Sati Pasala NSW and ACT Reflection Reporting

Pahandee Kodituwakku

"Mindful Sitting:
As the timer started its countdown, I brought my focus onto my nostrils. I felt as air flowed through both nostrils and then exits my body on the left nostril. I made observations on how when inhaling the air was slightly colder when exhaling and how my thoughts would occasionally wander. Often, after around 30 breaths, my mind would wander although in a few moments time I’d always have fixed my mind back on track, trying my hardest to maintain mindfulness. When having full focus I could feel my nose hairs moving up and down as I breathed in and out. I observed how my breaths are deep and slow, my mind patiently waiting to analyse the next breaths that entered and exited."

Kiara

When I was doing the Mindful walking my focus was feeling the ground. The ground felt kind of rough but not a lot. When I walked on the edge of the carpet it felt different and a bit weird from the ground. I could feel the hairs on the carpet. When I was doing Mindful sitting I focused on my breathing. I felt my stomach rise and fall. I also noticed that when my breath came in and out it was warm.

Thusanmi Savinima (Sri Lanka)

"Mindful walking- my feet was touching the ground and I felt that the floor was cold and I also felt that the ground was soft...
Mindful sitting- I was sitting on a mat on the floor and I felt my breath was rising up and down.I also felt that the cold breath was going in through the nose and the warm was coming out back through the nose...."

Today's session was awesome...I practiced mindful sitting and walking today...This really helped me to calm down and feel my breath rising up and down...Thank you sati pasala for organizing such events for the students to calm up there mind..Thank you once again...

Mindful Walking
When I did mindful walking, I focus on the lower part of my body, specifically the sole of my foot. As I was walking, I could feel that the different parts of my sole felt the carpet differently. My heel felt it really rough as all my weight went onto the heel as I put my leg down. My toes could feel the carpet as they pushed my leg forward. There wasn’t as much of a rough feeling as only the weight of my leg was on my toes. Very little of my sole couldn’t feel the ground because the arch on my feet are a slightly flat. Sometimes my mind got distracted because of the changing in lighting as I walked through the corridor. I used the prominent roughness of my heel to bring back my attention to my walking. I could do about 3 laps without getting distracted.

Walking

In my walking I first focused on the left and right foot. When I was focusing on this I got a pain in the second toe in my left foot. I looked down and saw a bit of skin came off. I focused on the pain and then noticed that it got bigger and bigger and then disappeared after a while. After the pain disappeared my attention came back to the left and right foot. When I was focusing on the left and right I felt calm and I felt the left and right foot touching the ground. When I was focusing on this I felt bored. I focused on the boredom for a bit and then the bell rang.

Sitting
As soon as I closed my eyes I felt the boredom that I felt in the walking. So I kept focusing on the boredom, and then I started to get thoughts. As soon as I noticed the thought my attention came back to the boredom. When I came back to the boredom I started to get a pain in my hands and toe.I also started to get thoughts to stop the sitting. After the thought ended my attention went back to the pain.I focused on the pain and noticed that the pain in my hand was stronger than the pain in my toe. After a bit I felt a sensation on my foot . The sensation was like sand inside my right foot. When I was focusing on this I felt very uncomfortable and after a bit this sensation disappeared.after it disappeared I knew I was here because I felt my foot was touching the cushion. After few minutes I felt that sensation of that sand again. Then I couldn’t stay so I stopped the sitting.

Medhavi

"Mindful Walking
I had a path of about 10-15 steps. When I first walked my thoughts were continuously in my head but my thoughts gradually reduced as i continued my session. I could distinctly feel that one foot would feel more pressure as I raised the other foot and the cycle would keep going. I also noticed that the pressure that I was experiencing from the weight my foot was holding felt heavier throughout the practice. I also felt how parts of the sole of foot had a tendency to not touch the ground . I could feel that the I could notice the cycle of which the heel of my foot would touch the ground followed by the rest of my foot was more obvious and notable. When I turned around at the end of the round, I could tell that distractions occurred more often as I was changing direction. I was able to mindfulness for 10-15 steps this session


Mindful Sitting
When I started mindful sitting, I first positioned myself in a comfortable posture. I noted that when I breathed in my breath was colder than when I exhaled. I could tell that that there was a short moment in between my breath where I wasn't breathing in or out. I could also tell that my in-breaths were more sustained and long whilst my out-breaths were sharp. I could also not clearly feel where the breath touched my nose when breathed in but when I exhaled I could feel it on the rim of my nose. I got slightly distracted due to getting bored of sitting in the same position but i brushed those thoughts away and continued to focus on my breath. I could focus on my breath for 15-25 breaths"

Suhanya Ranasinghe

"Mindful Sitting
Before I started mindful sitting, I scanned my body. After relaxing my body, I started to observe the sensation of my breath coming in and going out. At first, I watched the air going through my nostrils but then, the sensation became too subtle so focused on my chest rising and falling instead. This choice was effective as I didn't lose my attention. After some time, I realised that I couldn't feel my hands resting on each other or the rest of my body. I just observed this and continued to watch my chest rise and fall. At one point, my nose felt slightly itchy, I became I felt uncomfortable. A few moments later, I realised that I wasn't focusing so I observed the tingling sensation on my nose. Slowly, the tingling faded until I couldn't feel it. During the end of the mindful session, I felt slightly restless. After the bell rang, I slowly opened my eyes. I was able to focus on around 25 breaths at a time before getting distracted. Overall, I'm happy about my improvement because I am able to realise when I'm distracted and gently bring my attention back faster than before."