration exercises, which I know
Evans and Burghardt are actually writing aboutrecommend to clients.
increasing two recently discovered capacities ofConcentration exercises can take various forms,
the human brain, neurogenesis and neuroplasticity,and one of the best and most efficient is the dual
or the growth of new neurons and the incrediblen back task you practice on your computer for
plasticity of neurons, which means how neuronsabout 19 days, one half hour per day.
reorganize within minutes sometimes after beingMore concentration and more I.Q.
presented with new information.