Optimum stimulus needed for concentration?

[leosmith]

Some people count their breaths, others don't. If counting breaths helps us concentrate more, why not play a song in our mind too? How about tapping our foot to the beat? Ok, I'm getting silly, but my question is how do I find the optimum level of stimulus for me?

I'm actually trying to improve my ability to listen to audio in foreign language better. I'm a polyglot and I specifically want to get better at listening to native material when I'm still at a low level in the target language.

Somewhat related, there is a famous polyglot who claims that walking briskly while repeating sentences in the target language is more efficient than sitting in one place and doing it. I don't doubt that it's more efficient for him. But it may not be for others. So I thought I'd get the opinion of some experienced meditators regarding the optimal amount of stimulus for meditation, and see if it helps solve the listening question.

[JonW]

'Some people count their breaths, others don't. If counting breaths helps us concentrate more, why not play a song in our mind too? How about tapping our foot to the beat?'

Why not? But it doesn't sound much like mindfulness to me. Which isn't about looking for optimum levels of stimulus.
How's your meditation going?
All best,
Jon

[leosmith]

Not worrying about the definition of mindfulness, does doing things like counting your breaths help you concentrate while meditating? Any specific suggestions to help me be a more attentive listener?

[monkey]

Well, it's a forum about mindfulness, so that tends to be our focus. I find that counting does help me to focus up to a point, but for me the idea is to focus with as little effort as possible so that I can balance it with awareness of what my mind is doing. So I don't maintain counting for long if I don't need it (in fact I don't use it at all any more). I don't think that stimulus is a thing in meditation really. You're not looking for stimulus, just for some sensation or phrase or whatever to help to anchor your awareness so that you don't just drift with whatever the mind brings up and get caught in those thoughts, stories etc. You come back to your anchor. But that's not a technique for developing skills in other areas, it just is what it is. Why don't you try to do the counting or whatever and see if it helps you with what you're trying to do?