Meditation Skill 09

Your meditation is the same as Meditation Skill 08, except you now focus on cultivating meditative joy & tranquility to sustain your attention on that one point of breath sensation.

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• Meditation Length: 50 min. Due to the increased time it takes to settle the mind.
• Attention and Awareness: Allow your attention to sustain in the foreground on one point of sensation while keeping a background, peripheral awareness of your whole-body breathing.
• Progression: When your attention no longer wanders from your meditation object and effortlessly sustains (rests) on one point of breath sensation. There will still be sensory experiences and (might be) thoughts in the background, but they no longer draw your attention away from your meditation object.

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Simple Instructions:

1. Prepare: Sit for meditation, one thumb resting on the other, reflect gratefully >
2. Markers 01-03: Develop Markers 01-03 by enjoying the pleasure of relaxing and letting go. Observe how they develop mindfulness, curiosity & balanced effort.
3. Markers 04: Develop Marker 04 by enjoying the contentment of resting in Mindful Presence. Observe how Marker 04 develops meditative joy.
4. Markers 05-08: Develop Markers 05-08 by finding pleasure in your breathing and the growing sensory seclusion. Observe how they develop calm and tranquility.
5. Tranquility: Incline your mind toward enjoying the experience of the growing tranquility & seclusion.
6. Stability: Relax any desire 'to do' while tuning into the growing tranquility & seclusion to develop effortless, stable attention on one point of breath sensation.
7. Sustained: Allow your attention to sustain on one point of sensation so that the focus of your attention no longer wanders from your meditation object toward distractions.

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Detailed Explanation:

Meditation 10 Additions: Meditate only by Letting Go.

At this stage of meditation, it is important to learn to transition between Markers 01-09 in mindfulness of breathing, not by 'doing' each Marker but rather by allowing them to arise as a natural progression of relaxing and letting go, with clear comprehension. As you relax and let go, take an interest in how the development of Markers 01-09 establishes the first Five Awakening Factors: mindfulness, curiosity, balanced effort, meditative joy, & tranquility.

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Step 1: Prepare your body & mind for meditation.

• Sit for meditation, gently close your eyes, and place one hand in the other, resting in your lap, one thumb resting on the other as a grounding point for attention.
• Always begin your meditation by sweetening your mind by reflecting on simple things in your life for which you can be grateful, including this opportunity to meditate.

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Step 2:  Use momentum in letting go to develop Mindful Presence in Markers 01-03.

• Develop your skill in transitioning between Markers 01-03: M01: Body Relaxation > M02: Mind Relaxation > M03: Mindful Presence by taking your time to clearly comprehend and enjoy the subtle pleasure of relaxing and letting go. 
• Observe how these three Markers establish the first three Awakening Factors of mindfulness, curiosity & balanced effort.

When comfortable, include Step 3.

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Step 3: Use momentum in letting go to develop Joyful Presence in Marker 04.

• Develop your skill in transitioning from Marker 03-04: M03: Mindful Presence > M04: Joyful Presence by taking your time to clearly comprehend and enjoy the subtle pleasure of contentment. 
• Observe how developing contentment in Marker 04: Joyful Presence establishes the fourth Awakening Factor of Meditative Joy.

When comfortable, include Step 4.

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Step 4: Use momentum in letting go to develop stable attention in Markers 05-08.

• Develop your skill in transitioning from Marker 05-08: M05: Natural Breathing > M06: Length of Each Breath > M07: Breath Sensation > M08: One Point of Sensation by taking your time to clearly comprehend and enjoy the subtle pleasure of growing tranquility and seclusion.
• Observe how these four Markers develop and establish the fifth Awakening Factor of tranquility.

When comfortable, include Steps 5-8.

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Step 5: Enjoy the subtle pleasure of growing tranquility & seclusion.

• Gently smile into the pleasure of growing tranquility & seclusion while clearly comprehending the changing elemental qualities within the breath sensation. (You can replace breath with the touch of your thumbs if preferred). Enjoy the subtle pleasure of this experience until your attention becomes stable on the one point of breath sensation. This is done by continuing to enjoy the pleasure of letting go, rather than through effort. 

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Step 6: Develop stability of your attention on one point of breath sensation. 

• Continue gently softening your mental effort to calm all 'doing' within your mind. As your mind continues to calm by finding pleasure in the growing tranquility and seclusion, your attention will become effortlessly stable on one point of breath sensation. When effortless stability occurs, maintain silent, stable attention on one point of breath sensation. 
• When your attention becomes very stable, it no longer flickers to thoughts or other sensory experiences. Allow your attention to rest on that one point and perceive the beauty & pleasure in the experience of growing tranquility, with your attention sustained in the foreground on one point of sensation while keeping a background, peripheral awareness of your whole-body breathing.

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Step 7: Allow your attention to sustain on one point of breath-sensation.

• As the stability of your attention matures, it will sustain the breath-sensation and stay there by itself. This is experienced as a shift from effort to effortlessness. This shift is very distinct.

Note: For some meditators, as samadhi develops, the clarity of experience of sensations in their breathing may start to fade and even disappear. This is not due to subtle dullness as in Meditation Skill 08 but rather because of the increased unification of samadhi. If your attention is no longer wandering and your breath sensation disappears, keep your attention resting on that one point. 

As you do your breathing pattern will shift into effortlessness, and the breath-sensation will reappear. If it doesn't and your attention is no longer wandering, opening your awareness to your whole-body breathing, as in Meditation Skill 10, will re-establish the experience of breath sensation throughout your body. As long as your attention is freed from habitual wandering, you have achieved the purpose of Meditation Skill 09.

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 and calming the conditions supporting the associated Meditative Hindrance.

Your ninth step in meditation is to develop Marker 09: Sustained Attention (right column) to calm Hindrance 09: Subtle Wandering (left column). 

Progression Map for Mindfulness of Breathing

Meditative Hindrances.                       Meditation Markers.

                                                               01: Body Relaxation.

                                                               02: Mind Relaxation.

                                                               03: Mindful Presence.

                                                               04: Joyful Presence.

                                                               05: Natural Breathing.

                                                               06: Length of Each Breath.

                                                              07: Breath Sensations.

                                                              08: One Point of Sensation.

09: Subtle Wandering.          →        09: Sustained Attention.

10: Subtle Distraction.                      10: Whole-Body Breathing.

11: Anticipation of Pleasure.           11: Sustained Awareness.

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

As tranquility deepens and samadhi grows, your attention will become steady, firm and unmoving on one point of breath sensation. At this stage, meditators clearly experience a shift from effort to effortlessness. Because of the increased tranquility and stability, your mind will increase its sensitivity to subtle wanderings of attention that were never noticed before. This can be experienced as a flickering of attention towards sensory experience. This is known as subtle wandering because while attention wanders, it doesn't stay for long with any experience. Instead, it is inclined towards letting distraction go and returning to the experience of breath by itself.

Progression: Once you understand how to calm subtle wandering and develop effortless, sustained attention on one point of breath sensation, free from distraction, you are ready to develop Marker 10: Whole-Body Breathing.

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: Subtle Distraction.

11: Anticipation of Pleasure.

12: Fear of Letting Go.

Meditative Hindrance: 

Subtle Wandering (09).

Random, brief flickering of attention towards experiences. 

Subtle Wandering refers to the experience of little flickering movements of your attention away from your meditation object during meditation. Flickering of attention is observed at this stage because of deep relaxation and letting go of control. This is simply habitual scanning of your attention towards your six sense fields that occurs because you are no longer controlling your mind. When Subtle Wandering is present, you may have thoughts and other distractions arising in your background, peripheral awareness, but they do not draw the focus of your attention from your meditation object. As samadhi deepens, this flickering will naturally calm and come to an end for the period of the meditation by itself.

Antidote: Curiosity + developing your skill in accessing the pleasure of letting go within each of the Experiential Markers by relaxing and developing intimacy with each one. It is important to note that the conditions for accessing meditative pleasure & joy are dependent on your mind letting go. Everyday cycles of mental clinging based on feelings of attraction and aversion will affect your ability to sustain your attention. Curious observation and refinement of sila (morality), plus taking it easy in daily life while lowering sensory stimulation/distraction, will make meditative joy more accessible during meditation.

Congratulations, you have finished Cultivation 03.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 10: Whole-Body Breathing when:

• Your attention no longer wanders from your meditation object and effortlessly sustains (rests) on one point of breath sensation. There will still be sensory experiences and (might be) thoughts in the background, but they no longer draw your attention away from your meditation object.
• As your attention sustains, you begin to become aware, within the background peripheral awareness, of the pleasant experience of your whole body as it breathes.

Added Note: You will still have sensory experience within your background peripheral awareness, including some fleeting thoughts, but your attention will no longer move out to them.

• SoundCloud: Guided Meditation.
• Insight Timer: Guided Meditation.

Since the factors of softness, meditative joy, and tranquility are cultivated by tuning into the pleasure of letting go, any habitual grasping of your mind throughout the day will cause this pleasure to collapse.

Metaphor

Just as a canary can be used in a coalmine as an early warning system due to its sensitivity to air quality, the qualities of softness, joy, and tranquility within your meditative samadhi can be used as an early warning system due to their sensitivity to habitual clinging.

Meditation 09 in Daily Life:

1. Relax effort to bring awareness into your body.
2. Allow this peripheral awareness to shift to the background.
3. Smile into and enjoy this mindful presence to arouse joy.
4. Develop sensitivity to meditative joy within your mind.
5. Use meditative joy to observe your mind during the day.
6. Gently smile with your eyes to re-establish it when it weakens.
7. Tune into the arising pleasure of this return & letting go.
8. Smile into and encourage this joy to grow within your mind.

Question: When you refer to "one point of breath sensation", what exactly do you mean?

Stephen: When we are truly present with the changing sensations within the length of each breath at the tip of the nose, the memory of what just happened within the mind drops away.

With this fades the idea of time, of in and out-breaths, and all that we perceive is one point of changing breath sensation at the tip of the nose.

Question: Should I focus on the sensation of one nostril only?

Stephen: Be aware of wherever the experience of breathing is most clear to you.

Question: Could I move between nostrils?

Stephen: There is no need to observe that closely that you need to swap from one nostril to the other. Loosen your attention a bit to take in the whole experience as one. 

If the sensation then swaps from one nostril to the other fine, the important part is being aware of the changing sensations and allowing all intellectual activity to calm, such as concepts like left nostril, right nostril and so on so that attention becomes stable and no longer wanders.

Question: Or could one point simply be (paradoxically) both nostrils at the same time? Or should it be something even smaller than any of these options?

Stephen: Yes, one point isn't a minute point of accuracy, it is much more relaxed then that. It is not about the one point, but rather about creating an object for attention to become intimate that is stable and steady over time.

Question: Do I maintain attention on this one point in-between breaths, or can I use this gap to soften/relax any tension which has arisen elsewhere in the body? 

Stephen: Yes, attention rests on this one point even when the sensations disappear. Do not concern yourself with relaxing tension in your body, but rather relaxing effort within your body and mind.

It is effort that is gradually abandoned through the process of mindfulness of breathing, not tension. Tension will sort itself out when effort is relaxed in your mind and body.

Question: When I soften/relax, I feel a warm sensation (often in my throat) coupled with a feeling of subtle contentment. Is this what you mean by meditative joy? If so, I feel like "joy" might be overselling it somewhat! :D

Stephen: What you are experiencing is a reflection in your body of the growing contentment within your mind. Our body always reflects our stating of mind by changing how it feels.

When I talk of joy, I am not referring to the excited joy of a child at Christmas, but rather the happiness and contentment of a mind that has let go of concerns with experiencing the world.

Joy is experienced as a growing smile of happiness within the mind, awareness becomes clear, energetic yet calm. It contains the pleasure of putting down a heavy burden, of being on a holiday, of relief, of not having to do this anymore.

Question: During some sessions, my mind is heavily distracted and my ability to rest attention at the nose is severely diminished. In these circumstances, would it be ok to revert back to the previous GOSS process (ie. where you observe the autonomous nature of mind, rather than the enlightenment factors)?

Stephen: When samatha (calm, tranquility) is developed during mindfulness of breathing, based on the pleasure of letting go, the mind naturally cycles through three phases:

1. Samatha: An inclination towards calm and tranquility.
2. Vipassana: An inclination towards disenchantment & insight.
3. Sila: An inclination towards letting go and harmony.

This is a natural cycle that you will experience if you are letting go:

Calm --> Insight --> Letting go --> Calm --> Insight --> Letting go -->

When your mind becomes heavily distracted you are no longer in the samatha: calm phase, your mind has shifted into a vipassana: insight phase. this may happen because of disturbances in your daily life related to sila: morality, or because your mind has clearly seen anicca (impermanence, and anatta (not-self), so it has become disenchanted with your samatha object.

When disenchanted your mind will find fault with all experiencing and push everything away.

During a vipassana: insight phase you should not cling to your samatha object: breath at the tip of the nose, but rather align with the grounding skills you learnt in Meditations 01-04.

From mindfulness of body developed through relaxing effort, allow your mind to wander and go wild. Your only task is observing your minds autonomous nature and soften back into your body through relaxing effort, as in the GOSS Formula, until your mind lets go and enters a sila phase.

When your mind is ready it will naturally calm and incline towards samatha: calm and you then return to developing stable attention in mindfulness of breathing.

What is most important is not to fight these cycles, but rather to recognise and take advantage of them.

You can find a talk I gave on this cycling of the mind on you tube between the three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path https://youtu.be/yqGlkmrzL7k

Stephen: The meditative path in MIDL is made up of three parts: calm, insight, letting go. These three cultivations interact with each other in a cyclic fashion:

calm > insight > letting go >calm > insight > letting go > etc.

Samadhi > Panna > Sila.

1. Calm & tranquility is developed through samatha based samadhi.
2. Insight & wisdom is developed by observing anything that hinders the development of relaxation & calm.
3. Letting go & harmony occurs as a result of insight into anatta (autonomy) and disenchantment.

Your development of samatha-based samadhi founded on the pleasure of relaxation & calm during mindfulness of breathing has developed well. This is working as intended.

Question: I was in that spot for what felt like a few minutes. Then on my next out breath, with more focus on letting go, it felt like all sense of me vanished, like going into a vast tunnel, with my senses going offline. In this space, there was a lot of fear, almost existential terror starting to wash over this vast openness.

Stephen:As relaxation & calm develop so does the momentum of letting go. As momentum of letting go increases: "I am not in control", any fear within your mind of giving up control will be revealed.

This is one of the purposes of developing samatha based on letting go.

Then on my next out breath, with more focus on letting go, it felt like all sense of me vanished, like going into a vast tunnel, with my senses going offline. In this space, there was a lot of fear, almost existential terror starting to wash over this vast openness.

Your mind switched from samatha to vipassana-insight and saw the autonomous, anatta nature of itself.

This is part of the insight part of the path that occurs as calm develops and also working as intended.

When the anatta (autonomous nature) of experiencing is revealed to the mind, the mind becomes scared of not being in control and creates a foundation to rest on. This foundation, that makes your mind feel like it is in control is the fear/anxious response.

Like a child on a sliding down too fast on a slide in a playground, grasping onto the sides to slow down their decent, the mind quickly grasps onto the sensual world when it clearly views its own autonomy.

This is a normal part of the insight path and is a doorway to be passed through rather than to be avoided.

with more focus on letting go, it felt like all sense of me vanished, like going into a vast tunnel, with my senses going offline.

Question: A few minutes after ending the session, I experienced what felt like anxious tremors up and down my body for about 30 minutes while lying in bed

Stephen: Our mind does not know the difference between meditative experience and daily life. What you experienced was a meditative insight that revealed to your mind that it was not in control. 

The momentum of letting go was deeper than your mind was ready to experience.

The anxiety response you experienced was ordinary and mundane, the unpleasantness you experienced that drove the fear however was meditative and insight based.

Also worth noting, I have a long history of intense anxiety.

Now this is an important part of insight meditation based on letting go: we can't escape from ourselves.

How your mind responds to things in daily life when they arise, it will also respond to things when they arise during your meditation.

Anxiety is a defense mechanism of the mind that is produced when the mind is scared that it is unsafe and importantly, feels out of control.

It is now time to use the softening skills that you have developed in MIDL to gradually dismantle this habitual stress/anxiety.

This means in calm > insight > letting go to focus on deepening your skill of letting go of fear-based control during both seated meditation and in daily life.

How to approach this.

In seated meditation spend more time resting in the pleasure of letting go in each of the experiential markers.

01: Body relaxation.

02: Mind relaxation.

03: Mindful presence.

04: Joyful presence.

05: Natural breathing.

06: Whole of each breath.

07: Sensations in breathing.

08: One point of sensation.

09: Sustained attention.

10: Whole-body breathing.

11: Sustained awareness.

12: Access concentration.

1. How deeply can you relax and let go in your body in marker 01?
2. How deeply can you relax and let go in marker 02?
3. How deeply can develop contentment in marker 03 and so on?

Gradually exposing your mind to momentum of letting go and the pleasure found within it. Resting in the growing stillness and teaching your mind that letting go of control is safe.

With gradual training in this way and slowly exposing your mind to what it fears, while softening/relaxing the effort of resistance, gradually, without strain, your mind will become comfortable with the above experience.

The willingness of letting go of control during these samadhi states, is significantly enhanced by focusing on the sila aspect of the path and increasing your devotion by reflecting on and offering your heart & trust towards the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha (suddha).

It is perfectly safe to rest in these samadhi states, and many people have followed this same path over the last 2600 years including other meditators within the MIDL and Buddhist communities around you.

This type of reflection is powerful for building trust and letting go within the mind.

In daily life the experience of anxiety needs to become your meditative path. No longer using meditation to try to get beyond it but rather to develop insight into it by dismantling it in a skillful way.

There are three steps to deconditioning this anxious response in daily life:

https://midlmeditation.com/meditation-for-anxiety

1. Retrain your breathing patterns to diaphragmatic breathing.
2. Use diaphragmatic breathing and softening to create gaps in your stress/anxiety reponse during your day.
3. Once your anxious response is weakened, intention bringing to mind and deeply softening against unpleasant memories (trigger points) in a precise yet gentle way.

This will desensitise your stress response and bring anxiety to an end. you are welcome to continue this conversation with guidance in doing this here, or with questions in my weekly online classes.