Introduction
Perception is key in mindfulness—how you see things (or don’t see them) will determine in a large part how you respond.
Watch this short video, and afterwards make a note of what you saw.
Now look over you notes, and annotate them with A or B as follows:
A – What you actually sensed – what actually happened.
B – What you perceived – how you interpreted what you sensed, how you ‘made sense’ out of it.
This week you will learn to use the body-scan practice to cultivate a greater degree of awareness of how your body feels in different circumstances. Changing the way we perceive and respond to things makes a big difference to the short- and long-term effects of stress on our mind and body.
Theme – Sensation, Perception and Completion
Sensation is what happens. Perception is how we see things. There is a subtle but important difference! It is our perception that will determine how we will respond.
“It is not events that disturb people, it is their judgements concerning them.”
Informal practice this week
The informal practice this week is about becoming aware of how we experience and process pleasant events. They don’t need to be major events, they can be something as simple as noticing the sun on your face or someone smiling at you.
Just as we did last week, take a few minutes during the day to complete the informal practice log to record your experience.
Formal practice this week
This week we will introduce the sitting meditation – using breath as the primary object of awareness, and alternate this with the body scan where the sensations in the body are the object of attention. Sitting one day, Body Scan the next, etc.
Again use your formal practice record to make brief notes about your experience.