Structure of Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness is the act of being consciously aware with mindful attitudes. You can practice
mindfulness over any length of time, for the duration of a single breath or for your whole life. You
can practice it while waiting in a queue, talking to your partner or walking down the street.
Clinically proven courses usually contain certain common mindfulness meditations such as:
•Body scan meditation: Often done lying down, but you can use any posture you like. This
meditation involves becoming aware of your bodily sensations in a mindful way, step by step. You
also begin to discover how easily your attention wanders off to other thoughts and how to be kind
to yourself rather than self-critical when this happens.
•Movement meditation: Usually yoga, t’ai chi, qi gong or another physical mind-body exercise.
This type of meditation involves focusing on your bodily sensations, breathing and mindfully
watching and perhaps letting go of whatever thoughts and emotions arise as you practice. Slow
walking meditation is another possibility that’s sometimes used.
•Breathing space meditation: A short, roughly three-minute, meditation. Do this practice a few
times a day and whenever you experience a highly stressful situation or difficult emotion. The idea
is to create a mindful awareness of your experience instead of avoiding it. This approach has been
shown scientifically to be much more effective than avoidance.
•Expanding awareness meditation: Usually called sitting meditation, but it can be practiced in any
position. The meditation involves focusing, often in this order, on your breath, body, sounds,
thoughts and feelings, and finally developing an open awareness where you’re choicelessly aware
of whatever is most predominant in your consciousness.
You can break down the expanding awareness meditation into separate meditations, each
powerful and transformative in themselves:
◦Mindfulness of breath meditation: Focusing your attention on the feeling of your in-breath and
out-breath. Each time your mind wanders, bring your attention back non-judgmentally.
◦Mindfulness of body meditation: Feeling the physical sensation in your body from moment to
moment. You can also practise this together with the awareness of breathing.
Mindfulness of sounds meditation: Being aware of sounds as they arise and pass away. If no
ambient sounds exist, you can simply listen to the silence and notice what effect doing so has for
you.
Mindfulness of thoughts meditation: Being aware of your thoughts arising in your mind and
passing away and having a sense of distance between yourself and your thoughts. You allow the
thoughts to come and go as they please, without judging or attaching to them.
Mindfulness of feelings meditation: Noticing whatever feelings arise for you. In particular, you
notice where you feel the emotion in your body and bring a quality of acceptance and curiosity to
your emotions.
Open awareness meditation: Sometimes called choice-less awareness, because you become aware
of whatever’s most predominant in your awareness without choosing. You may be aware of any of
the above meditation experiences as well.
SESSION 1: Intentions for using Mindfulness.
Discussion Points:
-What is Mindfulness?
-What benefits can mindfulness provide?
Exercise 1: Discover Mindfulness intentions exercise
Exercise 2: Focus on a simple object exercise
Relaxation time
Thought for The Week: See if you notice your breathing at any point this week.
SESSION 2: The Mindfulness Body Scan
Discussion Point: Review Mindfulness principles
Thought For The Week Practice Review
Exercise 1: Sitting Meditation Breathing
Exercise 2: Mindfulness Body Scan
Relaxation time
Thought For The Week: See if you notice your breathing while completing an everyday
Activity.
SESSION 3: See, Hear, Feel
Thought For The Week Review
Discussion Point: How to Find Trust in Mindfulness
Exercise 1: Sitting Meditation – Different Meditation Postures
Exercise 2: 5 in 3 – See, Hear, Feel awareness exercise.
Relaxation time
Thought For The Week:
See if you notice your breathing at any point this week.
Session 4: Mindful Movement
Thought For The Week Review
Discussion Point: The Benefits of Mindful Movement
Exercise 1: Sitting Breathing Space Meditation
Exercise 2: Mindfulness Movement Meditation
Relaxation time
Thought For The Week:
Go on a ‘Mindful walk’ and reflect on experience.
Session 5: Mindfulness of the Senses
Thought For The Week Review
Discussion Point: How to let go for Mindfulness
Exercise 1: See, Hear, Feel awareness exercise
Exercise 2: Eating One Raison awareness exercise
Relaxation time
Thought for the week:
Session 6:
Thought For The Week Review
Review of Progress and areas of practice
- What challenges have you found in mindfulness meditation?
- Choose an activity to practice on, e.g. Sitting Meditation,
Mindful movement or body scan.
Exercise1: Chosen Skill to practice
Discussion:
Future Mindfulness sessions – SU input on what may be helpful.