A Zen Proverb:
“Everyone should meditate for 30 minutes per day.
Unless you are too busy - then you should meditate for an hour per day.”
- Unattributed
Anxiety and Stress - From an SAT Tutor’s Life:
Like many of my high school SAT Prep students, I have had my own struggles with anxiety and panic attacks.
These started in my mid 20’s and came as a total shock to me at first, but now - whew, what a companion. For years I’ve been coping with intrusive feelings of anxiety; for over a decade, actually.
I’ve lost thousands of hours of sleep to my anxiety at this point. (I just double-checked my math and yep, it’s definitely thousands of hours.)
Often these experiences have felt almost totally random (I once had to jump out of my car at a stoplight because I was panicking so hard, lol) and certainly have felt totally out of my control.
So actually, intense anxiety is as familiar to me as the back of my hand.
I was also diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) from early childhood, and if anyone fits the description of an ADHD person, it’s gotta be me. There might be a connection here, maybe not. Anyway.
Now, I like to see the silver lining in things, and I’m confident saying that both anxiety and ADHD have had some very positive payoffs for me.
BUT. The negative effects of anxiety are pretty darn awful, too.
Feelings like being overwhelmed, drowning under all the things I need to do, all my responsibilities. All the internal & external pressures of modern life with our ridiculous social media saturation making things even worse. All my expectations for myself that I’m not living up to. All the comparisons I make of myself to others (let’s all try not to do this).
These are unfortunate feelings that I know very, very well. Scary well.
Thankfully, I also know that I’m not alone. Stats show that something like twenty to forty percent of people in America have had significant struggles with their own feelings of anxiety and panic.
When it comes to my students, I’d lean towards the higher end of that statistic. It seems like easily two out of five of my students report “test anxiety” or similar feelings of fear or panic, especially when the SAT rolls around (since I’m an SAT tutor, that’s where this conversation comes up most).
That’s probably related a little bit to how ambitious my students are. You guys have such high expectations for yourselves. And that can easily lead to sensations of anxiety or panic when you feel like you’re falling short.
Does that mean we should lower our expectations and crush our own dreams for the sake of our anxious feelings? Or instead, should we keep our standards sky-high, but just shove down the anxiety below the surface and try to keep it hidden from everyone - including ourselves?
No. Neither option is good. There’s a third way.
I think we need to learn how to embrace, understand and use our anxieties to actually make our lives better in the long run. And I know that it’s possible, because every now and again I get it right, and I manage to do exactly that.
But how? How do we do that? How do we turn anxiety into a positive force in our lives? More specifically for my readers, how do we use it to improve our results on the SAT test? And can non-anxious students (and adults) also benefit from those discoveries?
For me, a bit of this mystery began to open up when I started practicing meditation on a daily basis.
And that’s what I’m going to talk about today, because I’m confident that anyone - student or adult - who gives this message a chance will find themselves with dramatically lowered anxiety (and fewer negative feelings in general), a noticeably improved sense of well-being and mental health, and eventually, for high schoolers, a higher SAT score with more confidence on test day.
(BTW, you definitely do not need to feel anxious or ADHD to benefit from the following info. I’ll bet that anyone who tries this out will see such positive outcomes that they’ll want to keep going with it. You’ll just have to trust me for a bit first.)
So please give this a chance and keep an open mind. Be willing to try something new. I’m serious about this one.
Let’s Start Meditation Off REAL Easy:
A habit of meditation is very easy to start - as long as you start small.
It’s totally free, takes just minutes, and can be done anywhere - indoors, outdoors. At home, at school, in an SAT testing center. Before a basketball game or backstage at a drama performance.
When it comes to adding new habits to our lives, we want to keep them very short and sweet at first. Make them so small and easy that there’s simply no excuse we can make for not getting it done. Are you going to honestly tell yourself that you can’t even find five minutes a day to change your life?
We also need to feel an immediate “sweet” benefit - very quickly - so that we want to stick with the habit, instead of mechanically forcing ourselves to show up for some promised future outcome that we’re not really feeling or getting yet.
It’s kind of like going from a totally sedentary lifestyle to saying you’ll hit the gym for 2 hours every day or start running 50 miles a week overnight. Unlikely, at best. Doomed to fail, at worst.
So, let’s admit that you’re not going to suddenly start meditating for 2 hours a day, and you’re not going to become a yogi by next week.
You probably won’t even be able to meditate for 20 minutes per day until you get reasonably good at it. Well, I sure couldn’t! And that shouldn’t bother you a bit, and it won’t hurt our efforts here. It’s OK.
Meditation is a skill. A very, very difficult skill. In fact, it’s simply one of the most challenging things I’ve ever tried to do. And that incredible difficulty is part of my personal evidence for how important it is to try anyway.
When a muscle in your body is so weak, it needs training and attention. This - meditation practice - is simply a muscle of your mind and spirit. And it’s probably going to be weak AF at first.
So, what if we just start with just 5 minutes at a time?
Whenever I drift away from my meditation habit, the way I get it back is by returning to tiny 5-minute meditations. And then I’m like, “Oh right, this is glorious.” And from there I gradually start stacking up longer and longer efforts again.
But let’s not worry about bigger efforts for now.
Let’s talk in terms of two easy, simple 5-minute meditations that will provide you with an immediate feeling of progress. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.
An Easy Meditation Habit for Anyone:
I’ll now share my exact simple meditation practice, step by step - with thanks to Dr. K at HealthyGamerGG (no affiliation here), who helped me improve my meditations with his compassionate and relatable advice.
Dr. K points out that it’s best to start with some sort of active or “moving” meditation before going into a sitting or “still” meditation.
I agree - our first meditation will be an easier “Walking Meditation” that prepares us for the second more challenging “Sitting Meditation.”
Meditation #1: Walking Meditation
Find some space to walk in a straight line or in a small circle. Either is fine. Indoors or outdoors doesn’t matter.
Use good posture. Stand up straight, hold your head straight, look forward without letting your eyes rest or focus on anything in particular.
I like to hold my hands gently clasped behind my back to reduce fidgeting, but you can put them wherever you want.
Set a timer for five minutes and start it.
Walk continuously in your line or circle at a slow, comfortable pace. Often, I’ll begin at a quicker, more “anxious” speed and then find my walking speed naturally slowing down as I enter the meditation.
Take long, slow breaths in… and out… and in again… and out again. You may find that your breathing begins to fall in synch with your footsteps. That’s totally fine. Just keep walking in your line or circle.
Now here’s the exercise: keep your entire attention on your breathing and walking.
When your mind has “thoughts” or starts to wander, or your eyes catch on something interesting and your mind becomes distracted, gently bring it right back to your breathing.
This is the hardest part. It’s also the purpose of the exercise, so just keep trying, over and over. Bring your attention back to only your breathing.
Go for five minutes at a time at first. Spend all five minutes trying to keep your attention on your breath.
When the timer goes off, gently finish a few more steps and breaths until it feels natural for you to end the meditation.
That’s it. That’s the whole practice.
I’ve built this exercise up until I go for 15 minutes at a time, but I start feeling hints of the benefits after five minutes. You will too. They’ll be subtle, but you’ll feel them.
Now onto the more challenging “Sitting” meditation.
Meditation #2: Sitting Meditation
This meditation can be done by itself, but I find it easier to do as a follow-up to my walking meditation, after I’ve burnt off a bit of restless energy.
Find somewhere comfortable and (preferably) dark & quiet to sit.
Again, use good posture. Sit up straight, hold your head straight, so that your eyes would be looking straight ahead (if they were open).
No need for fancy crossed legs, unless it feels good to you. I have an old knee injury that makes cross-legged sitting painful, so I just sit on a comfy bench or chair, trying to maintain good posture and to keep my head level and straight.
Note: You do NOT want to “sink into” your seat (such as a beanbag chair or very cushioned sofa) - this will make you feel sleepy, rather than focused.
I like to place my hands gently in my lap to reduce fidgeting, but again, you can put them wherever you want.
Set a timer for five minutes and start it.
Now, close your eyes.
Again, it’s a breathing exercise. Take long slow breaths in… and out. In… and out.
There is no need to keep your breathing regular or rhythmic - you can let your breathing slow and even stop breathing completely if it feels natural. I often find myself exhaling and then just sitting without breathing in again, as if I’m at sitting underwater at the bottom of a deep pool. When I feel that it’s time to take another breath, I do so.
The most important thing is to try and keep your attention and focus only on your breath, and nothing else.
Try not to fidget, but it’s ok to do it a little bit. If you have little itches to scratch, that will not ruin the meditation. Just try to have as few fidgets as possible and reduce them over time.
Now it can get really challenging. Yes, just sitting still and breathing with your eyes closed can be one of the most difficult things you’ll do all day!
Especially with your eyes closed - without the active walking to keep your attention - your mind will be jumping all over the place:
“I’m hungry, oh here’s a cringe memory from my past, I’ve got an itch, I’ve got to finish my homework, I wonder what that noise was just now, I hope I score a goal in the game tonight, crap I think I forgot about an English quiz this week, I like puppies, did I leave my phone somewhere?”
Your mind will go all over the place. If you’re at all like me, it will try to go to anything, to everywhere except your breathing.
So, every time your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breathing. Attend only to your breathing. The flow of your breath in and out of your body should be your entire focus.
Any thought, feeling, or fidget that’s not about your breath should be gently acknowledged - then just try to bring your attention right back to your breath.
Just breathe and just put every ounce of your attention into your breathing and nothing else. You’ll quickly find out that this is very difficult 🙂
It’s in trying to focus that we find the benefit - not in achieving perfection.
Just keep trying to focus on your breath only. That’s the whole point of the exercise.
When the timer goes off, I take a few final slow breaths and gently open my eyes. That’s it. Done. Congratulations on your first meditation session!
How do you feel right now?
A tiny bit calmer, more focused? Doesn’t it feel like life is moving just a little more slowly and peacefully? Don’t those big problems you were worrying about seem just a little bit smaller and more manageable?
Keep an open mind. As I’ll explain in a moment, science has proven that this works. If you feel something good at the end of your meditation, you’re not imagining it. I feel it, too.
As a general rule, I spend an equal amount of time on my walking meditation and my sitting meditation. So, five minutes of walking, then five minutes of sitting.
I’ve built up to fifteen minutes of each, but that took me some practice. If I want to go further, I’ll need to keep training.
Speaking of training…
How To Fit Daily SAT Prep Meditation Into Your Busy Life:
In scheduling your new meditation practice, “Do it first thing in the morning” is my firm recommendation.
The earlier in the day and the sooner after waking up, the better. It’s like brushing your teeth - just get it done before the day starts.
Do it before going to the gym, before morning practices, before school, before work.
Get it done and the benefits stick all day and then you don’t have to find another time later (let’s be real, you won’t find time for it later anyway).
This practice is not a way of relaxing and going to sleep. It is a way of energizing and focusing yourself and preparing yourself for the inevitable challenges (both external and internal) of the coming day.
Doing my meditation before I start the day gives me a feeling of inner strength, calmness and patience that lasts all the way until I go to sleep.
Just as personal reading is clearly done best at night (right before bed), I find that meditation practice clearly fits best at the beginning of the day. If you’d like to try starting this habit, I’d recommend follow the easy trend rather than try to be the exception to the rule.
So do meditation before things. Do it before the SAT test, do it before your sports contest, do it before the school day, do it before your musical performance. This will give you the most noticeable benefits and make you want to stick with it.
SAT Prep Meditation Is Mental Pushups:
The best description I’ve heard of meditation: “Meditation is pushups for your mind.” (Again, with credit to Dr. K at HealthyGamerGG.)
He said (paraphrasing here): “Every single time your mind wanders away from your breath - and then you bring your attention back to your breath - that’s like doing a single ‘rep’ of a pushup.”
So? You know pushups make you physically stronger, right? Each rep makes you a little stronger. Same goes for meditation practice - it’s just internal strength, not external muscle.
He also points out something beautiful: it’s people just like me (and perhaps you) who improve their mental strength the fastest through meditation.
Why? Because anxious minds, ADHD minds, and other negative mental health situations will constantly try to yank your attention to themselves and away from your breathing. The more prone you are to these problems, the more opportunities you have to do mental pushups per meditation session.
Someone with a natural calm and peaceful mind might feel their thoughts wander three times per minute (let’s say.) That means a 5-minute meditation session would be worth “fifteen mental pushups.”
But someone like me, or you perhaps like you? I bet my brain wanders about twenty times per minute. That means my hectic mind helps me to complete one hundred mental pushups in a five-minute meditation session.
Who builds their strength faster? Fifteen pushups, or one hundred pushups?
And of course, I need the help more. I sure see the pros of being born with a naturally calmer mind! But that’s water under the bridge: my brain is my brain, so I’m glad that the internal chaos has given me the opportunity to do so many mental pushups.
The wilder and crazier your mind acts, the more you need this exercise. But also the more benefit you’ll get from it.
It’s like the world is trying to help us in this weird way. It gives us “crazy-minds” the chance to practice improving our mental strength more quickly than a “normal” (who’s normal?) person who was gifted with a naturally calmer and quieter mind.
Meditation is Scientifically AND Subjectively Proven:
One extraordinary thing about meditation - don’t skip past this, doubters - is that it’s actually been studied intensely – like, in laboratories, by PhDs and doctors, with modern-day equipment, in both short-term and long-term studies.
Some of the scientifically-proven benefits of meditation that you’ll enjoy from practicing your meditation regularly (I’ve bolded some of the benefits that are most relevant to taking the SAT test and getting higher scores):
- Stress reduction
- Anxiety control
- Improves self-image and outlook on life
- Improves social skills
- Longer attention span
- Memory improvement
- More kindness, compassion and forgiveness
- Addiction control
- Improves sleep
- Increases patience
- Increases life expectancy
- Decreases physical pain
- Loweres blood pressure
- Enhances willpower & self-discipline
- Improves athletic performance
- Anger management
- Improves immune system
- Strengthens prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain responsible for advanced thinking and planning)
Listen, I know this sounds like some kind of unbelievable wonder-drug. But the benefits listed above are scientifically studied. I’m not citing sources right now because this article is already way too long. But I can dig them up if you require them. They aren’t hard to find.
And from my end, I’ve got more subjective or “personal” benefits that I definitely feel. No direct science on this, but here’s what else I get from my meditations:
- I feel happier and calmer.
- I feel more love for my friends and family.
- I’m better at prioritizing tasks.
- I appreciate nature more.
- I appreciate my life more.
- My consistency on good habits improves.
- I feel less materialistic.
- I get more done each day.
- I just love my life more, plain and simple!
In my experience, and in the well-documented research of science and medicine, a meditation habit is an unstoppable force for good in your life without a single downside.
There are literally no negatives or harmful side-effects. Just an almost unbelievable ocean of benefits - mental, physical and soulful.
“Unbelievable” - until you try meditation and feel the benefits for yourself.
Meditation Applied to the SAT Test:
Given everything I’ve explained so far in this article, I don’t think we need to spend a ton of time describing why this will help your SAT scores and your confidence on test day.
These meditation benefits will help anyone do anything. They’ll improve quality of life, no matter what your situation is.
And you’ll see that the benefits go straight to your SAT score, but also far beyond that - they’ll change your whole life, and only in good ways.
A calmer mind with improved focus and patience.
Less anxiety, ADHD, depression and worry.
Fewer distractions, better prioritization skills and more clarity.
A stronger mind that’s literally built itself up with mental pushups.
This is who you want to be when you take the SAT test. So, get to it. Learn to meditate, and you can be that person.
Final Thoughts on Meditation for Higher SAT Scores:
This has been one of my longest SAT prep articles. I’ve spent three days writing and editing it. And I hope that gives you a sense of how important it is to me.
If you’re read this far, thanks for giving me the time to explain why I want my SAT prep students to try meditation.
High school students: Please, try this out for at least few sessions. I know you probably feel overwhelmed with other things to do. That’s exactly why I want you to do this exercise. (And I want you to get higher SAT scores.)
Parents: Please, help and encourage your students to try this practice and stick with it for a bit. As a parent, if you do it yourself and learn the basics of meditation first-hand, I bet you’ll be more motivated to help your teens with it. And maybe you’ll even develop your own long-term practice and get all the benefits that come with it.
Bottom line: When students start meditating regularly, their SAT scores will improve. Their test-day confidence will improve. And most importantly, their whole lives will improve.
Isn’t that the reason you want higher SAT scores? Because they’ll help you (or your kiddo) have a better life?
So why not skip the middleman and just go straight to “better life” part?
SAT scores are nothing. Loving your life is everything. Try it out. The higher test scores will come along for the ride.
Once more: “Everyone should meditate for 30 minutes per day.
Unless you are too busy - then you should meditate for an hour per day.”
Sit in Stillness - Then Take Action on Your SAT Prep:
Reminder: You always need to know when your next SAT test date is. You can probably do a lot of meditation between now and then.
You can also do a lot of SAT prep in that time - if you get to work.
See my SAT lesson calendars & make reservations with the links below. Slots are always limited:
- SAT Group Classes here
- SAT 1-on-1s here
- Send an email to [email protected] to schedule a free consult or if you need advice.
Again, I’m grateful you’ve read this far. Hope I’ve helped in some way. Just wanted to pass along something that’s really, really helped me.
Talk again soon,
Christian (tutor, anxious meditator) at Love the SAT Test Prep
Please forward this article to anyone who will find it useful!