Meditation Skill 05

Your meditation is the same as Meditation Skill 04, except you now develop mindfulness of the experience of breathing as it naturally flows in and out of your body. At this stage of meditation, it is important to bring the enjoyment and happiness you developed in Marker 04: Content Happiness to the experience of your body's gentle expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) as it breathes.

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• Meditation Length: Meditate for 30 min to develop calm & insight.
• Benefits: This Meditation Skill will teach you how to be present with different experiences and situations within your life, without the need to control them.
• Attention & Awareness: Allow your attention to focus in the foreground on the enjoyment of each breath while keeping a background, peripheral awareness of the natural flow of breathing within your body.
• Progression: When you can experience the natural flow of breathing within your body, free from your mind habitually controlling or interfering with it.

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Meditation Instructions:

In Step 01 your meditation remains the same, Steps 2-3 are two new additions to your meditation.

1. Meditation Skills 01-04: Develop mindful presence as you did in Skills 01-03 with one addition, hands resting in your lap with one thumb on top of the other to ground attention. Once you feel very present in your body add Steps 2-3 to develop content happiness.
2. Natural Breathing: Be mindful of your body's gentle expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) as it breathes. >
3. Enjoy Your Breathing: Increase your awareness of the subtle feeling of pleasantness available with each expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) of your breathing. Smile toward it with your eyes and enjoying how nice this stretch and relax feels.
4. Insight: Develop insight by observing and softening any tendency of your mind to control your breathing. Breath control appears as tightness, tension, and breathing that does not settle or calm down as the meditation progresses. If you suspect breath control, allow a slow breath out through your nose, then relax and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself.

Further instructions: (How to Weaken Habitual Control).

Your meditation is the same as Meditation Skill 04, except you now develop mindfulness of the experience of breathing as it naturally flows in and out of your body. At this stage of meditation, it is important to bring the enjoyment and happiness you developed in Marker 04: Content Happiness to the experience of your body's gentle expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) as it breathes.

Step 1: Meditation Skills 01-04.

Your meditation remains the same as in Meditation Skills 01-04, except you now add Steps 2-3 as new additions to your meditation.

Your Meditation So Far:

Sit in meditation (thumbs touching).

Reflect gratefully.

Listen to sounds.

Clothing on your body.

Marker 01: Body Relaxation.

Marker 02: Mind Relaxation.

Marker 03: Mindful Presence.

Marker 04: Content Happiness.

Additions for developing Natural Breathing in Skill 05: 

Step 2: Natural Breathing.

• As the feeling of content happiness grows and relaxation deepens, you will become aware of the natural expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) of your body as it naturally breathes. 
• You may experience breathing in your head or upper back, in your shoulders, chest, belly, arms and legs or your whole body as one. Wherever breathing is clearest to you, learn to find enjoyment in the expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) of your body as it naturally breathes. Bring bare awareness to your breathing experience wherever it is in your body, softening any desire to control or change it in any way. 
• To create a very stable meditation object, increasing awareness of your breathing is helpful by teaching your mind to feel it in different parts of your body. To do this, see if you can feel the natural expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax) in your shoulders > chest > upper back > belly > lower back > legs > arms > head until you can feel your whole body breathe.

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Step 3: Enjoy Your Breathing.

• Increase your awareness of the subtle pleasantness of each expansion (stretch) and contraction (relax), smiling toward it with your eyes and enjoying it. Allow the subtle pleasantness of each breath to come into the foreground of your awareness while keeping a background, peripheral awareness of the natural flow of breathing within your body.
• Smiling with your eyes into the subtle pleasantness of each breath, really enjoying it, will increase the pleasant feeling found within each natural in and out-breath and therefore settle the Hindrances of forgetting, control and mind wandering.

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Step 4: Insight.

• Habitual Control: Develop insight by observing and softening any tendency of your mind to control your breathing. Breath control appears as tightness, tension, and breathing that does not settle or calm down as the meditation progresses. If you suspect breath control, allow a slow breath out through your nose, then relax and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself.

GOSS: Ground --> Observe --> Soften --> Smile.

1. Ground: Be aware of the experience of your body's natural breathing.
2. Observe: Notice whenever your mind begins to control your breathing.
3. Soften: Allow a gentle softening breath out through your nose and relax and wait for it to come back in to reset your breathing.
4. Smile: Smile with your eyes into the pleasantness as the natural breath draws in back in again, by itself,  to reward your mind for letting go of control.

Added Note: While we can use mindfulness of in & out-breathing at this stage of meditation to learn about and weaken the desire to control within our mind, there is no need to completely remove the habit of control before moving onto the next Meditation Skill. 

Further instructions: (How to Weaken Habitual Control).

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 fifth step in meditation is to develop Marker 05: Natural Breathing (right column) to calm Hindrance 05: Habitual Control (left column).

Progression Map for Mindfulness of Breathing

Meditative Hindrances.                       Meditation Markers.

                                                               01: Body Relaxation.

                                                               02: Mind Relaxation.

                                                               03: Mindful Presence.

                                                               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.

Other Hindrances: It is important to note that although your focus is on settling the Hindrance of Habitual Control at this stage of meditation, all the other Hindrances listed above may also be present. It is essential to settle each Hindrance in the order presented in the above Map for Mindfulness of Breathing, as each Marker is the antidote for its associated Hindrance.

As you develop Content Happiness and become more aware of the natural flow of breathing throughout your body, old habits of seeking pleasure may slip in and manifest as your mind controls and tightens your breathing. Seeing your mind's tendency to control something that does not need to be controlled, your breathing is a fantastic opportunity for insight into how to be aware of experiences and let them be as they are.

Progression: As the habit of control weakens in your mind, you will find that you will naturally begin to be aware of the whole length of each in and out-breath during your meditation. When you can feel the whole of each breath as it draws in and out of your body, you are ready to develop Marker 06: Length of Each Breath in Meditation Skill 06.

Meditative Hindrances are signs of an imbalance in either your effort or the structure of your attention. It is skillful to view them as an opportunity for insight into your mind rather than something to overcome.

Meditative Hindrances.

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.

Habitual Control (05).

Your mind habitually controlling your breathing. 

Habitual Control refers to the experience of your mind interfering with and changing the natural flow of your breathing. Meditators usually experience this as a tight and uncomfortable feeling breath. This grasping of the mind to control the breath appears as tightness, tension and unease. As long as your mind has a habit of controlling your breath, your ability to develop deeper calm and tranquility will be hindered. It is important, therefore, to recognise this and follow the MIDL training of deconditioning habitual control. It is also important to observe that your mind will practice this desire to control things in daily life; your breathing reflects this. See this as an opportunity to learn to let go, and you are already halfway there. 

Antidote.

Let a slow, gentle out-breath through your nose, then relax and allow the breathing to draw back in by itself, allowing your mind for a short time, to experience your breathing, free from control. Repeating this, and enjoying how nice the natural, uncontrolled breath feels will gradually decondition the tendency of your mind to control your breathing.

Support Meditation: Habitually controlling your breathing.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 06: Length of Each Breath when:

• As a natural progression of relaxing & letting go, you move from being aware of each in and out-breath to being aware of the whole length of each in and out-breath without controlling it.

Control: It is important to note that it is only necessary to weaken habitual control at this stage, not to be completely free from it. If you mind for example causes your breathing to tighten so that it is difficult to breathe, then habitual control needs to be weakened before moving on. However if while being aware of the breath your mind calms down, a sign of this is being aware of the whole length of each breath, then it is perfectly ok to move onto the next stage in your meditation.

• SoundCloud: Guided Meditation.
• Insight Timer: Guided Meditation.
• You Tube: Video Instructions.

From the foundation of mindfulness of your body, as you learned in Meditation Skill 01, you can start to observe how the experience of your body changes throughout the day as a direct reflection of your state of mind.

What is meant by 'direct reflection of your mind' is that your current state of mind can be observed by your body's reaction to it. 

• Tightness and tension will appear in your body if your mind is resisting something.
• Feelings of longing will appear in your body if your mind is wanting something.

Emotions and feelings of pleasantness and unpleasantness you experience in your body are reflections of your state of mind. 

It is helpful to observe these reflections know clearly how you are relating to things within your life.

Applying your GOSS: ground --> observe --> soften --> smile formula will help to relax any of these resistances and gradually weaken them over time.

From your foundation of GOSS, you can begin to train attention skills learnt in seated meditation, into your daily life.

Meditation 05 in Daily Life:

1. Gently soften awareness into your body until it feels grounded, present, now. 
2. Relax your effort to be aware of your body, allow it to shift to the background.
3. During quiet time, learn to tune into the flow of breathing within your body.
4. Smile into the pleasant feeling of letting go that occurs with each natural breath.

Question:  You mentioned "...at minimum sati sampajañña: mindfulness + clear comprehension", are there other stages of sati, maybe I can read more about this veriations on your website?

Stephen:  Sati = memory or remembering, not remembering the past but remembering the present experience. It is important to note that because of anicca (impermanence) we can't truly ever be aware of our present experience because as soon as we are aware of it, it is already a memory held within our mind. Sati can be very narrow as in just this present experience or expand out to be very wide to include the past as in remembering the stream of conditional relationships that led to this present experience. 

Sati is narrow when the 'memory over time' portion of sati ceases. In this case we experience just this present experience without any awareness of the chain of causal conditioning links. We can clear see the removal of memory over time developing as samatha (calm) based samadhi develops. Sati is wide when the memory over time aspect is functioning. In this case we can remember everything that preceded this present experience and can increase this stream of remembering, without missing a causal link, for long periods of time.

Sati can be present with or without clear comprehension. For example, I can remember and keep in mind my present experience but give no importance to the series of experiences that happened before it. this is great for samatha (calm) but not great for vipassana (insight).

When I was younger, I enjoyed off-trail walking through the wilderness. At times I would explore and see this tree, this rock and this valley, enjoying them, but not keep in mind how they related to each other. When I navigated in this way, I would often get lost and had to find my way out of the wilderness using a stick and the sun, using the shadow to work out where north was.

Being lost in the wilderness is scary, especially when I was younger, so I learnt not only to enjoy the sights on my journey, but to take a mental note and remember how each landmark related to the next. In this way if I became lost, I could follow my steps backwards in reverse order, recalling each landmark, and finding my way out. this is clear comprehension. Because I feel that I can be aware of being aware of something (body sensations), but also, I can shift balance in this sequence more to the awareness itself and less to the experiences. And such intense awareness of the very fact of awareness gives me a very clear and vivid experience of presence and clarity, a constantly fresh perception. 

This is a sign of the natural development of insight practice and the transition to being aware of being aware is seen as a milestone to the perception of nama-rupa, mind-body. In terms of mindfulness, awareness is just another experience that can be taken as an object of awareness. That you can do this is a sign of the stability and accuracy of your samadhi and progression in your meditation. 

You may already be able to do this, but with practice you can be:

1. Aware of being aware of this experience.
2. Be aware of being aware of your mind's relationship to this experience.

Question: Because I feel that I can be aware of being aware of something (body sensations), but also, I can shift balance in this sequence more to the awareness itself and less to the experiences. And such intense awareness of the very fact of awareness gives me a very clear and vivid experience of presence and clarity, a constantly fresh perception. 

Stephen:  This is a sign of the natural development of insight practice and the transition to being aware of being aware is seen as a milestone to the perception of nama-rupa, mind-body. In terms of mindfulness, awareness is just another experience that can be taken as an object of awareness. That you can do this is a sign of the stability and accuracy of your samadhi and progression in your meditation. 

You may already be able to do this, but with practice you can be:

1. Aware of being aware of this experience.
2. Be aware of being aware of your mind's relationship to this experience.

Question: There are the stretches that I'm mindful, there are the stretches where I topple into delusion and start proliferating and asserting or denying this or that self-view,

Stephen: When referring to the experience of delusion in MIDL we are talking about the observation of habitual delusion. Habitual delusion can be observed during seated meditation and in daily life as the gaps between attention and inattention. The experience of habitual delusion is very distinct as the mind slipping into a state of not knowing and then defaulting to underlying habitual patterns and tendencies, autonomously.

While we are in habitual delusion we cannot know it, this is because one of the primary conditions for it to arise is awareness of awareness ceasing. We can observe that this has happened when mindfulness returns as awareness of awareness rearises again. On reflection we can see that we were completely immersed within a thought, fantasy or memory, acting/reacting habitually, and that we had no idea what was going on at that time.

As meditative samadhi develops and becomes more stable, not only do the periods of habitual delusion shorten, but also mindfulness returns faster during seated meditation and daily life. It is only then that we truly begin to see how much time throughout the day that we spend in a habitually deluded state with the mind autonomously practicing itself.

Question: but there are also stretches where I don't feel like I'm particularly mindful but I'm not thinking about stuff, there's nothing really going on in my mind in fact, just my focus on the task at hand. I will sometimes exit these states and have the sensation that I almost wasn't there for that period, I had checked out and gone I'm not sure where. Into the task or into the moment is the best way to describe where it feels like I went. Is that just more delusion?

Stephen:  Habitual delusion and thinking do not necessarily go hand in hand, though for most people some sort of thought process will be present in the deluded state. Delusion can also be present in the habituated doing of activities with no awareness of that doing. In defining habitual delusion as above, the key component is a period of 'not-knowing': the loss of awareness of awareness. "...I will sometimes exit these states and have the sensation that I almost wasn't there for that period. I had checked out and gone I'm not sure where...." This was still habitual delusion as defined in MIDL, even though there was not much thinking present.

The next step is to define the experience of when we are not in the habitually deluded state. When we are talking of being present with our present experience or of the experience of what we are doing, we have at minimum sati sampajañña: mindfulness + clear comprehension. Mindfulness in this case means being aware of being aware and remembering not only what is happening now but also remembering the flowing chain of causal experiences that happened before it. This is experienced as remembering to keep the flow of experiences, regardless of their content, within your mind.

Clear comprehension is the clearly understanding of what is happening now. Not only are you remembering the flow of your present experience, you are also clearly aware and understanding the intimate, conditional relationships in that flow.

Question: It’s an absence of thought, an absence of sense of self, which I only really notice once it’s over. 

Stephen:  If you only notice this absence of the sense of self after you come out of it, then it was experienced in habitual delusion. That being said this is an opportunity for insight into how the feeling of self comes and goes dependent on context. When no one is around, and your mind is quiet, the sense of self is no longer needed. Your mind is churning over a problem or desire, or someone else enters the room, suddenly the feeling of the sense of self arises again. 

This experience in the habitually deluded sate is a good sign, because it signifies that your mind prefers to be quiet, still and free from a sense of self when in delusion rather then caught up in drama of self. With practice in MIDL, you will find periods of doing things in daily life with no sense of self at all, and delusion, because you will experience this with mindfulness and clear comprehension continuing in your mind.

Question: Are they equanimity?

Stephen:  True equanimity requires continuous mindfulness with clear comprehension with no delusion gaps. One way to check is that all seven Awakening Factors will be present within your mind and no hindrances. If this was equanimity, mindfulness would flow continuously and effortlessly, your mind would be free from likes and dislikes, and it would fully embrace all experience and experiencing with no grasping or pushing on this experience present.

This is definitely progress in your practice in the right direction, the next step is to increase the clarity of comprehension of what is experienced with mindfulness and to close the habitual delusion gaps so that the continuity of mindfulness flows free and effortlessly, for longer periods of time.

Question: It would be great if Stephen could explain the place of such practices (asanas, pranayamas, qigong, tai chi) in the MIDL system, how they interact in the terminology of MIDL, 

Stephen: Instead of focusing of the terminology of these practices, we should clarify the importance of framework and intention because it drives the way that our mind perceives what it is we are doing. And hence way that the path unfolds for us when we practice them. I can practice my qi gong form with the intention and framework taught to me by my qi gong teacher, and I see the flow of qi in everything, my health and longevity improve, my ability to heal, spontaneous qi movements, psychic powers and one with the universe.

I can practice my qi gong form with the intention and framework taught to me by my meditation teacher, and I see impermanence in my body and mind experience, suffering when my mind clings, and freedom from suffering that comes from surrendering to its autonomous nature. With this second intention, my focus is not on qi, healing, longevity etc. it is on weakening and uprooting the unwholesome/unskillful and cultivating and establishing the wholesome/skillful as a natural way of being. It is to bring the suffering of samsara to an end.

Two different frameworks & intentions that lead to two different perceptions and therefore unfolding of path, yet the same set of physical movements and human mind. My intention towards what I am cultivating, what I see as important and not important, and how I am perceiving experiences completely changes the unfolding of the path in any activity I do be it yoga, tai chi, the gym or even sitting in meditation. Intention and framework change the way experience unfolds.

Question: Could you explain the place of such practices in the MIDL system, ............ and how this correlates with the Seven Enlightenment Factors and the Noble Eightfold Path. 

Stephen: 

To do this we need to stick with the Buddhas framework.

1. Four Noble Truths.
2. Noble Eightfold Path.
3. Seven Enlightenment Factors.
4. Five Hindrances.
5. Three Characteristics.
6. Nibbana.

Our intention is towards:

1. Increasing clarity of mind by developing samadhi.
2. Using this clarity for insight that develops wisdom.
3. Applying wisdom in a way that results in letting go and refinement of morality.
4. Thereby creating the conditions for deepening samadhi in a circle.

This is done by:

1. Clearly defining peripheral awareness from the focus of attention in formal, seated meditation.
2. Applying accurate, precise attention training in both stability & flexibility in formal, seated meditation.
3. Training our mind to clearly perceive anicca, dukkha and anatta as primary and people and things as secondary.

This is expressed in asanas, pranayamas, qigong, tai chi by:

1. Establishing peripheral awareness in our body as mindful presence; enlightenment factors 1-3.
2. Finding enjoyment in mindful presence to the 4th enlightenment factor: joy.
3. Bring this established Content Happiness toward remembering the experience of movement into the above practices. This is where slow, defined, deliberate movement-based practices have an advantage over faster movements such as running, sports etc. Actually, the slow flow is the best to align awareness with the characteristics.
4. Notice whenever we forget this experience and relax back into Content Happiness.
5. Taking interest in: pleasantness, unpleasantness, impermanence and autonomy.
6. Taking interest in and softening our relationship of attraction, aversion indifference towards the experience of practicing and inclining our mind towards contentment with it.

Question: Could provide general recommendations on preferred physical practices (asanas, pranayamas, Tai Chi, Qigong) and ways to integrate them into MIDL into a coherent structure?

Stephen: From the very first Meditation Skill in MIDL training we are focused on defining and cultivating sensitivity to dwelling within peripheral awareness of our body: kayagata sati. In Meditation 03 we learn to ground both prethermal awareness and attention in our body through relaxing, letting go and skill in observing when attention wanders.

During this training, from Meditation Skills 01-04 we develop the GOSS Formula, a way of skillfully changing habitual behaviour of our mind through an insight and reward system. From Meditations 05 onwards we begin to isolate and train attention while maintaining peripheral awareness of our body. Attention and peripheral awareness become clearly defined as two separate things that are intimately connected all the way up to access concentration. From Meditation 04 onwards, with the establishment of skill in the GOSS Formula, we have all the tools we need to bring our practice into any activity in our daily life by following the same intention and structure trained in Meditations 01-04.