04/22 – 6/10 The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Introduction to the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta

Satipaṭṭhāna Home Practice Session 1:  April 22, 2026

Please click here to download a PDF of this Home Practice and the resources.

I spent some time looking at different translations of the Sutta for our use, and I settled on the one by Anālayo, who I mentioned in class as the scholar-monk who has written several books about this sutta. I recently updated this version to make the language more gender friendly, replacing ‘Monks’ with ‘Yogis’ and ‘he’ with ‘one’. In the conversion process, some formatting was affected, mostly in the loss of diacritical marks for Satipaṭṭhāna. The sutta is in the PDF resource file.

In addition to the translation itself, I am sending you the external link below to the whole book, Satipaṭṭhāna, the Direct Path to Realization, by the scholar-monk Anālayo, which may be too much information!  – but it is a good reference. You are not required to read it. This version is the available PDF for free distribution.  You are free to download it if you want it or just save the link for later, but be warned that a 300-page book as a PDF is a bit awkward to use.

satipatthana_direct-path_analayo_free-distribution

I will send snippets from this book as we use them.

Sitting Practice:

Try to practice the first section of the sutta, which, as we said, is the same as the first tetrad of the Ānāpānasati Sutta on Mindfulness of Breathing. Here is a short summary of the instructions we used for now.

1. Find a quiet place to practice where you won’t be disturbed. 
2. Take an upright but relaxed posture, using a chair, a cushion, or a bench. Close your eyes if that’s comfortable for you and get a sense of arriving in this space by feeling the body as a whole. Then we will pay attention to the breathing in some different areas.
3. In class we used a ‘map’ to bring our attention to these different areas of the body: (1) Below the navel, (2) above the navel and below the sternum, (3) the center of the chest, (4) the throat, and (5) the head at the nose or nasal cavities.
4. Spend a few minutes in each area.  Feel the actual sensations of breathing as you inhale and exhale. Measure the length of the inhale from its beginning until the end, counting “1,2,3,4,5,6…”
5. Let 90 % of your attention be on the sensations of the breath, and 10% be on the counting.
6. Adjust the speed of your counting so that a typical inhale is from 5 to 10 counts long.   Do the same with the exhale, counting from the beginning of the exhale until the end.  Notice the pause between the end of one breath and the beginning of the next inhale, but don’t count until the next inhale starts. At first, the counts may be the same for each cycle of inhale and exhale, because we will often unconsciously try to control the breath.  But as we relax, the breath will start to vary.  Some inhales may be just 5 counts.  Other inhales may be 7 or 8 counts.  We don’t care how long each breath is.  We just want to pay close enough attention to notice a natural variation.  Some breaths are longer, and some are shorter.
7. The counting uses the linguistic part of our brain to gather the attention around the breathing and helps ‘seclude’ us from our day-to-day thinking.

After a few minutes in each of the five locations in this map, please drop the counting and consider transitioning to silently saying a meditation word or phrase with each inhale and exhale.  Some common ones that are used are:

• “In” and “Out”
  • Inhaling, arriving home to the present moment” (which becomes abbreviated to “Arriving”)
  • Exhaling, I know it is a wonderful moment” (which becomes abbreviated to “Wonderful moment”)

• “Buddho”, which is a version of “Buddha”.  Buddho means “The one who knows” and is used by saying “Bud” on the inhale and “dho” on the exhale.

This covers the first two steps which are:

1. “The yogi breathes in knowing “breathing in long”; the yogi breathes out, knowing “breathing out long.”
2. “The yogi breathes in knowing “breathing in short”; the yogi breathes out, knowing “breathing out short.”

The next two steps are:

1. “The yogi breathes in, sensitive to the whole body; the yogi breathes out, sensitive to the whole body.”
2. “The yogi breathes in, calming the body formations; the yogi breathes out, calming the body formations.” Formations here are anything that makes up the physical body: muscles, bone, connective tissue, organs, blood vessels, etc.

We have already started to do this by bringing attention to different body locations on our map.  See if you can get a sense of being aware of more of the body at once. Let the breathing show you where there is tightness in the body.  The awareness itself will encourage the body to relax without forcing anything to happen.  Enjoy this practice. Smile.  Each inhale is a moment of nourishment, and each exhale is a letting go.  Finish up with a sense of being present to the whole body, relaxed. Don’t struggle. 

The end point of this first practice is to allow the body to relax and the breath energy to flow, while we begin to calm the mind, coming to what is called “full body breath awareness”.

Walking Practice: 

For this practice, walk at a normal speed. Use the Thich Nhat Hanh method of counting how many steps for an inhalation and how many for an exhalation.  Just as in the sitting, you can drop the counting whenever you want and just be present with the walking.

• Check in with some or all of the Four Foundations throughout the day, by just occasionally pausing to ask, “How is my body now?”, “How are my reactions (feeling tone) to this moment; am I liking or not liking it?”,  “How is my awareness (mind) focused or distracted, sharp or dull, narrow or spacious, colored by a mood or not?”  and what mind-states, thoughts and emotions (contents of mind, or phenomena) are coming and going?

Satipaṭṭhāna Home Practice Session 2:  April 29, 2026

Click here for a PDF of this practice and any resources.

In session 2, we covered the next two paragraphs of the sutta and also discussed the “definition” of working mindfully with the four Satipaṭṭhāna. We also discussed the repeating section of the sutta called the “refrain” that comes after each paragraph of instructions.

(‘definition’ and ‘refrain’ are Anālayo’s classifications).   Note: this is for your information only. You don’t have to memorize this. If this is too many words, skip to the practice section.

As a reminder, the sutta starts out with a declaration of the ‘direct path” and the definition: 

 [DIRECT PATH]
“Monks, this is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha and discontent, for acquiring the true method, for the realization of Nibbana, namely, the four Satipaṭṭhāna.”

 [DEFINITION] 
“What are the four? Here, monks, in regard to the body, a monk abides contemplating the body, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to feelings, he abides contemplating feelings, is diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to the mind, he abides contemplating the mind, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world. In regard to dhammas, he abides contemplating dhammas, diligent, clearly knowing, and mindful, free from desires and discontent in regard to the world.

The definition is the same definition as stated in the sermon on the eight-fold path, for “right mindfulness”

According to Anālayo

Diligent, (ātāpi) – means putting some energy into meeting the present moment with sustained interest

Clearly knowing (sampajañña)– means seeing the object of awareness unfiltered, with all its characteristics, especially the qualities of impermanence, imperfection, and not-self.

Mindful (sati) is not just being conscious but remembering to come to the present moment repeatedly with open receptivity.

“Free from desires and discontent with regard to the world” means to put aside our everyday thoughts as we practice, so many of which are made up of our wanting and not wanting.

 [REFRAIN]
In this way, in regard to the body, she abides contemplating the body internally, or she abides contemplating the body externally, or she abides contemplating the body both internally and externally. She abides contemplating the nature of arising in the body, or she abides contemplating the nature of passing away in the body, or she abides contemplating the nature of both arising and passing away in the body. Mindfulness that ‘there is a body’ is established in her to the extent necessary for bare knowledge and continuous mindfulness. And she abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. That is how, in regard to the body, she abides contemplating the body.

Internally means within one’s own experience.
Externally means what is learned from observing others
Aware of arising and passing away
Just being aware for the sake of building continuity and momentum in mindfulness.
Independent of clinging.

Continuous mindfulness builds momentum and concentration. Think of concentration as being like a tincture, filtered and slowly purified, rather than being like a laser beam, intensely focused. Leading to the “clear seeing” of insight.   See the “purposes of mindfulness” from Thich Nhat Hanh in the resources.

The [REFRAIN] is repeated after each section in the Sutta. Remember that at the time of the Buddha, none of the suttas were written down, as it was an oral tradition. Suttas were chanted and included a lot of repetition, to help the monks and nuns remember them.

Practices:

Use mindfulness phrases or gathas, as they are called in the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition, to connect with the body in daily life.  Here are some suggestions

1. Body Positions
   • Start with the phrase from the refrain, “There is a body”, then note the position of the body:
     • standing, sitting, walking, and lying down. These are the ‘classic’ positions mentioned in the text, but the text really means all positions, so you can add bending, stretching, twisting, squatting, in short, anything that describes the position of the body. If you want, shorten the phrase to just: “the body is standing” or just name the position itself, “sitting.” Don’t tire yourself out by doing this all day; instead, try it for a period of time, maybe 20 minutes, as practice.
     • Notice how you move from lying down to sitting on the bed to standing up to walking to the bathroom every time you get up in the morning. Notice these transitions in your positions throughout the day.
2. Body Activities
   • Use noting to label activities for a period of time: putting food in my mouth, chewing, tasting, swallowing, washing a dish, rinsing a glass, walking, buttoning my shirt, adjusting the rearview mirror, waiting for the dog, sitting on the toilet, looking at the clouds.
   • Try to stay with the physical aspect of the activity (including what is coming through the senses), rather than your emotional reaction to the activity.  That comes later!.
3. Continue to practice formally, sitting and/or walking for at least 20 minutes daily using the first instructions on mindfulness of breathing. Walking meditation, slow or fast, is naturally compatible with noticing bodily positions and activities, and “walking” is one of the positions.

Enjoy practicing!

Satipaṭṭhāna Session 3:  May 6, 2026

Please click here for a PDF of this home practice.

Resources:

• There is a link below to the Ajahn Sucitto book that we’ve mentioned.
• The other resource this week is a guided standing practice, (which is an audio (mp3), taken from the book.

Review

In this session, we continued working on the first Satipaṭṭhāna of Mindfulness of the Body.  The first three sections of mindfulness of the body help us be more mindful ‘internally’ from a sense of embodiment.   The body feels like ‘this’ as I breathe, change postures, and engage in the Activities of Daily Living.  Awareness of Breathing is usually a formal sitting practice, but the breath can also serve as an anchor, reminding us to be present in our daily activities and sustaining the momentum and continuity of mindful attention.  As we practice, we may want to choose certain activities as special opportunities to be present, such as taking a shower, preparing food, or eating. We explored the postures of lying down and standing.

 This is an excerpt from Ajahn Suchitto’s book, “Standing on Your Own Two Feet”.  

‘Standing on your own two feet.’ Think about it: stability, confidence, simple dignity. The phrase is used as a metaphor, but it’s more than that. If you want to get a break from a scattered mind and stressful moods, it could be as easy as literally standing on your own two feet. Furthermore, if you’d like to meditate, but feel challenged by the idea of sitting still with nothing to do for more than five minutes… some standing could be a manageable way to get started on the road to inner balance. It gets you grounded. And if you already do like to meditate, standing could be a way to relieve some bodily discomfort and widen your practice in unexpected but effective ways. I’m certainly not against seated meditation – it’s just that the seated form presents issues in terms of discomfort and through its passivity. The discomfort in the knees and back for bodies that have become used to, and even shaped by, sitting in chairs commonly distracts attention from settling and clearing the mind. On the other hand, if you do get comfortable, it’s easy then to drift into thoughts and daydreams. Then meditation becomes a tedious process of repeatedly trying to establish a focus. Also, with sitting, your weight rests on your bottom and your thighs – which are not designed to be sensitive to the ground, nor are they required to maintain balance. When seated, the feet and the knees – those parts of your body that help you to feel grounded and balanced – are switched off. With standing however, the body automatically focuses on establishing groundedness and balance: your feet and legs come into alignment with the spine in a relaxed but alert way. And that of course affects your mind.  It relaxes the mind while encouraging attentiveness to how the body stands as an interconnected system. Therefore, your mind comes out of its preoccupations and also isn’t easily invaded by what’s going on around you. Because of all this, fifteen minutes or more of standing can be a useful prelude to a period of sitting meditation, or a clarifying practice in its own right. Because standing fast-tracks balance, connectivity and wholeness, it’s useful to practice this in any ‘pause moments’ in the day.

Here is the link to get your own free ebook version. This is optional, but suggested, reading:

On Your Own Two Feet

Home Practice

• Continue using the map of the breath centers, and the counting for the few minutes of your daily sitting.
• Keep working with the practices we’ve covered, with an emphasis on bodily postures and activities in daily life.  Can they become as much a part of your practice as sitting and walking meditation? 
• Do you relate to the quality of “groundedness”?   What does it mean to be grounded in any given posture?
• For a few breaths, try turning your awareness to your feet, and the feeling of standing, when you find yourself in an activity that you normally do when standing such as: washing dishes, cooking, waiting for the subway, in the checkout line at the store, etc.

Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta Session 4 Home Practice 5-13-2026

Click here for a downloadable PDF copy of this home practice.

The three Satipaṭṭhāna practices with the body that we covered this week: – awareness of anatomical parts, the elemental characteristics of the body (earth, water, fire, and air), and corpse contemplations- are specifically designed to shift our perspective on the body. They aim to reduce our attachment to the body as ‘me’ or ‘mine’, and to view it simply as nature, subject to the laws of arising and passing away. These practices can potentially transform our relationship with our bodies, inspiring us to see them in a new light.

The first two of these can be practiced during a body scan, attending to each part of the body as we scan through with our awareness.  Anatomical parts can be practiced outside of formal sitting by just taking an interest in anatomy itself.  Even our intellectual knowledge of the body can help our practice. Is my artificial hip still “me”? How about the titanium rod in my back? Or the fillings in my teeth? When did the fillings become me? In traditional Buddhist practice, the monastics contemplated 32 parts of the body.  With the benefit of even a high school biology book, we could probably identify 32 parts of a single cell. The key is bringing your “Dharma glasses” to your knowledge of the body and its workings. It’s a beautifully functioning set of interconnected systems when it’s healthy; but whether healthy or not, it’s ‘not me or mine’, It is subject to change and age in ways that ‘we’ can’t control, and there are also natural body fluids and odors that we are repulsed by.

The body’s elemental qualities allow us to notice solidity, cohesion, and flow; warmth and coolness; and internal and external energy. I have added a reading on the elements from Ajahn Sucitto as a resource at the end.

The corpse contemplations drive home how the body, step by step, will return to dust.  For the corpse contemplations, I suggest that, as you are on a walk, bring awareness to any dead animals you see.  Most often, that will probably be roadkill.  How long has this squirrel, rabbit, or other animal been dead on the road?  If you see a fresh animal carcass, do you feel repelled? How about if there is only a small patch of fur left, the same reaction?  Imagine the animal in all its aliveness, right before it was killed. All living creatures, ourselves included, will die, as death is unavoidable, and the moment of our death is unknown.

Practices:

1. As you do your sitting, standing or lying down meditation this week, be sure to start, as we normally do anyway, by feeling the solidity of the “earth element” of the body:  How the body is supported in space and how the gravity of the earth continues to connect us to the earth. You might then connect to the other elements of flowing breath and energy and notice warmth and coolness.
2. Use your imagination to play with our views of the body: Imagine you are 100 years old and you are looking at yourself in the mirror. What has changed? Imagine someone you are physically attracted to , with transparent skin, and organs, where you can see every internal organ, the blood, bodily fluids, and waste products. How does that change their attractiveness?
3. Spend some time with an anatomy book. Look at the pictures as being you. You are like this. You have this collection of parts and systems. If you don’t have a book handy, there are several free websites. I am not endorsing any particular one, but you can get a free starter account at this one: www.biodigital.com
4. Maintain awareness throughout the day, tuning in frequently to the feeling of the body as it moves through postures and activities.  Relax tension in the body whenever you are aware of it.  Enjoy having a body.     

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ELEMENTS – from the Ajahn Sucitto book, On Your Own Two Feet, the chapter on “Harmony”

ELEMENTS

You can follow a fine-detailed way into this state of harmony by
referring to very basic qualities that determine how things, internal
and external, appear. They’re called ‘elements’ (dhātu). There are four
primary elements and two secondary or mediating elements.

The primary elements are earth, water, fire and air.
Earth refers to anything that feels solid, holds a form, is static and resists pressure.
Water is the element that is experienced as fluid, and changeable, has no fixed boundaries, and merges with whatever it contacts. It dissolves differences.
Fire is the quality of heat and vitality; it lights things up.
Air is the element associated with movement; it penetrates and pushes.

You can experience these qualities in the land, rivers, sunlight and wind.
And you can also experience these in the firmness, fluidity, vitality and breathing of your body.
At a psychological level, we have the same qualities: we can be firm, flexible, bright, and breezy. Ideally, these elements balance each other; then the result is harmony. On the other hand, when harmony is lost, our firm earth gets rigid, or we get watery and indecisive, hotheaded,
or blustery. In this case, one element dominates and isn’t
balanced by the other three.

Air loses contact with earth and we get blown away. The fire of our enthusiasm isn’t moderated by the cool water of including the whole picture (and other people), and so on. Worse still, personality habits develop around that imbalance: we may err towards being fiery and righteous, or stodgy and inflexible. You might know people in whom the water element is so dominant that decision-making is difficult; and there are those who blow this way and that and never settle. A balanced person, however, isn’t distinctly any of these; in them, the elements blend into unity.

As I’ve suggested, in terms of energy, body, heart and mind are not separate: a fiery heart inflames the body; a depressed mental state muddies and constricts bodily energy. But when the elements are in balance, they correct these conditions. Accordingly, in standing meditation we detect and work on these elements, through mediating them in the presence of the secondary elements of space and consciousness. I’ve mentioned space before; it’s a quality that, although essential, is easily overlooked. When we are fully aware of it, it’s the openness that allows experience.

Space reduces pressure and allows stuck energy to settle and flow. If we detect this open absence of pressure and extend awareness from it to any other element, space moderates the imbalance that makes earth rigid, water abysmal, fire blazing and air restless. When this effect is felt and transfers to the heart, then the reflexes of defensiveness, apathy, aggression/frustration and agitation are transmuted into more balanced emotional forms.

Consciousness is equally crucial. In this respect, ‘consciousness’ is the location of awareness at any given moment. By default, it locates awareness within a field of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, touches and ideas, with its mental aspect stitching the varying sense impressions together to form a known object. Obviously seeing an apple is nothing like tasting an apple (and perhaps not quite as we imagine it would be), but mental consciousness spreads over and combines these impressions to make up the knowable ‘apple’, then taps the ‘agreeable/disagreeable’ button on the heart. Thus aroused, heart-energy shifts, recoils or (rarely) suffuses awareness – and we experience an apple that we like the look of, and eat (or not).