Meditation with Purpose | Build Awareness & Attention

Meditation for focus works best when it is done on purpose: you set aside a little time, sit or walk with intention, and keep bringing your attention back to the present moment. In this video, Dr. Leysa Cerswell, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, explains what makes a meditation practice "formal," how a 10-minute break at lunch can count, and why everyday life, even parenting, offers endless chances to practice.

Key takeaways

• Formal meditation can be sitting or walking. What makes it formal is that you bring an intention, an attitude, and something you are actively doing with your attention.
• A short sit counts. Dr. Cerswell describes taking "a 10-minute break at lunchtime to sit quietly" after a busy morning.
• Posture matters. Sitting upright in "an awake posture can just send a little signal to our brain" that you are about to do something different.
• Informal practice is everywhere. For Dr. Cerswell, her three young boys became "the most incredible mindfulness teachers."

What Dr. Leysa Cerswell says

Dr. Cerswell separates meditation from simply sitting still. A formal practice, she says, "implies that we have an intention to practice." You bring an attitude to it, and you are "actually doing" something with your attention: paying attention in a certain way, noticing what comes up, and observing your experience. She calls this "building that attention muscle."

Her example is deliberately ordinary. After a busy morning, you take ten minutes at lunch, get comfortable at your desk, sit upright, and become "aware on purpose of the present moment as best we can." No retreat or special room is required, just regular practice.

She is also honest about life getting in the way. Before having children, her routine included an annual silent retreat, and she worried she would never have time for mindfulness again. Instead, she found that children are "always present and they are always calling on your presence," which turned daily life into a stream of informal practice.

Can meditation help with focus?

The research is encouraging, even for beginners. In one study, people with no meditation experience who completed just four sessions of brief mindfulness training improved on measures of working memory and executive functioning, and the authors concluded that four days of training can enhance the ability to sustain attention (Zeidan et al., Consciousness and Cognition).

Consistency seems to matter more than length. In a randomized study of non-experienced meditators, 13 minutes of guided meditation a day improved attention, working memory and mood after eight weeks, though not yet after four (Basso et al., Behavioural Brain Research). That lines up well with the 10-minute daily sit Dr. Cerswell describes.

How to do meditation to increase focus

Here is a simple version of the practice in this video:

• Pick a regular slot, such as lunchtime, and set a timer for 10 minutes.
• Sit upright in a comfortable, awake posture, or walk slowly if sitting feels hard.
• Set an intention: for these few minutes, you are practicing attention.
• Choose an anchor, like the breath or your feet on the floor, and rest your attention there.
• When your mind wanders, notice where it went and come back. Each return is the exercise, not a mistake.

If you want to be guided, try Dr. Cerswell's Ground Yourself with Breath: A Simple Practice, which walks you through a short breathing meditation. For more on why a daily habit pays off, read why meditation matters for your daily mental well-being.

Video transcript

Transcript (lightly edited for reading):

Some of that formal practice can be meditation. So we can do all different forms of meditation. This could be sitting meditation. This could be walking meditation. But a formal practice implies that we have an intention to practice. We have an attitude that we're bringing to the practice and something that we're actually doing with our attention. So we are taking that time and space to pay attention in a certain way and noticing what comes up. So observing our experience, practicing building that attention muscle. In terms of, we're coming from a busy morning and we take a 10-minute break at lunchtime to sit quietly at our desk, wherever we are, getting comfortable, sitting upright. Coming into an awake posture can just send a little signal to our brain we're going to do something a little bit different. And becoming aware on purpose of the present moment as best we can, as regularly as we can. And this is an opportunity for practice. We have so many opportunities for practice throughout our daily lives, informally. I now have three young boys, and coming from a regular meditation practice where part of my professional development was a commitment to doing a silent retreat on an annual basis, I was very concerned that I would never have time for mindfulness practice. And what I learned with children is they are the most incredible mindfulness teachers. They are always aware. They are always present and they are always calling on your presence and giving you so many opportunities to practice present moment awareness. And so some of those opportunities for more informal practice can be infinite with children.

Common questions

What is the best meditation for focus and concentration?

Focused-attention practices, where you rest your attention on one anchor such as the breath and return to it whenever you drift, are the most direct fit. Walking meditation works the same way if sitting still is hard. The best one is the one you will actually do regularly.

Is a 5-minute meditation enough to help focus?

It is a good place to start. Short sessions done most days build the habit, and you can lengthen them as they get easier. Dr. Cerswell's example is a 10-minute sit, and research on brief daily practice suggests short sessions can add up.

What happens after 40 days of meditation?

There is no magic number. Changes tend to be gradual, and in the study above, the benefits of a short daily practice showed up at eight weeks, not four. Most people first notice small things, like catching a wandering mind sooner.

What is the difference between formal and informal mindfulness?

Formal practice is time you set aside to meditate with intention, like a lunchtime sit or a walking meditation. Informal practice is bringing that same present-moment awareness into everyday moments, like a conversation or time with your kids.

About the expert: Dr. Leysa Cerswell holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and is a faculty member at the Centre for Mindfulness Studies. She is a co-founder of WE Well-being and the author of The Well-Being Playbook.

Related: Attention Takes Practice: How to Build Focus Over Time