In 2025, mindfulness teacher Andrew Safer tracked the effects of attention training for workshop participants with ADHD. What he learned has implications for all of us.
It seems that distraction is the oxygen we breathe nowadays, with infinite bits of information at our restless fingertips. Each time I open my Edge browser, captivating news headlines and flashy images assault me. Nicholas Carr, in his best-seller, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, notes that more than a few top journalists have stopped reading books because 1 they can easily find the information they need at Wikipedia and other online sources, and 2 their attention spans have withered.
Mindfulness meditation nudges us in the opposite direction. Rather than surround ourselves with endless options, we simplify. The practice has us paying attention to this present moment, with curiosity, kindness, and nonjudgment. In place of multitasking and busyness, we discover present-moment attentiveness free from the relentless push to look for more. Mindfulness serves as a counterbalance—a grounding influence that keeps us very much here, on the spot.
Mindfulness serves as a counterbalance—a grounding influence that keeps us very much here, on the spot.
What Attention Training for ADHD Can Teach Neurotypical Practitioners
For people living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD, the need for attention training might be more pointed. In the winter and spring of 2025, two groups completed my six-week “Mindfulness for ADHD” workshop series, with the option to extend to nine weeks.
I wanted to track if and how these techniques were making a difference for workshop attendees. Participants completed a 19-question evaluation at the beginning and end of the program, and data was analyzed for those who completed both: 5 participants from the 6-week program, and 3 from the 9-week program.
One evaluation statement read, “I get distracted easily, and have a hard time refocusing on a task.” With these negatively worded statements, greater disagreement shows improvement. The totals for both groups were pre: 14 and post: 20—a 43% increase.
Henry, one of the participants, offered this reflection: “I realize the benefits from feeling more grounded and able to recognize when distractions are impacting me and how to handle them in order to get on with things that are most important.”
One common misunderstanding of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a particular state of mind, like calm or bliss, and anything that interrupts this process “monkey mind” is a detriment. They often quit, concluding that mindfulness is not for them.
One common misunderstanding of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a particular state of mind, like calm or bliss, and anything that interrupts this process “monkey mind” is a detriment.
The effort in mindfulness practice is not to exert oneself to keep the mind focused on a particular object, such as the breath. You might as well be falling down and getting back up again, over and over.
Starting With Simple Intentions
In one of the weekly sessions, participants were asked to set their intention in the beginning of the day, on arising. Research, however, has dismantled this myth, as neuroscientists have shown that the human brain is best suited to paying attention to one task at a time. This chews up precious cognitive resources, a process that researchers refer to as “switch costs.”
Replacing multitasking with mindfulness resonated with a third group of four “Mindfulness for ADHD” participants when they responded to the statement, “Multitasking is a great way to get a lot done.” 40% of them agreed starting out, and at the end of the program, 75% disagreed strongly disagreed.
The people living with ADHD in these three groups were relieved to hear that simplifying to one thing at a time conserves cognitive resources and reduces stress, while preserving attention. And this message strikes a chord with the general population as well. “Learning to pause before reacting and to stay present with one task at a time,” says Gloria, “has been especially helpful.” The group with four participants showed strong improvement with regard to the evaluation statement, “I tend to be impulsive, taking action, and then regretting it later,” progressing from 75% agree strongly agree pre to 50% disagree post.
The Link Between Anxiety & Attention
Anxiety and stress are common in connection with attention difficulties. Of course, we’d like to get something out of it, but at the same time we are encouraged to check our ambition at the door. That way, we can be present with the actual practice, following the instructions as best we can, without hankering for something outside this moment.
When we’re stuck on storylines, it’s like our thoughts are amplified by loudspeakers, glued to our ears. Mindfulness practice has us noticing when this is happening, acknowledging that these are thoughts which come and go. We just return our attention to this world here. Some mindfulness folks see this back and forth activity as exercising a mental muscle. We learn that, through awareness, we can radically change how we relate to our thoughts, ranging from being mesmerized and trapped, to objective discernment.
Noticing Thoughts Without Judging Them
Relating to our thoughts without judgment is key.
Getting stuck understandably makes people feel anxious or stressed. When we’re trapped in a whirlwind of thoughts, stress and anxiety are not far behind. Their impact on the brain affects working memory, which is closely related to attention.
“Research has shown that rapidly changing circumstances, worry, and anxiety can all have a significant impact on your ability to focus,” writes Kate Morgan in the BBC’s “How Anxiety Affects Your Focus.” It stands to reason that learning how mindfulness tools can help deal with anxiety can assist us in regaining attention capacity.
Mindfulness is not about getting rid of stress and anxiety, but relating to them with openness and curiosity—seeing them as they are, without the varnish of habitual patterns, bias, and aversion.
People’s sense of powerlessness often arises from the fact that they don’t know how to pause or interrupt this looping cycle of distraction, anxiety, compromised focus, and judgmental thoughts. That momentary pause to be with our self-critical thoughts in a new way seems like it might not do much, but it’s actually doing a lot of work.
