Three reasons meditation might help you through final exams

By Imani GreeneBaltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

Overwhelmed by assignment notifications? Those last few weeks of the semester always seem never ending. But this time around, there might be a solution: meditation. 

Gen Kelsang Chogden, resident teacher at the Kadampa Meditation Center Maryland, teaches meditation using the book, “Joyful Path of Good Fortune,” written by the organization’s lineage holder, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Gyatso, Chogden said, is a fully realized Mahayana Spiritual Guide. 

“Meditation has many functions,” Gyatso said. “It overcomes inner problems such as those created by anger, jealousy, attachment and ignorance. It controls our mind and brings inner peace.”

Students everywhere are struggling as the semester comes to a close, finals start to approach, and assignments pile up. Meditation, a practice that comes with an array of benefits, might just be the perfect solution to relieve some of the strain this spring. Here’s why:

Reduce Stress 

For students, the reduction of stress may seem like the most promising benefit. In fact, one university study identifies college students as a “vulnerable population” even more susceptible to mental health issues because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Kierra Jordan, mental health counselor in Waldorf, Maryland, noted the importance of listening to your body, especially under these conditions. 

“If you’re so overwhelmed with emotion, your body is literally trying to calm itself down, and it doesn’t know how, because this feeling is just so strong that the body’s like, ‘Hey, now we’re in survival mode,’” Jordan said. 

When the body and mind are divided, trying to take on heavy burdens, meditation helps to bring them back together. Completing tasks will seem facile, once one feels whole again and the stress is released.

“The mind is like, ‘Hey, we can calm down,’ but the body’s like, ‘No, we can’t calm down because we know that we’re in danger,’” Jordan said. “So, there’s that disconnect between the mind and body and meditation brings the mind and body in one.”

Control Anxiety 

Anxiety, another mental health battle that is a result of the disconnect between the body and mind, is worrying about events that have yet to occur.

Anxiety inevitably accompanies the beginning of every semester for many students. Heaps of assignments begin racing to see who can make it to one’s foremost thoughts first, the finish line nowhere to be seen until mid-May when the semester is finally over. 

However, anxiety seems significantly easier to control during and after meditating. According to the teachings of Kelsang Gyatso, that is because meditation, over time, trains the practitioner to alter their state of mind any time this negative feeling overtakes them . 

One section of Gyatso’s book reads, “We use our imagination, mindfulness and powers of reasoning until through the power of our investigation a special thought or feeling arises in our mind and our state of mind changes.”

When one can consciously change their state of mind, ideally to a state of peace, then they have the power to free their mind from worry.

Boost Mood

Another noticeable benefit of practicing meditation is a boost in mood. In fact, some believe consistent meditation practice can result in permanent peace and happiness.

Gen Kelsang Chogden recommended the book “How to Transform Your Life,” again written by her spiritual guide, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Gyatso said meditation can lead to mental equilibrium, or a balanced mind that is happy all the time.

“If we train in meditation systematically, eventually we will be able to eradicate from our mind the delusions that are the causes of all our problems and suffering,” Gyatso wrote. “In this way, we will come to experience the supreme permanent inner peace of nirvana.”

Kayla Jones, a sophomore at Salisbury University, has practiced meditation for a year and says it was one of the best lifestyle changes she has ever made. 

“I’ve performed better academically this year than I have any other school year, including elementary school,” said Jones. “When you meditate for so long, you just become so peaceful and are able to manage negative situations so much more effectively.”

Students may find solace while tackling finals this spring semester with the knowledge that stress, and anxiety will be just a small bump in the road after picking up the practice of meditation. 

There is, after all, no harm in trying it out. Student or not, just a few minutes of meditation could be the magic source of much needed relief.