Live Streamed Classes: Changing Breath Perception

MIDL Mindfulness Meditation

MIDL Mindfulness MeditationMIDL Mindfulness MeditationMIDL Mindfulness Meditation
  • Home
    • Online Meditation Lessons
    • Mindfulness Training Menu
    • Meditation Questions
    • Meditation Talks
    • Meditation Books
    • Daily Meditation
    • Insight Timer Menu
    • Meditation for Anxiety
    • Meditation Classes
    • About Me
    • About MIDL
    • Your Reviews
    • MIDL Downloads
    • Glossary of Terms
    • Website Map
  • Contact Me
    • Home
    • Meditation
      • Online Meditation Lessons
      • Mindfulness Training Menu
      • Meditation Questions
      • Meditation Talks
      • Meditation Books
      • Daily Meditation
      • Insight Timer Menu
    • MIDL 4 Anxiety
      • Meditation for Anxiety
    • Classes
      • Meditation Classes
    • About
      • About Me
      • About MIDL
      • Your Reviews
      • MIDL Downloads
      • Glossary of Terms
      • Website Map
    • Contact Me

MIDL Mindfulness Meditation

MIDL Mindfulness MeditationMIDL Mindfulness MeditationMIDL Mindfulness Meditation
  • Home
  • Contact Me

MIDL Training 31-36

  In MIDL Mindfulness Training 31 - 36 you develop your skill in cultivating wholesome qualities of heart and mind that combine / bring together. This includes further refinement and understanding of the MIDL softening skill developed through the softening doorways.

Back to main menu

 MINDFULNESS TRAINING 

31/52:  Develop Forgiveness

begin my training

  MINDFULNESS TRAINING

32/52: Develop Gratitude

begin my training

 MINDFULNESS TRAINING

33/52: Softening Door 1

begin my training

 MINDFULNESS TRAINING

34/52: Softening Door 2

begin my training

 MINDFULNESS TRAINING 

35/52: Softening Door 3

begin my training

 MINDFULNESS TRAINING 

36/52: Softening Door 4

begin my training


MIDL Mindfulness Training 31/52

Forgiveness: Healing the Heart

Simple Instructions:

Offer forgiveness towards your, then another for anything that has been done to bring hurt to your heart. 


Purpose:

  • Cultivate positive qualities of heart.
  • Bring awareness from the past to the present.
  • Change our perception of the present experience.
  • Put down conflict within our self. 


Benefits:

  • Put down the conflict with ones self and others.
  •  Live a happy and connected life.
  • Make good friendships and relationships with yourself and others.
  • Sleep deeply and peacefully without fear.  


"Forgiveness does not say that what happened is ok, but rather it says "What has happened, has happened and I can not change it; I will not suffer over this anymore". As long as we do not forgive our self or others we will be living a life conditioned by our relationship to the past. By putting down our pain through forgiveness, the pains of the past come to an end and awareness more easily dwells within the present experience creating the conditions for wisdom to arise."


Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 31/52 it is time to develop forgiveness towards yourself and others in order to put down the pain of the past. Forgiveness does not say that what happened is ok, but rather it says "What has happened, has happened and I can not change it; I will not suffer over this anymore". As long as we do not forgive our self or others we will be living a life conditioned by our relationship to the past. By putting down our pain through forgiveness, the pains of the past come to an end and awareness more easily dwells within the present experience creating the conditions for wisdom to arise.


Instruction: 

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.


The Three Stages:

Step 1: Ask Yourself for Forgiveness
Sit down, close your eyes and bring yourself to mind. Forgive yourself for all the things you have done to bring harm to yourself.


“(your name here), if I have done anything to hurt you in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, please forgive me.”


Say this slowly and gently with meaning three times and each time picture yourself gently saying back: “I forgive you.”


Step 2: Ask Another for Forgiveness
Now think of someone that you have hurt in some way. Ask for their forgiveness to allow healing by silently saying to them:


“(their name here), if I have done anything to hurt you in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, please forgive me.”
 

Say this slowly and gently with meaning three times and each time picture them gently saying back to you: “I forgive you.”
 

Step 3: Offer Forgiveness to Another
Now think of someone that has hurt you in some way. Offer them your forgiveness to allow healing by silently saying to them:
 

“(their name here), for any hurt that you have caused me, in any way, knowingly or unknowingly, I forgive you.”
 

Say this slowly and gently with meaning three times and each time picture them gently saying back to you: “thank you.”


How Often?: 

Practice daily for 1 week or until the feel that you have forgiven your past. Then practice weekly or as needed to no longer create any past pain.
 

Investigation:

Observe the relationship between memories and past pain. Be curious about how your mind clings to and creates a reality called the past. A reality that if you observe closely can not be see, here, in this room, now. A reality that only you can know or experience. Observe how selective past memory is, how this selection is influenced by the emotion that was present when the memory was made. Observe how the mind focuses in on only one aspect, but when observed that the memory itself is unclear and uncertain, can not be trusted or believed. Observe the freedom and feeling of lightness that arises when you put down past pain.

Questions About MIDL 31/52
back to menu


MIDL Mindfulness Training 32/52

Daily Gratitude Practice

Simple Instructions:

Offer gratitude by reflecting on simple things in your life that you have to be grateful for, encourage the grateful feeling.


Purpose:

  • Cultivate positive qualities of heart.
  • Bring awareness from the future to the present.
  • Change our perception of the present experience.
  • Put down discontentment within our self.

  

Benefits:

  • Put down discontentment with our life.
  • Live a happy and more connected life.
  • Make good friendships and relationships with yourself and others.
  • Sleep deeply and peacefully without fear or regret.


"While forgiveness is concerned with healing your relationship towards the past, gratitude is concerned with establishing awareness within the present experience through removing longing for the future. When gratitude is not present we lose sight of what is important within our life and start focusing on how we feel things should be. This creates a divide between reality and our desires causing suffering to arise within our life."

Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 32/52 you intentionally bring awareness towards the simple things within your life in order to cultivate a sense of gratitude. While forgiveness is concerned with healing your relationship towards the past, gratitude is concerned with establishing awareness within the present experience through removing longing for the future. When gratitude is not present we lose sight of what is important within our life and start focusing on how we feel things should be. This creates a divide between reality and our desires causing suffering to arise.


Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in any posture.


The Four Stages:

Step 1: Reflect on Small Things in Life

Sit down and reflect on small things in your life you have to be grateful for. Your house to keep you dry, clothing, food to eat, water to drink. Simple things that you may have taken for granted.


“Thank you for all that I have in my life”   

“Thank you for my ( _ _ _ _ _ _ )”            “I am so blessed.”  

“Thank you for my ( _ _ _ _ _ _ )”            “I am so fortunate.”


Keep gently repeating these phrases to yourself, in no hurry, and really mean it. Smile when you say it. The key is to develop the feeling of gratitude that comes from this reflection.


Step 2: Reflect on People in Your Life

Now reflect on people within your life that you are grateful for.


“Thank you (insert name) for loyalty and friendship.” 

“I really do appreciate having you in my life.”

“Thank you (insert name) for all you have done for me.” 

“I am blessed to have you in my life.”


Keep focusing on them in your mind allowing the feeling to grow.


Step 3: Allow the Feeling to Grow Within 

Next send your thoughts of gratitude out into your neighborhood, suburb, city, state, country and beyond.


“Thank you for all that I have in my life, I am truly blessed.”


How Often?

Practice daily on waking or before falling asleep. Look for opportunities  to reflect on and express what you are fortunate to have within your life.. 


Investigation:

Observe the relationship between discontent and constant rumination in regards to the future. Observe your mind obsessing on complaining about what is happening now. Notice to correlation between this habitual complaining and your state of happiness. Observe the contentment that arises within your mind when you are focused on what is right instead of what is wrong within your life. Observe how focusing into the future causes disharmony within your life while focusing on what you have to be grateful for creates harmony.

Questions About MIDL 32/52
back to menu


MIDL Mindfulness Training 33/52

Softening Door 1: Abandoning

Simple Instructions:

Mentally picture parts of your body lifting, feel the muscles respond and then abandon the intention within your mind.


Purpose:

  • Bring the relaxation of the body that comes from abandoning the desire to do.
  • Bring the relaxation of the mind that comes from abandoning the desire to do.
  • Ability to abandon the desire before any thought, speech or action.
  • Decondition defensive habitual patterns through mindful non-participation.


Benefits:

  • Put down resistance with our life.
  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns.
  • Lower the experience of anxiety within life.
  • Sleep deeply and peacefully.


Caution:

During this meditation we intentionally trigger painful memories to develop understanding of the relationship between our body, breathing and mind. If you are currently experiencing anxiety only practice this technique under the guidance of a trained professional.

  

Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 33/52 you cultivate the MIDL skill of abandoning the desire 'to do' within your mind, by engaging and abandoning the desire to move within different parts of your body. Through this softening doorway you will learn how to observe the resistance that arises within your body from the desire to react and also the peace that arises within your body and mind when that desire is abandoned. This Softening Door is also used as a MIDL Softening Technique for lowering the symptoms of anxiety when based on habitual chronic fear due to past trauma.


Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.


The Six Stages:

1. Ground awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.


2. Picture your arm moving, feel the muscles gather ready to lift without lifting the arm.


3. Then drop the desire to move and feel the relaxation come to the arm and the mind.


4. Cycle different parts of your body, lifting and dropping the desire on each part twice.


5. When fully relaxed lift and drop your whole body.


6. Feel your body lift and drop naturally with each in and out-breath.


How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits and systematically lift and drop different parts of your body until you develop a deep understanding of the connection between abandoning desire and deep physical and mental relaxation.


Investigation:

Take interest in how when the intention to move is created, your body responds to this desire through creating tension. Be curious in regards to the physical relaxation that you feel in your body when that desire to move is abandoned. Also take interest in the disturbance that arises within the mind with the creation of the desire to move; the mental relaxation and stillness that arises with the mind with the abandonment of that desire.

Questions About MIDL 33/52
back to menu


MIDL Mindfulness Training 34/52

Softening Door 2: The Diaphragm

Simple Instructions:

Place fingers below belly button, take 5 slow breaths by extending the lower abdominal muscles out and lowering them back again.


Purpose:

  • Develop understanding of the relationship between the diaphragm and stress.
  • Learn the skill turning of desensitizing the stress response in daily life.
  • Create gaps in habitual patterns through interfering with stress breathing.
  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns through mindful non-participation. 


Benefits:

  • Put down resistance with our life.
  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns.
  • Lower the experience of anxiety within life.
  • Sleep deeply and peacefully.


Caution:

During this meditation we intentionally trigger painful memories to develop understanding of the relationship between our body, breathing and mind. This technique can also be trained through intentionally stress breathing in order to learn how to turn off stress hyperventilation in daily life. If you are currently experiencing anxiety only practice this technique under the guidance of a trained professional. The basis for this skill is MIDL Mindfulness Training 3/52: Retraining Stress Breathing Patterns. 


Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 34/52 you cultivate the skill of re-engaging the diaphragm to turn of the habitual stress response. This is part of the MIDL skill of deconditioning habitual defensive patterns of mind. Once this skill of 'abandoning' through the re-engaging of the diaphragm has been developed, it can be used in seated meditation for calming the five hindrances to meditation and in daily life as a way of deconditioning harmful habitual patterns of reaction.The ability to re-engage the diaphragm when it dis-engages due to the stress response is a primary MIDL Softening skill and should be refined. This is also a main technique for removing anxiety created by habitual stress breathing.


Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.


The Seven Stages:

1. Ground awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.


2. Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe within your body, breathing and mind.


3. Place fingers just below belly button, pressing in slightly to feel the movement.


4. Slowly extend lower abdominal muscles out-wards to draw breath in through the nose.


5. Slowly lower abdominal muscles back in-wards to expel breath out through the nose.


6. Intentionally slow down the out-breath to re-engage the diaphragm after 5 breaths.


7. Sit still for 10 seconds and observe the change within your mind, body and breathing.


How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits . Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe the effect it has on your body, breathing and mind. this same process of observation of the stress response can be done by taking five intentional stress breaths. Once your breathing patterns has changed to stress breathing you then intentionally take 5 diaphragm breaths to re-engage the diaphragm in autonomous, rest / digest breathing. This should then be applied in daily life whenever you notice that your breathing patterns have changed as part of the process of mindful deconditioning.


Investigation:

Be curious in regards to the relationship between mental resistance and the stress response. Take interest in regards the physical and mental changes that you experience when you are stress breathing.

  • Mental fogginess, light headedness, difficulty in focusing.
  • Physical tension, particularly in shoulders, chest and throat.
  • Increased thinking and mental restlessness.
  • Tightening and disengagement of diaphragm


Take interest in regards the physical and mental changes that you experience through re-engaging of the diaphragm, observing after 10 seconds.

  • Feeling of mental spaciousness, mental fogginess fades, easy to focus.
  • Body relaxes, a feeling of contentment arises.
  • Mental calmness, thinking settles down and may even completely stop.
  • Diaphragm re-engages in lower belly, calming with each out-breath.

Questions About MIDL 34/52
back to menu


MIDL Mindfulness Training 35/52

Softening Door 3: The Out-breath

Simple Instructions:

Picture your breath starting below your belly button, bring it up into your chest, extend each out-breath through your nose relax.


Purpose:

  • To calm the effort within the mind that causes thinking.   
  • To abandon participation with habitual thinking processes.
  • To re-engage autonomous breathing during meditation. 
  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns through mindful non-participation.


Benefits:

  • Put down resistance with our life.
  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns.
  • Lower the experience of anxiety within life.
  • Sleep deeply and peacefully.


Caution:

During this meditation we intentionally trigger painful memories to develop understanding of the relationship between our body, breathing and mind. This technique can also be trained through intentionally stress breathing in order to learn how to turn off stress hyperventilation in daily life. If you are currently experiencing anxiety only practice this technique under the guidance of a trained professional. The basis for this skill is MIDL Mindfulness Training 3/52: Retraining Stress Breathing Patterns.


Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 35/52 you cultivate the skill of slowly releasing the out-breath through your nose, as if sighing, in order to experience deep mental relaxation as a basis for 'abandoning' participation with all experience. Extending the length of the out-breath slowly through your nose has the effect of relaxing the frontal lobes of brain creating the conditions for mindful non-participation. This Softening skill is also used for deconditioning the unpleasantness attached to memories.


Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.


The Five Stages:

1. Ground awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.
 

2. Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe within your body, breathing and mind.
 

3. Intentionally take a few slow out-breaths through the nose to mentally relax participation.
 

4. Observe the effect that slowing the out-breath through the nose has on the mind.


5. Observe the effect that slowing the out-breath through the nose has on thinking.


How Often?

Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits . Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe the effect it has on your body, breathing and mind. Observe any tension with your mind, the response within your body and the acceleration of the thinking process. Take a few slow breaths out through your nose and relax all mental participation with any thoughts that are present. 


Investigation:

Observe how thinking dissolves with this mindful non-participation. Start to apply this method in your seated meditation. Whenever your attention wanders off to thinking, acknowledge it, ground awareness within your body and then take one slow breath out through your nose to bring about mindful non-participation. When beginning mindfulness of breathing slowly breathe out through your nose, then relax and wait for the breath to come in by itself, autonomously. In daily life observe habitual thinking patterns and let a slow breath out through your nose to mentally relax and withdraw your participation in them.

Questions About MIDL 35/52
back to Menu


MIDL Mindfulness Training 36/52

Softening Door 4: Relax Eyelids

Simple Instructions:

Allow your eyelids lids to droop close, partially open them and allow them to droop close again. Repeat until they won't open. 


Purpose:

  • To calm proliferation within the mind.
  • To bring about mindful non-participation.
  • To create safety within the mind reliving trauma.
  • To calm the anxious mind.


Benefits:

  • Decondition habitual defensive patterns.
  • Bring anxiety cycle to an end.
  • Heal trauma based on painful memories.
  •  Decondition emotional charge from memories.


Caution:

During this meditation we intentionally trigger painful memories to develop understanding of the relationship between our body, breathing and mind. If you are currently experiencing anxiety only practice this technique under the guidance of a trained professional.


Summary:

In MIDL Mindfulness Training 36/52 you learn the subtle skill of relaxing your eyelids and eyes to directly bring about deep relaxation within your mind. There is a direct correlation between the alertness of the eyes & eyelids and hyper-vigilance of the fight / flight response. When in a hyper alert state due anxiety or trauma the eyes open wider searching for danger. Relaxing the eyelids and intensity of 'looking' has the affect of temporarily turning off this fight / flight response and allowing the mind to find safety within the experience of Stillness. During this process deep healing can occur.


Instruction:

Meditation is practiced in a seated position.


The Four Stages:

1. Ground your awareness within the experience of your body as it sits.


2. Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe within your body, breathing and mind.


3. Intentionally relax your eyelids, allow them to droop. Open slightly and allow them to relax again.


4. Observe the effect that relaxing your eyelids has on your body, breathing and mind.


How Often?

 Practice daily for 1 week by bringing your awareness to the experience of your whole body as it sits. Bring a difficult memory to mind and observe the effect it has on your body, breathing and mind. Observe any tension with your mind, the response within your body and the acceleration of the thinking process. Settle the resistance of your mind by slowly relaxing and opening your eyelids. Pay attention to the feeling of heaviness, allowing your eyelids to droop. As your eyelids become heavier gradually lesson how wide your open your eyelids until you can not open them anymore. Observe your mind drop into still awareness and the function of your mind come to a stop.


Investigation:

Observe effect on your mind with the gradual relaxing of your eyelids. Take interest in how your body conditions your mind and how your mind conditions your body. Observe how this softening door affects the intellectual functioning of the mind.

Questions About MIDL 36/52
back to menu

Copyright © 2020 Meditation in The Shire - All rights reserved. 

Using Material? Please link back to this website and give credit to author Stephen Procter.

  • Home
  • Website Map
  • Contact Me