The Four Foundations of Mindfulness: Working with Body, Mind, Thoughts, and Feelings

The Satipatthana Sutta: The Four Foundations of Mindfulness is considered one of the most important texts in the Buddhist canon. More broadly, it can be a set comprehensive instruction on the practice of meditation, as well as a practical and accessible method for studying our human experience. This profound teaching presents four main subjects of contemplation: body, feelings, mind, and thoughts, and each of these is further divided into subsets whose purpose is the development of mindfulness, concentration, and insight. Simply said, to understand these four subjects is to understand how we are put together. Not understanding, we create pain for ourselves and others.

In this retreat, we’ll alternate between discussion and practice of these four foundations. We’ll take them up as subjects of meditation, and we’ll explore them in the light of the three qualities of energy, mindfulness, and understanding. We’ll focus particularly on tools to work with difficult thoughts and feelings, drawing on our vast, inherent capacity for wisdom, kindness, and stability, knowing that the clearer we are about ourselves, the more whole and compassionate human beings we will be.