MIDL Insight Meditation System

Welcome to your journey into MIDL. 

MIDL stands for Mindfulness in Daily Life, pronounced 'middle', as it seeks the middle way in insight meditation practice that integrates the refinement of calm, insight and morality as the natural progression of insight practice. This course will help you bring the benefits of Theravada Buddhist Insight Meditation, based on calm, insight and morality, into your daily life. This practical path is beneficial for both new meditators looking for relaxation and experienced meditators wishing to integrate insight meditation into their daily life between meditation retreats.

What sets MIDL apart is its unique approach to insight meditation. It places a strong emphasis on finding enjoyment in meditation and harnessing the spiritual vedana (pleasantness) that arises from the act of softening to train our mind and heart to let go. This path of calm leads to insight, which in turn refines morality, thereby fostering harmony and increasing calm, creating a circular approach to insight meditation that naturally integrates in everyday life.

The framework for MIDL insight meditation is simple.

1. Calm: Meditate daily to develop your foundation of relaxation & calm (samatha) in your body, known as kaya-gata sati: mindfulness immersed in your body.
2. Insight: Develop insight (vipassana) into the conditions that support anything that hinders or disturbs your ability to access samatha in seated meditation and daily life.
3. Letting Go: Apply the GOSS Formula: Ground > Observe > Soften > Smile to weaken any hindrance or disturbance to your ability to access relaxation and calm. Softening and smiling as you relax will return awareness to your body and reward your mind for letting go.

Meditation Course Structure.

This insight meditation course is developed by following six cultivations of meditative skill, using mindfulness of breathing, based on the integration of calm and insight, as a foundation.

• Cultivation 01: Mindfulness of Body: In this first lesson, we will focus on learning key foundational skills that will allow you to bring insight meditation into your daily life. 1) Softening. 2) Mindfulness of your body. 3) How to develop insight following the GOSS Formula.
• Cultivation 02: Mindfulness of Breathing: From the foundation of mindfulness of your body, you will begin to train your attention and settle your mind by being mindful of your body as it breathes.
• Cultivation 03: Calm & Tranquillity: As your mind settles down, you will develop deeper states of relaxation, calm and tranquillity to pacify your intellectual mind so your mind can rest in pure, clear awareness.
• Cultivation 04: Joyfulness & Unification: As relaxation, calm, and tranquillity grow, your body and mind will feel the pleasure of letting go that comes as your mind is secluded from the sensual world, developing the conditions for access concentration.
• Cultivation 05: Pleasure Jhana & Equanimity: Access concentration is the doorway to jhana: wholesome (kusala) absorption. Accessing every refining, wholesome pleasure of jhana will increase the momentum of your mind's inclination toward letting go in your daily life.
• Cultivation 06: Advanced Insight & Application: As you access deep contentment and equanimity in the third and fourth pleasure jhana, you will use these jhana factors as you emerge from jhana to increase the clarity of your insight during the rest of your seated meditation, during walking meditation and in your daily activities to create the conditions for Sotapanna (Stream Entry) insight.

Meditation Progression. 

It is important to recognise that each of us begins our meditation path from different starting points. We have different ancestors, life experiences, mental habits, physical bodies and living environment. As such, the way that meditation experience unfolds and where a particular meditator should focus varies from person to person and day to day. Because of this, it is essential to approach the insight meditation course as a systematic way of learning a set of valuable skills in calm and insight rather than as a linear progression of achievements. The real reflection of insight meditation progression is the lowering of suffering in your daily life, and the increase of wholesome qualities such as love, kindness, caring, generosity and gratitude in your interaction with yourself, others and the world you live in.

The MIDL Community and teachers are here to support you on your journey. While what we experience in meditation may be different for each of us, we have the commonality of desire and aversion and the innate possibility of becoming more kind and caring to ourselves, others and the world we live in. Regardless of our past, an insight meditation path based on developing a momentum of letting go in our hearts, minds and bodies based on calm, insight and letting go is the same for us all.

It is with these final words that I welcome you to the community and on your journey into MIDL. This insight meditation course is supported by:

1. Online meditation classes
2. Workshops and retreats
3. Community shared meditations
4. Personal guidance with Stephen
5. MIDL community Reddit forum.

You are welcome to ask any questions of the teachers or community in the above events, as you may have about your meditation practice as you follow this online course.

With kindness, 

Stephen Procter.

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Suitability: Everyone.

Membership: No membership required.

Purpose: To create a foundation of mindfulness of your body for calm and insight.

What you will learn:

1. How to lower stress & anxiety.
2. How to relax your body & mind.
3. How to soften and let go of distraction.
4. How to develop mindfulness of your body.

New Meditators: If you are new to meditation and would like to develop a daily meditation practice, I recommend beginning here. 14-Day Introductory Course: How to Meditate for Calm.

Experienced Meditators: If you are experienced in meditation, I recommend beginning with Meditation Skill 01 to become familiar with MIDL's approach to calm and insight.

Course Lessons:

Progressive mindfulness of breathing:

• Skill 00: Diaphragm Breathing.
• Skill 01: Relaxing Your Body.
• Skill 02: Relaxing Your Mind.
• Skill 03: Mindful Presence.

Support Article.

• GOSS Formula: How to Let Go of Distraction.

If you enjoy Cultivation 01, please consider MIDL Community Membership to access the complete MIDL Insight Meditation Course. It costs nothing more than the time it takes to create a login, and it shows your interest to the teachers and the MIDL Community.

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Suitability: Intermediate meditator.

Membership: Membership is required.

Purpose: To develop continuity of mindfulness during mindfulness of breathing.

What you will learn:

1. How to access the spiritual pleasure of letting go.
2. How to find contentment and enjoyment in simple things.
3. How to develop a playful curiosity for insight into mental habits.
4. How to weaken habitual patterns through the GOSS Formula.

Course Lessons:

Progressive mindfulness of breathing:

• Skill 04: Content Presence.
• Skill 05: Natural Breathing.
• Skill 06: Whole of Each Breath.

Support Articles.

• Meditation Markers
• Meditative Hindrances

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Suitability: Skilled meditator.

Membership: Membership is required.

Purpose: To settle your intellectual mind by developing calm & tranquillity.

What you will learn:

1. How to calm habitual mind wandering.
2. How to develop calm and tranquillity.
3. How to develop sustained attention.

Course Lessons:

Progressive mindfulness of breathing:

• Skill 07: Breath Sensations.
• Skill 08: One Point of Sensation.
• Skill 09: Sustained Attention.

Support Article:

• Working with Dullness

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Suitability: Accomplished meditator.

Membership: Membership is required.

Purpose: To develop access concentration in preparation for jhana.

What you will learn:

1. How to withdraw awareness from your senses.
2. How to develop access concentration for jhana.
3. How to cultivate piti and sukha for jhana.

Course Lessons:

Progressive mindfulness of breathing:

• Skill 10: Whole-Body Breathing.
• Skill 11: Sustained Awareness.
• Skill 12: Access Concentration.

Support Article:

• Noble Eightfold Path

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Suitability: Proficient meditator.

Membership: Membership is required.

Purpose: To develop the first four pleasure jhanas and equanimity for advanced insight practice.

What you will learn:

1. How to access the first pleasure jhana.
2. How to access the second pleasure jhana.
3. How to access the third pleasure jhana.
4. How to access the fourth pleasure jhana.

Course Lessons:

Use the momentum of letting go and the pleasure of piti-sukha to access the pleasure jhanas.

• Skill 13: First Pleasure Jhana.
• Skill 14: Second Pleasure Jhana.
• Skill 15: Third Pleasure Jhana.
• Skill 16: Fourth Pleasure Jhana.

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Suitability: Advanced meditator.

Membership: Membership is required.

Purpose: To develop deep insight into anicca, anatta and idappaccayatā to create the conditions for Sotapanna: Stream Entry.

What you will learn:

1. How to create the conditions for Sotāpanna Insight.
2. How to recognise the conditions after Sotāpanna Insight.
3. How to create the conditions for Sakadāgāmi Insight.
4. How to recognise the conditions after Sakadāgāmi Insight.

Course Lessons:

Use the accumulation of your skill in jhana to establish the Seven Awakening Factors and create the conditions for Sotapanna Insight.

1. Creating the conditions for Sotāpanna: Stream Entry
2. Creating the conditions for Sakadāgāmi: Once Returner

**The purpose of this course is to guide meditators interested in developing sutta-based Theravada Buddhist Insight Meditation within everyday household life. Once a meditator's mind has reached this level of insight, course-based instruction is no longer effective, and in-person guidance with a skilled teacher or spiritual friend is more beneficial for exploring deeper paths.

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