Mindfulness meditation, long associated with relaxation and well-being, is increasingly drawing interest in cognitive sciences for its ability to enhance creativity. By influencing cognitive, emotional, and even physiological processes, this ancient practice can be a valuable tool for stimulating creativity and can be a useful tool within higher education.
In a world where artificial intelligence is often seen as a potential threat to human creativity, automating tasks and standardizing problem-solving approaches — mindfulness meditation offers a counterbalance. It can invite individuals, such as our students, to reconnect with their inner world, explore intuitive and non-linear thinking, and cultivate uniquely human traits such as emotional insight and self-awareness.
This article illustrates how different meditative approaches, such as open monitoring meditation and focused attention meditation, influence divergent and convergent thinking, cognitive flexibility, and even mind-wandering.
ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR MANAGING STRESS
By exploring these approaches, the aim is to better understand how mindfulness meditation not only helps creative capacities but also equips individuals to face the challenges of an increasingly automated and standardized environment. Moreover, meditation can provide essential resources for managing the stress and demands of daily life, particularly in our educational and professional contexts that increasingly call for originality and innovation.
1. Influence of mindfulness meditation on creativity
Several studies reveal that mindfulness meditation stimulates different forms of creativity by influencing cognitive and emotional processes. For instance, research shows that meditation helps practitioners regulate their thoughts, reducing the influence of habitual verbal processes and improving performance in intuitive problem-solving (problems requiring innovative and unconventional responses).
- Study by Colzato et al. (2012): This research focused on two types of meditation — open monitoring (OM) and focused attention (FA) — to observe their specific effects on divergent and convergent thinking. Participants who practiced OM meditation showed a significant increase in their flexibility, fluency, and originality in responses, particularly useful in divergent thinking (exploration of multiple and novel ideas). However, FA meditation did not have the same stimulating effect on creativity and did not significantly improve convergent thinking (solving problems requiring a single correct answer).
- Mood Effects: Both OM and FA meditations improved participants’ mood, which is a favorable factor for divergent creativity. However, an overly positive mood might interfere with convergent thinking, as suggested by Colzato, et al. in their interpretation of the results. This complexity underscores the need to choose meditative practices suited to the specific creative tasks to be performed.
2. Link between meditation & cognitive abilities
Studies show that mindfulness meditation not only enhances creativity but also improves cognitive abilities such as concentration, cognitive flexibility, and stress management. This allows individuals to approach situations in non-habitual ways, which is at the core of the creative process.
According to a study by Moore and Malinowski (2009), meditation promotes greater cognitive flexibility, enabling individuals to shift perspectives more easily and generate unconventional responses. This ability is crucial for the creative process and for addressing challenges with originality and openness.
3. Impact of meditation on mind-wandering
Although meditation and mind-wandering are often seen as opposites, some research shows that mindfulness meditation can also foster a form of “conscious mind-wandering,” where individuals are able to let their thoughts flow freely in a controlled manner. Agnoli et al. (2018) demonstrated that deliberate mind-wandering is positively correlated with creative performance. This practice of “conscious mind-wandering” allows individuals to generate original ideas while maintaining a certain level of control and self-awareness.
4. Improving creative confidence & reducing judgments
Mindfulness meditation reduces self-criticism and the fear of being judged, two major obstacles to creativity. This creates an environment where students feel more comfortable proposing new ideas without fear of failure or external judgment, thereby fostering freer and bolder creative participation.
These findings highlight the potential of mindfulness meditation not only to foster states of mind conducive to creativity but also to provide essential psychological support, particularly in an educational context where students face numerous sources of stress and anxiety. By integrating these meditation techniques into students’ daily routines, it is possible to cultivate favorable conditions for creativity while equipping them with tools for emotional and cognitive regulation.
5. How can students use meditation?
To incorporate mindfulness meditation into the routines of students and enhance their creativity when facing complex challenges, here is a three-step plan:
- Short and varied meditation sessions
- Organize regular 10- to 15-minute meditation sessions before classes or workshops in areas such as innovation, strategy, or entrepreneurship.
For example, an OM meditation session at the beginning of the week can help students approach brainstorming exercises with a more open and receptive mindset. - An FA meditation session could be scheduled before decision-making simulations, such as case studies, to help participants stay focused and avoid mental distractions.
Students can learn to alternate between open-mindedness (divergent thinking) and focused concentration (convergent thinking), two essential qualities for strategic management and organizational innovation.
- Integration with creative work
- Directly associate meditative practices with hands-on exercises in business management.
- Before a design thinking workshop for example, participants can practice five minutes of OM meditation to explore a broader diversity of ideas during the ideation phase.
- During group work on complex problem-solving, a short FA meditation can be introduced to encourage focus and coordinate efforts toward a shared goal.
- These practices can also be applied before events like entrepreneurship hackathons, where students must balance creativity, collaboration, and tight deadlines.
These exercises allow students to maximize their creative potential while enhancing their ability to structure ideas and collaborate effectively under pressure.
- Encouraging conscious mind-wandering
- Introduce moments of “guided free reflection” into students’ schedules. For instance, after intense sessions of coursework or group work, it provides time for conscious mind-wandering, where participants are encouraged to jot down ideas spontaneously without judgment or constraints.
- Integrate these practices into courses on disruptive innovation or project management. For example, students might spend 10 minutes freely reflecting on differentiation strategies for a product or service before analyzing their ideas collectively.
Conscious mind-wandering enables students to generate original ideas while fostering self-reflection and openness. This is particularly useful for developing innovative strategic proposals or exploring forward-looking business scenarios.
Stéphane Justeau is Associate Dean for Pedagogy and Director of the Institute of Advanced Pedagogy at ESSCA in Angers, France.
