Q&A: Focus

Here’s a Q&A question from a while ago:

Dear Ms Lantsoght,

Hello. I am XX, from Iran.
I am reading your excellent posts in www.phdtalk.blogspot.com and some
interviews like http://amberdavis.nl/eva-lantsoght/.

you said using yoga and meditation for better focus. how much it is effective?
My problem is i am stressful and can not focus on my work .

I would appreciate it if you would help me to how to use yoga to solve
my problem.

Best Regards,

My quick answer at the time was:

Meditation and yoga can help you to regain more focus by creating space in your mind. You can use simple meditation exercises in which you focus on your breath to be able to concentrate for longer. However, you mention that you are stressful. I’d recommend you to find the source of this stress, and tackle this.

If you want to start practicing yoga and meditation, there are excellent online resources. You can find tutorials on YouTube, for example.

Having a deeper look at this question, bring me to the following points:

• How effective are yoga and meditation to improve focus? There seems to be evidence that yoga and meditation indeed improve brain function and energy levels and meditation also helps the mind to remain in the now instead of worrying about the past or future.
• When you can’t focus on work, you can use a range of strategies to address this issue. I’ve given tips in the pas ton how to stay focused while reading scholarly articles, how to find focused flow, how to find focus for deep work, and have hosted Dr. Amber Davis who wrote about how to get a super focused workday.
• The source of stress: finding out why you are stressed out about your research is the first step. If you are stuck in your research and want to learn how to move forward again, check out my course on Research in Difficult Times.