Topic outline

  • General

  • Introduction to Mindful Sitting

     
     
    Good day to everyone. Today’s topic is mindful sitting or sitting mindfully. From what we discussed yesterday we need to understand that mindfulness or being aware can be tried in different ways. There are multiple different ways to practice. One way is when we are sitting comfortably at leisure how can we be mindful and what are some tips for doing it and how do we learn it. To learn how to be mindful when sitting it will be good if we have a clean, spacious, quite environment with natural light and air – these conditions are better for a beginner since there is less disturbances from the surroundings. But do not be discouraged and refrain from doing the practice, if you cannot find a suitable place which satisfies all these conditions. Because sometimes due to our busy lives, we cannot find the time or a quiet place that will satisfy all these criteria. For a beginner it will be best to have a quiet place and you will only need 2 or 3 minutes to start with. So if you find a suitable place that you can practice, even in your classroom, or at home, first you need to understand the basics of mindfulness practice and then you can adopt it to suit the environment. 
    So let’s imagine that you found the time. First let’s sit, and then focus on the posture of your body. The body needs to be balanced. The left and the right side of your body needs to balanced. Some of you may be able to do this while you are sitting on the floor, at home or the temple or any other place of worship that you may visit. Or you can sit in a chair. Where ever you may be the main thing is to have you spine and back straight. Rather than using a reclining chair, if the chair is up right like the chair that you have at school that will be ideal. You should sit and then ‘make yourself comfortable’. Since you are going to be in this posture for a few minutes make sure that you are comfortably seated. Then you should check if you are sitting comfortably. Only you will know if you are sitting comfortably. There is a small tip to check this for yourselves; what you need to do is observe with your mind if you can feel that you are comfortable. This is a time for you to closely observe your body – to make friends with your body; to make sure that you feel the loving kindness for your body. You should sit with those thoughts. Now close your eyes and observe how you can see your body. Not that you are going to look at your body – but how it feels. It is observing if your mind is with your body or has it wondered off somewhere outside. 
    You can move your awareness to different parts of your body and try to observe them as well. As an example if one of your friends is sitting next to you and you are observing them sitting, you can observe yourself. Like an outsider observing your body. You can observe that this is how your feet are resting on the floor, this is how your hands are resting, and this is how your body is resting on the seat and so on. So when you are observing these it will not be a burden or stress for yourself, it is just a peaceful, calm serene feeling. 
    Then when you are observing your body, you will feel how the body is not relaxed and wants to move. For example because of your breath – when you are seated, you are still breathing softly - how the body is pressing against your clothes and moving in rhythm to the in breaths how the clothes are expanding and with the out breaths how the clothes are contracting. Or your breath moving in and out from the tip of your nostrils and the feeling of air. Or the weight of your body on the seat. You can observe any one of these sensations. If your attention is with anyone these then we can say that mind is with your body and not wondering around. 
    If your mind is not with any of these, then you could be thinking about something that happened yesterday or thinking about something that you have to do in the future or you could be distracted from a noise being made by someone around you. This we say that you have become unmindful and your mind has wondered off. So if you are observing the body posture and any movement related to the body, that is how we know that we are mindful at this moment. 
    So at some point if we are mindful of the body posture and introduce the concept of being mindful, that is what we are trying to learn from when we are young. Normally, adults can stay in the same position for a while, but it is harder for young children since they are more inclined to play and run around. So we need to practice this as an exercise. So when we practice to keep our focus and attention within our body, we can see how the mind wonders out. When we are sitting we don’t like to be in one position, the mind tries to wonder about. When this happens we call our mind the monkey mind. The untamed mind. Even if we are sitting comfortably because of the untamed monkey we cannot be still. It is not anyone’s fault. It is the same for everyone. Only the mindful child will only be able to recognise this first. 
    When we keep practicing over a period of time, you are able to stay focused on the body for longer periods of time. The mind becomes friendlier, with the body. It will only happen when you keep practicing regularly. So today we are only doing a very basic introduction. So what we are trying to do today is just to sit very comfortably and observe the sitting posture very carefully. And see how long we can stay in that posture. Maybe two to three minutes. We will observe how long we can stay like that. So if we start young and we practice this, even in class, when we are listening to the teacher, we develop the skill to pay more attention to what the teachers are saying. So if we learn, to stay mindful for longer then we realise we can be more focused on what the teacher is explaining. If we play and run around in class, then we will not be able to understand what the teacher is explaining like we can’t keep our focus on the body or the sitting posture.
    So in this practice, you yourself have to do it. No help from anyone else. If we keep on practicing little by little, in class or at home, any time possible, after a while, you will notice a remarkable difference in yourself due to all the small attempts you made at the beginning. You will be able to maintain mindfulness for a longer time just like if you were running your fingers through a long unbroken thread. Here is hoping that you practice will be successful. Wishing all of you the ability to reap its benefits we will end todays first lesson.

    • Introduction to Mindful Walking

       
       

      So far we listened to what we do when we sit mindfully or establish mindfulness when sitting. To continue this practice, little by little, we have to use different techniques. So today’s lesson we can call it mindful walking. Walking mindfully. When we are doing a small task how we do it. This is the way we continue the practice further.

      Small children don’t like to sit and find it difficult. So similarly we take a few minutes and ask the children or the people in the class to go to the playground and walk a little. Then you understand that you are not sitting – you are walking. Mindfully walking. Walking mindfully. The difference between this and sitting mindfulness that we learnt before is that we ask you to close your eyes. When we are walking that is not necessary. Have the eyes open and know that we are walking, not seated or sitting – that is the lesson here.

      From our experience we know that a lot of children like mindful walking. Most of the Sati Pasala facilitators know about this. So when we are sitting we observe the pressure on the body, the breathing, the way the clothes expand and contract, similarly when walking we observe where the foot touches the ground. This is the left foot touching the ground. This is the right foot touching the ground. There is more activity in this. Unlike when sitting - it is boring. Here you begin to feel a lot more sensations. Also when you keep the left foot you realise that it is not the right foot. When you keep the right foot you realise that it is not the left foot. When the foot changes, where the foot touches the ground changes.

      For this it is preferred that you do it bare foot without shoes or slippers. On a normal ground on a cement floor, on a sand path, on grass or a coir mat. Because the coarse surface can be felt very well by the mindful child. Like this when you walk knowing that this is the left foot, this is the right foot, when you can say how many steps you can walk knowing this, it will tell us if you have really understood mindful. How long you can be mindful.

      Let’s imagine that you are coming home from school. When you are coming home, without running around, if you can check how many steps you can keep your attention on the walking, by counting the steps. When you try to do this, you will realise that if you are talking with someone or doing something else when you are walking, most of the time your attention is not on the walking. Therefore when I was a lay person, what I did was when I was walking alone, I tried to check how long I can keep my attention on the walking. Then you also become silent. It became clear that a quiet place will be more suitable for this kind of walking - mindful walking. You will get new experiences about the practice as well.

      When you start walking slowly, inside the school, when you go to school, or when you come from school, when you are walking inside the classroom, this is also called walking mindfulness, when you begin to do mindful walking, the person who is diligently, carefully doing it will begin to observe little little details about it.

      A child who has done this has reported to us, that when they started to be mindful, they realised how many steps are there from home to the bus stop. When in the bus, and is seated, that is the previous lesson we discussed, they noticed how many turns there are to school. Before this we don’t remember that. From the bus stop there are this many steps to the school, to the classroom. This is a very experienced child who is making these observations.

      Similarly, the walking that we used to do without thinking, if we start doing it mindfully whenever we can, someone who knows how to be mindful when sitting, they should try to do it when walking also. There are multiple places that you can practice in school from classroom to classroom. You should try it out all the time, but to do that you need to learn it and take it to heart first. If you do that and keep doing it every time when you move about everywhere, you will begin to realise that this practice of mindfulness can be done in a variety of ways and situations.  But first you need to do how to do it.

      Most people that have spent a lot of energy doing some work on something and then they begin to pace around they begin to realise the flaws and corrections to their work. Or the work all begins to come together in their mind when they begin to do some pacing or walking around. Even when studying rather than the time spent sitting studying something, if you begin to pace around thinking about it, you begin to see the material clearer in your mind. Therefore most scientist have also noted that they realised deep understanding of some scientific concepts when they was pacing or walking around rather than when they were experimenting in the laboratory. These anecdotes in books gives us a very meaningful lesson. Most people go to the beach to have a stroll.  Also it is well accepted by many that walking will improve your eye sight as well.

      Now imagine your grandparents at home or your parents can’t do this. We can practice with them. While we practice with them we can teach them also and hold the grandparents hand while doing the walking. Our relations with then grows as well as their wellbeing. When a small child in year 4 learns and teaches this to an adult there is greater essence. Then the child and the adult both benefits from enhancing their wellbeing. It will happen slowly, but if it is done as a tradition between the child and the adult regularly, the benefits are enormous. It is not only a lesson but also help to enhance the physical wellbeing.

      On that note we will end today’s session. May all of you be well and happy!

      • This topic

        Mindful Sitting – Continuing the practice


         
         

        Good day to everyone. As we recalled yesterday, we will consider how to move forward promoting the mindfulness practice, little by little, by writing down the observations, similar to the child who wrote to us. So, during today’s lesson we will try to focus on how to move forward with the sitting practice, if we get a chance to sit comfortably. That means how we can try to improve the sitting practice by diving a little bit deeper into it.

        When you try sitting practice, you will notice that some people cannot even stay a single minute in one position. They move this way and that. Or else you might even notice that it is the same for you too. There is nothing wrong with that. That is the way. But you cannot decide that you cannot sit still from one day of practice. When you are introduced to the concept of mindfulness, day by day as you practice, for longer and longer, your body will get used to it. Therefore any time you sit, always try to sit comfortably in a balanced position. Because when we are seated balanced and comfortably, we can sit for a longer period of time irrespective of what position we are in.

        So for this sitting practice, if we can do it when we get up in the morning, even on a school day if we wake up early, if we can sit for a few minutes on the bed or a place that is suitable, it will be very beneficial, because just after waking up, our mind is settled. Even a few minutes is useful if we are doing it regularly. So think of it as an experiment about yourself, being with yourself. If you don’t have time when you wake up at the usual time, try to wake up a little early and get a few minutes to sit by yourself comfortably. Can be on your bed, on a chair or on the floor. So sit comfortably, in a place with less sound. If you have your eyes closed it is even better. Keep your body straight and keep observing the body. Do not let the body sway to a side, but also do not make the body stiff and rigid either. Keep your body relaxed, balanced and be comfortably seated.

        Observe how long you can be in this position or in the sitting posture. It will be a very good exercise. When you stay like this, you will begin to notice, pains in your body. You will notice a pain here and a pain there. You will also get ideas about other postures to sit and want to move your body. If we are not mindfully watching these you will move your body or move your legs without even knowing as soon as these pains and thoughts come. But now you know that when you are just sitting you only move your body or legs based on what you feel, the touch or the pain and the subsequent thoughts your get. So now you have some accountability as what you are feeling or knowing and what is happening. Because of your mindfulness you have now realised that you do not need to immediately move as soon as you feel some pain or discomfort, but you learn about the capability to endure to observe those sensations. You will only develop these when you practice for a while. But do not be restless. Do not think you are wasting time. But keep on practicing and you will realise more benefits which we hope to discuss in the future. As the days go by, after one, two, three or four days, automatically you will get used to the sitting posture and begin to observe that the way you know that you are sitting is because your back is resting on the chair, or how the clothes are hanging on your body, or how the clothes are expanding and contracting with the breathing or how you feel the breathing in your nose. And that gives you the indication, the understanding or the experience that you are seated, you are here and now.

        So like that if we you can notice the breathing or pressure on the body or weight of the body, then that is how we know that we have established mindfulness. If we are moving here and there, even if we observe that with the mindful mind then we realise how it happens. So if we are sitting mindfully and we notice the breathing, if we can feel the air moving, then that is a sign that we are mindful. Or else, if you can feel the expanding and contracting of the body relative to the clothes, that is also another sign. Do not expect any of these. We are only concerned of becoming aware of what is happening. That is all we are doing. So give more time and more chances for this to happen on a daily basis, and observe what is happening.

        Let’s say that at some point we started to feel the breath. Do not be disappointed that you couldn’t feel it and don’t go looking for it either. But if you feel the breath, you will notice that it is a very calming and a relaxing sensation to the mind. So if you associate and get used to this feeling, you will realise that when you have an exam where you feel unsettled or agitated and if you try to observe the breath through that unsettled mind, the same calm and relaxed nature of the breath will automatically come to you. Similarly, if you are angry or if you are craving for something and start to become restless, the habit of observing the calming and relaxing breath, which is the bare attention you practiced before, will give you the necessary tool to handle an adverse situation like this. Especially when we have term tests or yearly exams, when we are with the exam paper we become restless. In these situations, a child who has practiced mindfulness, or knows how to be friendly with the posture, or friendly with the breathing or friendly with the sitting, can put the attention to the calming and relaxing nature so he or she will not be scared of the exam paper and will be able to face the exam with confidence. Memory capabilities will also be renewed and you will be able to refresh and remember things.

        Therefore, if you develop mindfulness practice diligently, then when there is an exam or any other difficult situation, you will have your own tools to use and test. When you test your skills developed through mindfulness to handle these situations you will also notice that you mind and body will also start developing some additional methods, based on the scenario where you could be mindful and reflecting on it to cope with the difficult situations. So when you are in a difficult situation, by remembering the calming sensations you felt when you were mindful, helps to settle the mind. The experience you gain from the sitting practice is more helpful to ease these restless situations than any other practice. Therefore, do not be upset that initially if you do not have any results, but continue with the practice. Then you will be able to reap the benefits of the efforts in your initial mindful moments. Wishing you a fruitful practice session and a good today to you all, we will end this lesson now.