A Practical Guide to Mindful Meditation

By Michael Bunting and Patrick Kearney

WHAT IS MINDFUL MEDITATION AND HOW CAN IT IMPROVE MY LIFE?

You hear people talking about it. You may have read research about its benefits. Perhaps you’ve even dabbled in it yourself. You have a sense that it could really make a difference in your life. You’re open and willing to learn.

But you’re not quite sure how to do it—and more importantly, you don’t understand why you should do it.

This book is for you. This practical, step-by-step guide demystifies mindfulness and meditation and teaches you exactly how it benefits you and how to do it. After reading this book, you’ll understand how meditation can be a game-changer for you. And as you do it, you’ll no longer sit in a chair feeling silly and wondering, ‘Am I doing this right?’ You’ll meditate with confidence, and enjoy greater self-awareness, peace, joy, and fulfilment.

Read this book to learn:

•What mindfulness is and how it can change your life.
•How to meditate using the four foundations of mindfulness.
•How to cultivate the states and mindsets associated with true happiness.
•How to navigate some of the more challenging aspects of mindfulness practice.
•How mindfulness opens your heart and makes you more grateful, loving and compassionate.
•How to develop mindfulness and self-awareness in your daily life.

This book is full of practical exercises and meditations that are also available as audio downloads at www.mindfulmeditationbook.com/bonus

PRAISE FOR “A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO MINDFUL MEDITATION”

‘This is the book that I will give to my colleagues, friends and family members who want to learn mindfulness. A brilliant, easy to understand guide.’
—Spencer Sherman, MBA, CFP, executive chairman of Abacus Wealth Partners and author of “The Cure for Money Madness”

‘This book skilfully guides you through the four foundations of mindfulness, which have the power to change, heal and enliven your life. A delightfully warm, clear and practical book.’
—Subhana Barzaghi, senior Zen and Insight meditation teacher

‘This book achieves something rare. It explains the complex in a simple to understand and easy to follow structure, yet maintains quality and depth.’
—Phil Vernon, CEO, Australian Ethical

‘This is a wonderful beginner’s guide to mindfulness practice. Easy to read, personal, clear and technically excellent. A great read for those interested in practicing mindfulness.’
—Timothea Goddard, BA, MBSR teacher and trainer (CFM certified), director of Openground

• Language: English
• Publisher: WorkSmart Australia
• Release date: Jun 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780994543615

Michael Bunting

Since his release from prison Michael Bunting has qualified as a sports trainer and personal therapist. He lives in West Yorkshire with his girlfriend.

Book preview

List of exercises and postures

Exercise: Feeling hands

Exercise: Mindfulness and feeling hands

Exercise: 10-minute counting meditation challenge

Exercise: Sensing meditation

Exercise: Comfortable posture

Exercise: Sitting on a chair

Exercise: Sitting on a cushion

Exercise: Walking

Exercise: Observing the breath

Exercise: Investigating the breath

Exercise: Whole body breath

Exercise: How many fingers on my hand?

Exercise: Sensing the earth element

Exercise: Sensing the fire element

Exercise: Sensing the water element

Exercise: Sensing the air element

Exercise: Whole body awareness

Exercise: How do I feel?

Exercise: Facing the unpleasant

Exercise: The feeling tone of emotion

Exercise: Stop thinking

Exercise: How do thoughts appear?

Exercise: Where do you think?

Exercise: What does thinking feel like?

Exercise: Where does thought begin?

Exercise: Resting in the thought stream

Exercise: Formal loving-kindness practice

Exercise: Formal compassion practice

Exercise: Mindfulness of driving

Exercise: Mindfulness of dishwashing

Exercise: Mindful walking

Posture: Sitting posture on a chair, version 2

Posture: Sitting on a meditation bench

Posture: Standing

Posture: Lying down

Exercise: Just being

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for specific circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Free Bonus

Free Bonus

Download accompanying audio and video instructions on the basics at

www.mindfulmeditationbook.com/bonus

Author’s note

Mindfulness practice first captured my imagination at age 22. More than two decades and many thousands of hours of practice later, it has become a way of life for me and remains both a key personal commitment and a central theme of how I make a living. I have been incredibly privileged to teach mindfulness for nearly two decades and to witness first-hand the extraordinary transformation mindfulness can produce in people’s lives. Currently I mainly teach to executive leaders in large to mid-sized corporations, knowing this extraordinary practice ripples down through these companies to positively touch more lives than those whom I teach directly. The great Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said, ‘When we are well, our wellness spills onto others. And when we are unwell, that too spills onto others.’ We need our business leaders to be well—that is, happy, compassionate, connected and wise—because business is probably the most important force on the planet today.

Shortly after writing my first book with best-selling leadership authors Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, I felt compelled to write a book that truly linked disciplined leadership research and the great, time-tested mindfulness practices. The result was The Mindful Leader: 7 Practices for Transforming Your Leadership, Organisation and Life (Wiley, 2016), a book that introduces mindfulness and its impact on all facets of leadership. Immediately on the completion of that book, I started to write this practical guide as a companion book. This guide offers readers an introduction on precisely how to meditate using mindfulness practices. Here you’ll learn about the most important mindful meditation practices, as well as tips and practices to support moment-by-moment mindfulness in your life.

In fact, my clients have been urging me to write something like this for years. They wanted a complete practical mindfulness guide that was accessible and easy to use. There are some fantastic books out there on this subject, many of which have been very valuable for my own practice, but nothing I have read quite met the style, structure and tone my audience typically appreciates.

At least 95 per cent of the people I teach are new to meditation. Some need convincing it’s even worthwhile, and many want a meditation practice that delivers instant results. Not an easy audience at all! Most are in business and tend to resist, at least publicly, any spiritual or religious frame of reference. They want clear, practical and convincing instruction. I have heard these kinds of comments too many times to mention: ‘Tell me why I should invest my precious time in this?’ And if this part goes well, ‘Okay, I’m convinced. Now give me the shortcuts to instant results. I’m smart so I’ll pick it up fast, trust me.’

Sadly, though, there really are no shortcuts to this practice, and there’s no fast track. Those who promise instant results—and unfortunately there are many—are simply out of alignment with an authentic mindfulness practice. A good analogy is the journey to physical fitness. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, or what your trainer or gym promises, if you don’t put in the exercise consistently and skilfully over time you simply won’t get the benefits. Quick-fix programs and promises are a sure path to disillusionment, or even injury.

One challenge with this book is to provide rock-solid, easy-to-follow technical instruction while staying true to the source teachings that have produced such amazing results for millennia. To accomplish this, I asked my friend Patrick Kearney, a world class technical expert on the original, time-tested mindfulness teachings, to be my writing partner.

How to use this book

Now before you dive in, there are a few things you need to know about the structure of the book and how best to use it.

As noted, this book was written primarily for people with no experience of meditation who want to learn the basics and understand some of the subtleties of mindfulness. It also introduces some of the more advanced aspects of mindfulness practice, so if you already have a basic mindfulness practice this book should still be of real value to you.

Mindful meditation is typically associated with both ‘formal’ meditation practice, usually while seated on a chair or cushion, and ‘informal’ meditation practice, which more broadly refers to a general mindfulness in life. This book covers both aspects, but its main emphasis is on teaching formal meditation practice.

Part I reviews some of the basic ideas underpinning mindfulness meditation. We explore what ‘mindfulness’ means, the four foundations of mindfulness, and some of its main benefits and key components as well as its challenges. Chapter 4 looks at how the right environment and mindset can support meditation practice.

If you are a beginner, the first seven chapters should be easy to follow. All the basics you need to know are covered in these chapters, and you will be well served by trying out each exercise as you come to it.

Chapters 8 through 12 introduce more subtle aspects of the four foundations of mindfulness. Beginners will still find these chapters valuable and interesting, but given the subtlety of some of the practices, they may find actually applying the formal meditation exercises very challenging.

Don’t be concerned if at first they seem difficult or impossible to practise. The truth is it took me many years to get to grips with many of these practices, and to this day my formal practice generally focuses on the breath and body aspects covered early in the book. If you stick to the early chapters, practising only those exercises, you can still be assured of amazing benefits.

As for chapters 13 and onwards, you will find the information in these chapters will help enormously with your basic practice so even if you find the exercises impossible, please read the theory. Much of it is critical to supporting you with your basic practice. I wish someone had taught me some of that theory early in my practice. It would have saved me years of unnecessary struggle.

So welcome to the world of mindfulness! I sincerely hope this book will help guide you on a profoundly meaningful and transformative journey.

Before we engage with the practical aspects of meditation practice, let’s begin by exploring what mindfulness is, why it matters and how it can make a real difference in your daily life.

Part I

Introduction to Mindfulness

Chapter 1

Why mindfulness?

For nearly two decades I have been asking people in my leadership and mindfulness programs to describe their physical, emotional and mental state when they are fulfilled, happy and getting the best out of themselves and