LEARN BY HEART

  If you know something such as a poem by heart, you have learned it so well that you can remember it without having to read it. 

Learn by heart is  to learn something in such a way that you can say it from memory. Right.

The ancient Greeks believed that the heart, the most noticeable internal organ, was the seat of intelligence and memory, as well as emotion. This belief was passed down through the ages and became the basis for the English expression learn by heart.

This style of learning commences from the childhood itself starting with rhymes, alphabets, numbers, mathematical tables and then it covers formulas, definitions, poems, essays so on and so forth.

These stays with us  a very long time and many for a life time. Till schools and colleges we by heart many things out of compulsion. Later in our adult life we love to read, and by heart to memorise the favourite quotes & poems written by our favourite authors which we try to quote in between our conversation and at times remembering them makes us feel elated.

Lengthy devotional slokas and bhajans remain with us with practice of chanting and listening to them at regular intervals without by heart at one stretch. 

Learning by heart can improve information retention at any age, improve neuroplasticity in the elderly and stave off typical cognitive decline by seven to fourteen years. Learning by heart benefits the hippocampal foundation, the 'memory' area of the brain.

For students it can improve academic performance, concentration and even support better sleep. For adults, the evidence shows that learning poetry by heart improves the ability to communicate, improves memory, increases brain capacity and keeps dementia at bay.

With regard to learning different languages ,If you want to learn a language in-depth and improve your writing style, the best way is to copy good passages from the books that you read and learn them by heart. This way, you will improve your knowledge of the language that you want to learn, specifically, sentence structure, metaphors, and advanced vocabulary.

Evidence of Learning by heart can be found from ancient days of learning vedas. To preserve the purity of the Vedas, ancient Indians came up with ingenious techniques. In addition to memorising each mantra the standard way, they would learn the same sentence in many different ways – backwards, forwards, combining two words at a time and so on.

Learn by heart is an essential  part in many phases and the rest you need to understand, think and act. Anyway keep learning, Don't stop.