Mindfulness Coach Q&A
with Jenny Forman, GMAT Ninja Mindfulness Expert
Jenny Forman, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience in practicing and teaching mindfulness meditation. As a mindfulness coach, she helps her clients transform their relationship with anxiety and stress, allowing them to perform their best when faced with inevitable challenges. Read more about Jenny on her profile page!
How can mindfulness meditation help someone who is studying for the GMAT or GRE?
Mindfulness meditation can help GMAT and GRE students who experience resistance to studying, obsessive thinking, anxiety, self-doubt, or any other challenging emotions, feelings, or thoughts related to studying for or taking the GMAT. It may also help students develop greater ability to sustain focus and ease, which in turn, can be helpful in processing and remembering information.
What is mindfulness, anyway?
Mindfulness is a nonjudgmental awareness of one’s moment by moment thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations, followed by an appropriate response that is of service to our selves, others, and the environment.
A lot of GMAT students struggle with test anxiety, or plain old test-day nerves. What can these students do to calm their minds and perform their best on test day?
By practicing mindfulness techniques and meditation prior to the test day, students will gain strategies in cultivating the capacity to be in the present moment and centered, despite feeling nervous or anxious.
Life is busy, especially when someone is spending a ton of hours on GMAT homework! What if a student doesn’t have a ton of time to meditate?
Mindfulness practice can be done in many moments throughout the day, rather than through a formal meditation practice. However, it does take practice and the more one practices, the greater the benefits.
My thoughts spin out of control while taking the GMAT. Is this really something that I can fix?
Although we cannot always control our negative thought patterns, mindfulness provides a space in which we are able to observe our thoughts without being consumed by them. In this spaciousness, we can investigate what may be associated with “out of control” thinking and respond to ourselves in a nonjudgmental and kind way, thereby transforming our relationship to obsessive thinking.
What exactly is a mindfulness coach?
A mindfulness coach is someone who helps others learn mindfulness techniques to develop greater capacity to be in the present moment, which may lead to greater joy, internal peace and freedom, and effectiveness and engagement in life. Students may have specific challenges they would like to work with, or they may want to develop greater self-awareness, ability to be in the present moment, and enjoyment of life in general.
Who could benefit from working with a mindfulness coach?
Potentially anyone could benefit from working with a mindfulness coach, but those who are interested in turning their awareness inward and developing a greater capacity to be fully present, despite any discomfort and challenges that arise, tend to benefit greatly. In addition, those who have a curious and open attitude and are motivated to practice the strategies they learn, tend to benefit the most.
How did you become interested in mindfulness?
I became interested in Eastern philosophy and spirituality when I lived in Japan after college and traveled throughout Asia for two years. Upon returning to the United States, I found myself in an “identity crisis,” which led to a long path of self-contemplation and discovery. During that time, mindfulness meditation was one of the paths I took in developing greater self-awareness. Because I found it very effective, I began utilizing it in my work as a therapist.
How can your background in education help GMAT and GRE students who are starting a mindfulness practice?
I also have a background working in special education settings and testing students for learning differences. This background helps me appreciate that we all have different strengths and weaknesses within our learning profiles. Mindfulness teachings and strategies can often be provided in a way that the student learns best, while also addressing learning obstacles if needed.
What can students expect from you as a mindfulness coach? And what do you expect from them?
Students can expect that I will tailor mindfulness teachings and strategies to their particular needs, and if other strategies or resources are needed at any point, I will communicate that to the student and do my best to find those resources for them. I expect that if students are needing or wanting anything different from the mindfulness coaching, they will communicate that to me.
In addition, although I am a psychologist and therapist, students must understand that I am in the role of a mindfulness coach and I am not providing clinical treatment to them.