Mindfulness for wellbeing and peak

performance
MONASH UNIVERSITY

• Mindfulness meditation – Combined mindfulness practice (20 minutes)

Now, this 20-minute practise will encompass many different facets of mindfulness,
from a short body scan, to noticing the breathing, and then to an awareness of the
sounds. And throughout all of the mindfulness practise, just noticing where the
attention goes, gently bringing the attention back, not having to impose any
expectation of having to relax. Relaxation may happen. It may not. But whatever
takes place throughout the practise, just paying attention, but with an attitude of
acceptance, not judging, of simple moment-by-moment openness to whatever the
moment presents.

So you're practicing this exercise sitting up or perhaps lying down, just finding the
body in that balanced and symmetrical posture. The spine's straight, but not tense,
just simple balance.

And now just starting off with an awareness of the feet. Just noticing how the feet are
feeling at the moment. There's no particular requirement for them to feel this way or
that way, just being present to them just as they are. And even if their sensations are
very subtle, even if there's a relative lack of sensation, just simply being aware of that
as well, just simply being present to the feet.

And now just allowing the attention to gently move to the legs and simply being
aware of whatever is there to be felt, whether it's the clothes on the skin, the legs in
contact with the seat or the floor, the arms on the lap. And simply being aware of
them, being interested in the moment-by-moment experience.

And then maybe, from time to time, an awareness that the attention has wandered,
whether it's on to something from the past or imagining something about the future,
just simply seeing imagination for what it is. It's our mental projection of something
that's not actually taking place now, other than in the imagination. So having noticed
that, just something leaving that, coming back at this moment to an awareness of the
legs, using the body as a gateway back to the present moment.

And now the stomach, just simply being aware of the stomach, and the chest, and
perhaps the gentle movement of the breath. Just riding the in-breath and the out-
breath, just like a wave, ebbing and flowing, one breath at a time.

And now just simply aware of the hands. Just simply noticing them, whether it's the
contact of the air with the skin, the hands on the lap. And noticing their temperature,
just noticing the sensations.

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And also the arms, just noticing them, just embracing them in the awareness, like
each part of the body, awareness from the inside, awareness from the outside. Just
awareness, embracing the whole of the body, the moment-by-moment experience.

And the neck and the shoulders, letting the attention gently move there. Letting the
attention gently return there as often as if it might wander. And the head and the face,
just simply being aware of them.

And now, if you're happy to, simply drawing in a deep breath. And letting that breath
out, slowly and gently. And another breath in, and out, slowly and gently.

And from there, just letting the body breathe by itself, without any need to try to
control it or interfere with it, just letting the body do what it knows how to do. But just
letting the attention rest, rest with the nose and just at the point where the air is
entering and leaving. Just in touch with the movement of the air, just one breath at a
time.

And from time to time, the mind may wander. And if it does, just noticing and gently
returning, without any need to force anything, without any need to judge what's just
taken place, just noticing it as another moment-by-moment experience. But of all the
things that we could pay attention to at this moment, it just happens to be the
breathing.

Simply the breath, just letting that be enough. Not having to do anything, get anything,
achieve anything, hold onto anything, just simply observing simple awareness.

Just noticing one breath at a time, the feel of the air entering and leaving the nose,
the wave of the in-breath and the out-breath, the chest and the stomach. Being alive
to this moment now because the moment now is the only moment that we ever live in.
Even imaginings about the future and the past only ever occur now. To be alive to
our life requires that we're in the moment now. And to help us to be more fully in this
present moment, at this moment we're just simply being aware of the breath.

And now just expanding the awareness gently from the breathing, to embrace the
environment through the listening, just being aware of the sounds. Just noticing each
sound as it comes and as it goes, no matter how subtle, how near, or how far that
sound might be. Good.

So now just embracing the whole of the body once again. And when you're ready,
allowing the eyes to gently open. And if you've been lying down throughout this
practise, then just taking care to arise slowly and allow your body to adjust to being
upright once again. And let this practise be a springboard for moving into your day in
a more mindful and conscious way. Good.

So that's the completion of the final mindfulness practise.

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