The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you "make time" for meditation in your life.

“Attentional-blink” occurs when two pieces of information are presented to a person in very close succession, and the brain doesn’t perceive the second piece of information because it is still processing the first. Richard Davidson and colleagues attempted to determine if intensive mental training through meditation could extend the brain’s limits on information processing, reducing “attentional-blink.”

The researchers compared two groups of people—17 expert meditators and 23 novices—to see if either was better at recognizing two pieces of information shown in quick succession.

The participants were tested at the beginning and end of a 3-month period. For the intervening 3 months, the meditation practitioners participated in a retreat, during which they meditated for 10-12 hours a day. The novices participated in a 1-hour meditation class, and were asked to meditate for 20 minutes a day for the week before each test.

The researchers found that intensive training did reduce “attentional-blink.” The participants who had gone through the mental training were more likely to perceive both pieces of information instead of just the first because the brain used fewer resources to detect the first piece of information—leaving more resources available to detect the second. The researchers also note that this study supports the idea that brain plasticity, or the ability of the brain to adapt, exists throughout life.

Use our unique “Zen Clock” which functions as a Yoga & Meditation Timer. It features a long-resonating acoustic chime that brings your meditation or yoga session to a gradual close, preserving the environment of stillness while also acting as an effective time signal. Our Yoga Timer & Clock can be programmed to chime at the end of the meditation or yoga session or periodically throughout the session as a kind of sonic yantra. The beauty and functionality of the Zen Clock/Timer makes it a meditation tool that can actually help you “make time” for meditation in your life. Bring yourself back to balance.