Meditation Skill 00

Your first step in preparing for calm and insight in mindfulness of breathing is to retrain your breathing patterns to make diaphragmatic breathing natural for your body. Diaphragmatic breathing calms stress reactions, thereby weakening hindrances based on desire and aversion during mindfulness of breathing.

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• Meditation Length: 20 min 1-2 times daily for 1 week to learn how to relax with your breathing, 5 weeks to lower stress and/or anxiety.
• Benefits: This Meditation Skill will teach you how to desensitise your mind's sensitivity to responding to stress and anxiety in daily life. It will also help you make diaphragmatic breathing natural in preparation for mindfulness of breathing.
• Attention and Awareness: Allow your attention to rest in the foreground on your palms resting on your body, while keeping a background awareness of your whole body as you lie in meditation.
• Progression: When you experience a decrease of stress & anxiety in your daily life and are able to calm stress & anxiety when they are present by taking slow breaths in your belly when you feel stressed or anxious.

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Meditation Instructions:

• YouTube Instructions

I recommend doing this meditation to retrain stress breathing patterns to lower the experience of anxiety 1 - 2 times per day over 3 - 4 weeks or until you notice that you naturally breathe in your belly and not in your chest. This breathing technique changed my life and the lives of many other people who were ready to develop an understanding of their mind and body to remove the conditions for stress and anxiety. 

1: Learn how to breathe with your diaphragm.

Start by lying on the floor. If needed, use a pillow under your head and a rolled blanket under your knees. Place both your palms just below your belly button, fingers touching in the middle, pressing slightly inwards. 

• Gently raise your palms away from your body by slowly extending the lower part of your abdomen upwards. 
• Lower your palms by slowly lowering your abdomen, letting the breath out. 
• Breathe in this way slowly 10-20 times or until you get a calming effect. 
• Notice that when the lower part of your abdomen rises, air is drawn in through your nose, and as your lower abdomen falls, air is expelled out again. 

2: Gently slow down your breathing rate.

Once you have done 20 repetitions of breathing in your belly, the next stage is to learn to breathe from your belly up into your chest.

• Bring one palm to the top of your chest, leave the other below your belly button.
• Slowly breathe in from your belly button, ribs, chest.
• Allow your body to relax with a slow out-breath.
• Repeat 10 times with slow, gentle breaths; no strain.
• Be careful that the breath starts in your belly, not your chest.

3: Breathe from your belly into your chest.

This final stage of lying still and doing nothing is an important part in lowering anxiety as it reenforces diaphragm breath and teaches your body and mind how to deeply relax.

• Stop controlling your breathing, allow it to find its rhythm and pace.
• Distract yourself by being aware of different parts of your body touching the floor.
• Lie still and allow your breathing to happen naturally. 
• Notice how the gentle breath in your belly calms you.

4: Allow your breathing to calm you.

• At the end of the out-breath, allow the breath to fully go out then relax and wait. 

It is helpful at this stage to distract yourself from the breathing by becoming aware of the touch of your body on the floor to avoid control. Your brain will then fire a signal and take over the breathing for you. Your diaphragm will re-engage, moving freely and gently within your belly. 

• Allow the breathing to happen autonomously in your belly with bare awareness of it.

Be careful of mental control at this time, it can be helpful to bring your attention away from the breathing and into the touch of your body on the floor. At this stage allow your breathing to happen automatically, by itself. Notice and relax any desire to control your breathing. It is important to allow this natural, uncontrolled breathing to occur so that your brain starts to realise that this is what breathing is supposed to be like. Also, this relaxation allows your brain to regulate your oxygen/carbon dioxide levels and turn off the chest, stress hyperventilation that causes anxiety. When you have finished the meditation, make a slow transition from laying down to sitting, as you may in the beginning experience lightheadedness due to slowing your breathing rate. Sit still for one minute and observe the change within your mind, body, and breathing. 

Progression in mindfulness of breathing can be accurately tracked by observing your ability to access the 12 Meditation Markers. This can be done by developing insight into their associated Meditative Hindrance and changing the conditions that support them.

Your first step in mindfulness of breathing is to develop Marker 00: Diaphragm Breathing (right column) by calming the conditions that support Hindrance 00: Stress Breathing (left column). Vipassana insight is developed by being curious about transforming habitual Stress Breathing into the first Marker (sign) of samatha (calm), natural Diaphragm Breathing, in the belly.

Progression Map for Mindfulness of Breathing

Meditative Hindrances.                      Meditation Markers.

(Hindrances to calm).                         (Signs of deepening calm).

00: Stress Breathing              →       00: Diaphragmatic Breathing.

01: Physical Restlessness.               01: Body Relaxation.

02: Mental Restlessness.                  02: Mind Relaxation.

03: Sleepiness & Drifting.                  03: Mindful Presence.

04: Habitual Forgetting.                     04: Content Happiness.

05: Habitual Control.                          05: Natural Breathing.

06: Mind Wandering.                          06: Length of Each Breath.

07: Gross Dullness.                            07: Breath Sensations.

08: Subtle Dullness.                           08: One Point of Sensation.

09: Subtle Wandering.                       09: Sustained Attention.

10: Sensory Stimulation.                  10: Whole-Body Breathing.

11: Anticipation of Pleasure.           11: Sustained Awareness.

12: Fear of Letting Go.                      12: Access Concentration.

1. Experiencing struggle and strain.

Be careful of over-effort or strain. Anxiety creates the desire to try to achieve, to control things within our life, including something as basic as breathing. If you notice any struggle or strain, then stop what you are doing for a short while and allow yourself to relax before starting again. Breathing in the lower belly is enjoyable if it is done in a relaxed and gentle way. Avoid the urge to overinflate your belly or to try harder, slow gentle movement is the key. Feel your way into this simple exercise, when the rhythm is right it will feel good, and your feeling of calmness will increase. This will offer you direction.

2. Feeling light-headed.

Because you are not used to breathing so deeply, you may experience some light-headedness due to the increased levels of C02 being absorbed. Whenever you experience this, stop the exercise and allow yourself to stay still. Generally, after 10 seconds this feeling settles as C02 re-balances leaving you feeling calmer & more relaxed, and you can resume your training. With regular practice this light-headed feeling gradually lessons.

***See your doctor if light-headedness persists*** 

3. Feeling like you don't have enough air.

If breathing in your chest is normal for you then it will be natural for your diaphragm movement on your in-breath to be short. Because of the shortness of your diaphragm movement, you may feel as if you are not getting enough air. If needed during the exercise you can take an extra breath. Once the movement of your diaphragm slows down and lengthens, the feeling of needing more air will go away. By paying attention to the very beginning of the in-breath, starting it slowly, and paying attention to the very beginning of the out-breath, starting it slowly, your breathing will naturally deepen. The most important part to focus on is learning to release the out-breath slowly. This is done to allow the depleted C02 levels caused by chest hyperventilation to re-balance and as a vehicle for deep mental relaxation during MIDL Softening Techniques.

4. Your breathing feels tight.

If when breathing in you feel a tightness of the breath within your lower chest, it is possible that you are breathing in from the top of your chest downwards in an attempt to push your diaphragm down into your belly. This will not work. The diaphragm is a dome and cannot be pushed down; it needs to be pulled. It can be helpful to think of your diaphragm as an upside-down plunger. When you pull the handle downward the plunger will suck in air, as you push it back up it expels it. To engage your diaphragm, think of pulling it downwards rather than pushing it. Placing your fingertips below your belly button and pressing in slightly to allow you to feel your lower abdomen move is helpful.

There will be times during meditation when you find it difficult to feel comfortable or mentally clear and calm. These difficulties, known as the Meditative Hindrances, are viewed in MIDL as opportunities to develop understanding and insight into your mind and body. 

Below, we can see that your first opportunity for insight in Meditation Skill 00 is the physical & mental habit of Stress Breathing. Habitual stress breathing, in our upper chest, is the supportive condition for restlessness, dullness and an overall feeling of unease during meditation and in daily life.

Meditative Hindrances.

(Hindrances to calm).

00: Stress Breathing.

01: Physical Restlessness.

02: Mental Restlessness.

03: Sleepiness & Drifting.

04: Habitual Forgetting.

05: Habitual Control.

06: Mind Wandering.

07: Gross Dullness.

08: Subtle Dullness.

09: Subtle Wandering.

10: Sensory Stimulation.

11: Anticipation of Pleasure.

12: Fear of Letting Go.

Meditative Hindrance: 

Stress Breathing (00).

Short, shallow stress breathing in the chest.

Stress breathing refers to taking short, shallow breaths in our chest when our stress response turns on, as preparation for our body to fight or flee from danger. When we are exposed to stressful situations repeatedly or have had trauma within our lives, our stress response can habituate, and stress breathing can become our natural way of breathing. This habituation puts our mind and body in a hypervigilant/hypersensitive state and makes the development of samatha-calm very difficult in meditation. It is because of this that many meditators have trouble with being mindful of their breathing. By changing our breathing patterns from stress breathing to rest/digest (diaphragmatic) breathing, our mind more easily enters into a relaxed state, and the pleasure of letting go in meditation becomes more accessible.

Antidote: Be curious about what it means to find enjoyment in takin slow gentle breaths with your belly. Be curious about finding the sweet spot for you where breathing with your belly feels free from strain and also feels like a really nice and pleasant thing to do. This sweet spot in how much to fill your belly and also how slowly to do the movement is different for everyone, this is why you need to be curious about feel what is the sweet spot for you. A sign that you have found the right formula for you is that it will feel nice to do, your body and mind will relax, and after doing a series of belly breaths, your body will continue to breathe within your belly, by itself, for the rest of your meditation.

Other Hindrances: When developing Marker 00: Diaphragmatic Breathing, it is normal to experience mind wandering, becoming sleepy, or even forgetting that you are meditating. At this stage of the development of skill in relaxation and calm, your only concern is bringing relaxation to your body by reengaging your body in diaphragmatic breathing. This needs to be done with kindness and gentleness and an attitude of not making your body breathe in this way but rather reminding your body breathe deeply through helping your body and mind to feel safe. 

If anxiety is present, I recommend a longer period devoted to retraining your breathing patterns following these instructions: Meditation for Stress & Anxiety. This technique lowers the experience of stress & anxiety, as well as making it easier to develop calm during meditation and feel it in daily life.

 You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 01: Body relaxation when:

• You experience a feeling of relaxation and ease after taking slow breaths in your belly, and diaphragmatic breathing, in your belly, happens naturally during your meditation and for a while after you have finished meditating.

Note: When retraining stress breathing patterns to diaphragmatic breathing, it is important to acknowledge that you are working with a habit. Because habit has a role to play in stress and anxiety, you may find at first that diaphragmatic breathing (in your belly) only occurs for a short time after your meditation before it switches back to stress breathing (upper chest) again. This is normal and a part of the process that simply requires clear yet kind repetition of how you would like your breathing to happen throughout the day. It is important when working with habit to maintain positivity and celebrate the little successes, like feeling a few moments of relaxation during your meditation, rather than fixating on what's wrong, as this will only lead to stress and anxiety increasing. 

• SoundCloud: Guided Meditation (10min).
• YouTube: Video Instructions (10min).
• SoundCloud: Complete Guided Meditation (20min).
• YouTube: Complete Video Instructions.

• PDF Book: Stress & Anxiety as a Path for Mindfulness Meditation.  

It can be helpful at first, throughout the day, to ask yourself one question:

“Where am I breathing now, is it in my chest or in my belly?”

If your breathing has moved up into your chest then the stress response has been switched on, you may be resisting something in your life. This is ok, it is habitual and happens automatically. 

You can turn off this stress reaction by intentionally re-engaging your diaphragm in your belly. To re-engage natural, diaphragm breathing during the day, you simply place your palms just below your belly button, lightly pressing your fingertips inward. 

Then, take five slow, gentle breaths in your lower belly, below your belly button, to re-engage your diaphragm in respiration. After these three breaths, you may feel a little lightheaded. This is normal when we re-engage the diaphragm. 

Just allow the depleted C02 levels 10 seconds to re-balance, and you will feel mental clarity and calmness return to you.

How to reengage your diaphragm during the day:

1. Standing, sitting or lying down..
2. Place fingers just below belly button, on the V shaped abdominal muscle.
3. Press in slightly on this V shaped abdominal muscle to feel the movement.
4. Slowly extend your lower abdominal muscles out-wards to draw breath in through your nose.
5. Slowly lower your lower abdominal muscles back in-wards again to expel the breath out through your nose.
6. Intentionally slow down your out-breath (avoiding strain) to re-engage your diaphragm.
7. Do this for 5 in and out breaths.
8. Sit still for 10 seconds and observe the change within your mind, body and breathing. Allow yourself to relax each time the breath goes out.

To lower the experience of stress & anxiety within your life, this is the game you need to play. Throughout the day, at first, stress breathing patterns will come back again, you are dealing with a habit. 

By noticing when you start stress breathing and bringing your breath from your chest by re-engaging your diaphragm, you will start to decondition the habit of feeling stressed during the day. When this is supported by the breathing retraining meditation above, the experience of anxiety will gradually come to an end.

• SoundCloud: Guided Meditation.