Sati Pasala NSW and ACT Reflection Reporting

Jithnuka

Mindful Activity

I mindfully disposed of my food. I had some rice with chicken curry. I started off by removing some flavouring foods, such as curry leaves, after that I got rid of the leftover bones from the chicken pieces, finally I removed the last few bits of rice that were leftover. By doing it mindfully I was able to better understand what goes into my food that I don't eat and what is leftover, like how some small bits of chicken might still be attached to the bones. I would not be able to tell this if I had just dumped it all into the bin as I normally do.

Mindful recycling


Yesterday I reused scrap play dough and leaves that had fallen on the ground to make a play dough garden. I used leaves that were swept of the ground and mini branches that had fallen off their plants. When I picked up the leaves I felt the little stem on the end of the leaf that I was holding on to. I also felt the shape of the leaf and it’s texture which was cold and smooth I felt mostly the same with the mini branches.Some sensations that I felt and saw were that the leaf was gently moving in the breeze and the other sensation that I felt were the leaves rustling around. When I was moulding the play dough with my hand I felt it’s squishiness and it’s soft, warm texture and I could see it’s colour. Some sensations I felt with the play dough was when I scraped the play dough out of the tub I felt it going in between my fingers and in my nails I could also smell the smell of all the play dough in my hands even though it wasn’t very nice.

Mindful Walking
I first selected a path of around 10-15 metres. I started walking at a normal pace but later observed that later throughout the practice the length and pace of my steps reduced drastically compared to the beginning. I also observed within the middle of practice a slight pain on the back of my right ankle but instead of ignoring it, I observed it. I observed that when I pressed my right heel on the ground this sensation would become prominent but as time passed on it ceased to exist. I also noticed that when I walked that when I lifted my toes the heel of my other foot would be firmly placed in position, allowing for the weight to be easily shifted to the other foot. There was a cyclic pattern when I walked forwards but when I reached the end and turned around there was a breaking of this pattern as there was a different type of movement. I could also feel how the pressure was mainly placed on my heel and toes when walking with practically no weight placed on the arch of my foot. I was able to maintain mindfulness on the sole of my foot for around 25 steps.

Mindful sitting
In sitting mindfulness, I first sat in a comfortable posture. When breathing I could feel that the breaths I would inhale were more prolonged and easier to sense in comparison to the breaths I exhaled, which were shallow and warmer. I felt that my breaths at the beginning of the practice were slightly exaggerated but gradually became more subtle over time. I also gathered that the in-breaths were more noticeable from my right nostril rather than my left nostril which was not as detectable. Between the in-breaths and out-breaths, there was a slight pause where nothing occurred, which became more evident to me. Around 10 mins in, I got bored and thoughts started taking over but I just observed those thoughts and brought my mind back to myself when I got tired of listening to those thoughts. I could also feel that later on the sensation of my stomach rising and falling became more noticeable. I was able to maintain mindfulness on my breathing for around 20 breaths.

Mindful walking
I first selected a path of around 10 metres. I started by walking at a regular pace allowing myself to gradually slow down later. I positioned my sight to whereabouts I thought two metres would be. As I walked I found it hard as I couldn’t move my sight from two metre mark ahead of me while I was moving and ended up looking at the same place until I ended up there. I could feel my heel landing first as my toes followed. This pattern did not stop until my time was up. The ground beneath me had started to warm up as I adapted to my walking pace. Soon I headed to do sitting

Mindful sitting

I carefully positioned myself in a comfortable position as I closed my eyes ready to start. I focused on the point where I could feel the air touch as I inhaled and exhaled. Sounds around me distracted me from my sitting as they were too loud for me to handle. I persistently stopped myself from getting distracted and blocked out the sounds helping me to focus. I noticed that my breath was getting warmer as I exhaled and as I inhaled it would be colder. I continued this process until it was the end of my sitting session.

Nethula

First when I held the kitchen compost bin I felt the weight of it. I also felt the pattern of the handle of the compost bin.When i was focusing on this i smelt all the rotten fruit and vegetable peels.At the same time i could also feel parts of my foot touched the ground like my heel,ball,toes and the inside edge.When i got to the bigger compost bin,i noticed that it was more smellier than the kitchen compost bin.The big compost bin had worms and different creatures in it but the small one didn’t. Then when I was emptying the kitchen compost bin,the weight I felt on my hand started to get lighter and lighter as it released the peels into the larger bin .When I held the empty compost bin my hand felt more relaxed.I also noticed that when i did it mindfully i could observe the weight, smell and the creatures in it. But when I wasn’t mindful I would just dump in it and not observe anything at all.

Swaminwahanse, could you please give me your valuable advice.

Theruwan Saranai Swaminwahanse