Sati Pasala NSW and ACT Reflection Reporting

Pahandee

Mindful Walking: As the bell rang, I rose to my feet, first bringing my attention over to what lay in front of me, observing the path ahead and slowly, mindfully, bringing my mind over to my feet. At first, I observed how the outer edge of my foot would touch the cool surface of wood, feeling how the smooth surface pressed against my feet and how I delicately would rise one foot up in the air, and then back down again as the other foot follows. I then brought my attention over to my hands, hanging down my back and observing how heat arose to both hands, creating a slippery atmosphere. Then, I finally brought my attention back to my feet, intricately observing the sensations that passed as I lay one foot before the other. Mindful Sitting: Taking a seat after the end of the Mindful Walking exercise, I first observed the sounds around me, creating a somewhat calmful atmosphere before settling into mediation. As time passed by, I brought my attention to may hands, the right palm over my left, feeling soft amounts of pressure on my left hand as my right lay above it. I focused on this pressure for quite some time before changing places and bringing my attention over to my nose. Calmly, I observed the sensations of air coming in and out of my nostrils, looking at how the temperature would often change and going through the sensations of how it felt as i felt the inhaled air travel through to my throat. Finally, as the session came to an end, I brought my attention to my stomach, observing how it would go up and down in slow movements as I inhaled and exhaled.

Ashera Davidlage

Mindful walking,
My focus was the movement of my leg. I felt the weight transferring each time my foot stepped. I noticed how the heel touches the floor first and then the toes.
Mindful sitting,
My focus was the breathing. I felt the air coming in through my nose. At times I did get distracted but I tried to bring myself back. My breath also felt warm.

Inura Dekumpitiya

For walking the main thing i focused on was the feet touching the ground and the feeling of the ground which was cold and smooth and for sitting it was my sitting posture and the temperature of the breath.

Sithuka Kannangara

Mindful Walking - I could feel the different flooring beneath my feet (mat, wooden floor, etc.), as I walked with my head looking about 1-2m ahead of me. My mind was very focused when I did the mindful walking, and I concentrated a lot. Mindful Sitting - When I was mindfully sitting, I heard different noises from different rooms and felt disturbed, but I had to keep my concentration. I sat down in a comfortable position, and made it through the whole way.

Jithnuka

The reflection will be about my Mindful sitting.

For my mindful sitting I observed the rising and falling of my stomach and the sitting meditation was very similar to most other times I do sitting meditation. I felt that I was taking slightly larger breaths when I was aware of my stomach going in and out than when I wasn't and when I was distracted. I had a few distractions, mainly about a show I was watching, and also about how I was hungry. I brought my mind back to my stomach and continued. The sitting meditation felt relaxing as always and I enjoyed it.

Ranuk.dassanayake

Mindful walking :I observed breathing the cold air and focused on the touch of my feet and the floor.
Mindful sitting: I observed breathing the fresh air and focused on having my mind blank and being in the moment

Sithmi Kannangara

Mindful Walking- I felt my foot landing heel first and slowly moving the pressure to the ball of my foot before lifting my foot for the next step. When changing between walking on the mat to on the bare wooden floor, I felt the sensation of my feet moving from the unsteady mat to the sturdy wooden floorboards.

Mindful Sitting- I found this to be a nice exercise to move my focus to breath and not the outside world. It was calming when i felt the rising and falling of my breath. My posture remained in good position throughout this activity which helped keep my focus.

Senuli De Alwis
Mindful Walking
During Mindful Walking I focused on the sole of my foot touching the ground and the change of my surroundings I felt during the practice. As I started walking the ground was still cold but as I adapted to the coldness of the floor it became warmer. I could keep focused for 10 to 15 steps as I would hear noises or have thought that my mind would jump to. As I knew I was in the monkey mind state I slowly brought my mind back to the present moment and continued walking.

Mindful Sitting
During Mindful sitting I again focused on the change of my surroundings. I walking focus on my breath as I inhaled my breath was cold but as I exhaled my breath was warm. I could feel this at the beginning but as I stayed for longer my breath was warm as I inhaled and exhaled. Again I let my monkey mind jump from one thought to another but in the end I brought it back.I could keep focused for 15-20 breaths.

Sasmin

Mindful Walking, in Mindful Walking I focused on the bottom of my foot, the bottom of my foot would roll from my heel and roll to my toes, then my toes would lift up for my other foot to step I also focused that my foot was on a soft mat and that the mat would compress when I stepped on it.

Mindful Sitting, in the Mindful Sitting session I focused on my breath going through my nose and coming out through my nose, when my breath went in my nose it would usually make a little noise, I also focused on my balance being controlled by whether my back was straight or not.

AKith Perera

During Mindful sitting, I focused on the upper part of my body, specifically where my in-breath and out-breath went through my nose. I could feel the cool air rushing in and warm air slowly going out. This meant that my out-breath was longer than my in-breath. I could be aware of this for about 20 to 30 breaths before losing the in-breath and out-breath. When I realised it was distracted, I noted this and slowly tried to bring it back to my cool in-breath. It was easy to bring it back, but it always kept getting distracted to sounds and thoughts.
Before I had focussed on my in-breath and out-breath, I did a body scan to make sure I was in a comfortable position to start my mindful sitting. It was quite peaceful when I did the body scan. I started from my toes all the way up to my head. This also helped settle the mind for the mindful sitting.

Medhavi De Alwis

Mindful Walking
In walking mindfulness, I selected a wooden floor to walk on, which was around 15 paces long. Whilst walking I observed that the change of the feeling my sole felt when I walked on top of the rug present on the path, changing from a previously rough texture to a softer one instead. In addition to this, I also observed that at the end of my path, focusing on my sole was harder, as there was a shift in the movement. I was used to. The pressure placed on my heel became seemingly more prominent throughout the practice, differing from the arch of my foot that barely touched the ground. I was able to maintain mindfulness on my steps for around 20 steps.

Mindful Sitting
In sitting mindfulness, I focused solely on my breath. I noticed that my breath would slow down during my practice, almost becoming barely noticeable when I inhaled. When I exhaled, the breathing became more evident as I could clearly feel the air brush against the sides of my nostrils. Distractions such as thoughts came to me around 10 minutes into the practice, but instead of ignoring it, I acknowledged that I was being distracted and attempted to gently bring my mind back to my breath. I was able to maintain mindfulness for around 25 breaths.

Thisali

Walking
I was especially focused on my surrounding during mindful walking so as to ensure that I didn't bump into anything

Sitting

I focused on breathing and concentrated on the air entering and leaving my mouth

Dhanuli

During mindful walking I noticed the movement of feet and their contact on the ground. eg.How my added pressure on my heels as my foot touched the floor and how I pushed off the top of my foot whilst taking another step

Whilst doing mindful sitting I particularly payed attention to my posture to make sure that I maintained a straight back.

Suhanya

Mindful Walking
At the start of my mindful walking, I observed the feeling of my feet touching the cold and smooth tiles. As I walked, I observed my heel and the ball of my feet touching the ground. While this happened, I noticed my other foot move through the air and then come to the ground. As I come to the end of the path and start to turn around, I noticed that this is the time when I'm more likely to get distracted. Now, I can keep my mindfulness for around 25-35 steps at a time. Overall, I am able to keep my attention for a longer time now.

Mindful Sitting
Before I started my mindful sitting, I scanned my whole body. I observed the touching points of my body, the chair and the ground. After I was fully aware of the position of my body, I started observing in cold air go in through my nose and the warm air come out of my mouth. For the first few minutes, my mind was very distracted but I noticed this and gently brought my attention back to my breath. After a while, my breath got shallower and I found it difficult to keep my attention on my breath as it was subtle. Therefore, I decided to observe the rising and falling of my chest. I continued on like this until the end of mindful sitting.