Mindfulness Class One -
Practices for Day 5
Coming back to this moment via awareness
of more complex activities
On day 5, we'll start with a period of more free-form formal practice and then engage in daily-life practice, in order to increase our ability to be mindful in more complex, involved activities.
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We'll use the breath as an anchor once again, but, rather than focusing on a particular subject of mindfulness, we'll remain open to whatever comes into our awareness: sensations, emotions, thoughts, sounds, etc., and then return to awareness of the breath.
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During the day, we'll be aware of whatever we're doing, with an added intention to be mindful while engaging in more complex activities, such as conversations, sports, creative endeavors, etc.
Formal Practice
Free-form with breath anchor
For our formal practice today, we'll sit, and be aware. Today we'll go back to awareness of the breath as our anchor, but, since we're doing more of a free-form practice, we'll also allow the location of where we notice our breath to change as it will - wherever it's most prominent in the moment.
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Rather than trying to perceive any particular subject of awareness or look for something to be aware of, we'll just stay open and allow whatever comes into our consciousness to come in - a sound, sensation, thought, emotion, etc. - and then return to the breath again.
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When we notice that our mind has been lost in thought, we simply return our awareness to the breath , without judgment, and continue our open awareness.
This is a wonderful practice to help us stay in the moment through the day, and to be mindful of more complex activities, which often involve things that change, moment to moment.
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Daily-life Practice
Coming back to this moment via awareness of more complex activities
Throughout the day, we'll be aware of whatever we're doing, with an added emphasis on being mindful of more complex activities. We can put our extra focus on more involved activities that come up, and/or, as we wish, plan some of those activities during the course of the day to practice with.​
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As before, staying mindful through the day will help us to be more mindful when we do engage in these more involved activities.
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Again, the practice is to keep coming back to the present moment. When doing more complex actions, there may be a tendency to want to look ahead to the next action in the sequence of actions these activities involve. Instead, we put our awareness on just the present action - the present moment.
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Again, when we notice we've been lost in thought, we just gently come back to the action at hand.