STEP 3: Develop Skill in Mindfulness of Breathing

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In TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing you will In learn skills that will develop different aspects of your attention in order to bring harmony to the way that your mind functions. These disharmonies that we experience in our mind when it is out of balance are known as the Meditative Hindrances (ref).  

       If you think about daily physical exercise and the harmony it brings to your body, than you can begin to understand the importance of daily exercise for your mind. Improved mental health means that your mind more harmoniously handles stressors within your life. Lower reactivity, less mental chatter, increased clarity, lower resistance; all these are signs of the mental health I speak of.

     The mental training in this section will bring stability and harmony to the structure of your attention. At first you may start to notice just how unfit your mind actually is, you may forget what you are doing, become, sleepy, restless or bored, become lost within endless mental chatter. All these are a sign that you could benefit from daily exercise and should be a path towards possibilities rather than something to be ignored. In this section you will learn specific mental exercises to change the structure of your attention, and with practice this will change the way that your mind deals with stressors and difficulties within your life. With this invitation we take your understanding of softening and grounding, using it as a basis to exercise your attention.

In TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing you will develop your attention by following the first 9 Experiential Markers (ref) provided. These 9 Markers are observable experiences that appear as a direct reflection of the development of samadhi (unification of attention).  It is important to note that while you develop meditative skill using these 9 Markers you will be visited by the first 13 Meditative Hindrances (ref): restlessness, thinking, wandering, forgetting, dullness etc. These are called hindrances to meditation because they block the natural development of your samadhi. Whenever they arise don't take them personally, instead learn to recognise them and then use the skill you developed in Step 2: Develop Skill in Softening & Grounding (ref) to return balance to your mind. 

Start at Experiential Marker 1, take your time and develop skill of keeping one simple object in mind before moving onto the next. Think of this as being systematic mental training, in the same way that you would gradually increase your physical strength in a gym, by gradually increasing weight and difficulty in the workout. The main difference however between physical exercising and mental, is that mental training benefits more from relaxing and is hindered by exertion and strain.

MEDITATION STRUCTURE

Take a comfortable posture for your meditation. Place one palm in the other, resting your lap, thumbs lightly touching. Begin meditation by relaxing your eyelids, allowing them to droop. Allowing this relaxation to gradually flow down your face, through your body part by part, becoming very present. From a foundation of relaxation, progressively train your attention on each of the above Markers. Each Marker introduces a new meditation level and object to your daily meditation. Introduce each Experiential Marker sequentially from Marker 1-12, stabilising your attention on each until you can reliably reach access concentration (unified stable attention, free from the meditative hindrances). 

Insight in TIER 1 is developed you becoming curious about and learning to recognise all the different things that appear to hinder your meditation. I say 'appear to hinder' because even though restlessness, forgetting, wandering, thinking, dullness etc. slow down the development of samadhi (unification of attention), they are the content of and opportunity for insight into your heart and mind.

Insight arises during TIER 1 by:  

• Learning to recognise the 16 Meditative Hindrances (ref) as they arise. 
• Developing understanding of the conditions that cause them to arise.  
• Developing skill in changing the conditions that feed them by softening. 

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• PANNA: Wisdom
• SILA: Harmony
• SAMADHI: Unification

=SAMADHI:  The purpose of TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing is to develop skill in the development of samadhi by understanding and balancing the Meditative Hindrances.

SEVEN FACTORS OF ENLIGHTENMENT

1. Mindfulness (sati)
2. Curiosity (lit: investigation of reality (dhammavicaya))
3. Effort (viriya)
4. Joy (piti)
5. Calm, Tranquility (passaddhi)
6. Unification (samadhi)
7. Equanimity (upekkha)

CULTIVATED = Mindfulness, Curiosity, Effort, Calm

BALANCED = Curiosity and Calm

Too much curiosity in meditation leads to increased mental activity and restlessness.

Too much calming in meditation lead dropping of curiosity and dullness.

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Mindfulness of breathing in MIDL follows a very specific path that naturally reveals itself with the development of samadhi. This path is made up of twelve simple stages known as the 12 Experiential Markers.

Mindfulness of breathing in MIDL is made up of twelve simple stages known as the 12 Experiential Markers. These 12 Experiential Markers offer a systematic way of cultivating and tracking the development of samadhi during mindfulness of breathing. Development of these 12 Markers is separated into Tier 1 and Tier 2 Mindfulness of Breathing.

MARKER 1

Touch of your thumbs.

MARKER 2: 

The experience of sitting in the room.

MARKER 3:

Your whole body as it sits.

MARKER 4:

Bodily sensations and points of touch.

MARKER 5:

The natural flow of breath in your body.

MARKER 6:

Knowing in and out breaths (nose or abdomen).

MARKER 7:

Knowing the full length of each breath.

MARKER 8:

Knowing sensation within each breath.

MARKER 9:

Knowing one point of breath sensation.

MARKER 10

Knowing subtle movement of body breathing.

MARKER 11

Stable attention on one point of sensation.

MARKER 12

Unified stable attention, free from hindrances.

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RETURN TO PATH 2

Begin your meditation by developing skill in Experiential Marker 1, then join it onto Experiential Marker 2 and so on until your daily meditation includes Experiential Markers 1-9. While developing these nine markers different experiences such as restlessness, wandering, thinking, sleepiness etc. will arise, these are known as the Meditative Hindrances. These hindrances are simply a sign of imbalance within the energy levels and structure of your attention. To develop insight in Tier 1, learn to recognise Meditative Hindrances 1-13 and develop skill in regaining balance when they occur.

THERES NO RUSH

Take your time learning each Marker, as each one will develop a different aspect of your attention. When your attention becomes stable on one Marker, you are ready to include the next one. once you are familiar with the Markers you will be able to simply relax your effort, and due to the samadhi present, the next Marker will reveal itself to you.

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The progression of the 12 Experiential Markers (ref) is hindered sequentially by the arising of 16 Meditative Hindrances (lit: imbalances in attention or effort). Your task is to first learn to recognise each individual hindrance and how to regain balance within your attention.

1. STRESS REACTIONS

Habituated stress/anxiety reactions of the mind.

2. PHYSICAL RESTLESSNESS

Unable to experience physical comfort.

3. MENTAL RESTLESSNESS

Unable to experience mental comfort.

4. HABITUAL FORGETTING

Habitually forgetting your meditation object.

5. GROSS WANDERING

Attention habitually scanning the six senses.

6. DIRECTED THINKING

Thinking regarding past and future events.

7. WANDERING

Random, meaningless thoughts, images and fantasies.

8. DOUBT

Losing trust in your meditation practice, technique, teacher.

9. GROSS DULLNESS

Complete collapse of clarity of awareness.

10. GROSS RESTLESSNESS

Restlessness towards your meditation session.

11. SUBTLE DULLNESS

Loss of clarity of meditation object (sensations).

12. SUBTLE WANDERING

Random, brief background thoughts.

13. SUBTLE RESTLESSNESS

Shaking due to effort in applied attention.

14. SUBTLE INSTABILITY

Shaking due to desire to control.

15. ANTICIPATION

Desire for pleasurable states.

16. FEAR

Fear of giving up all control.

RETURN TO PATH 1

RETURN TO PATH 2

The 16 Meditative Hindrances may hinder the development of samadhi, but they are not hindrances to the development of insight - they are the content of insight. Treat each meditative hindrance that arises as an opportunity to develop insight by using this simple formula:

FORMULA FOR INSIGHT

1. Learn to recognise each individual hindrance.
2. Understand the conditions it needs to arise.
3. Understand the conditions that cause it to cease.
4. Apply the conditions that cause the hindrance to cease.

NOTHING PERSONAL HERE

Hindrances are not personal, they are simply tow things:

1. A sign of imbalance in energy/effort.
2. A  defense mechanisms of your mind. 

As a meditator it is your path to deconstruct these defenses. Hindrances are opportunities to freedom, not barriers.

Both Meditation Paths 1 & 2 begin by establishing a daily meditation practice based on mindfulness of breathing with an emphasis on samatha (tranquility of mind). The only difference between the two paths at this stage is that Path 2 seeks to calm the meditative hindrances, while Path 1 seeks to develop insight into them in a way that significantly weakens them.

PROGRESSIVE MENU FOR PATHS 1 & 2

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STEP 1: COMPLETED: You have chosen PATH 1 

STEP 2: COMPLETED: You have completed Softening

STEP 3a: Develop Skill in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3b: Develop skill in TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3c: Develop skill in TIER 3 Access Concentration

STEP 4: Develop Insight Into Reality

STEP 5: Decondition Habitual Patterns

STEP 6: Develop Skill in Sukha-Vedana Jhana 

STEP 7: Condition Wholesome Qualities

STEP 8: Disentangle Your Awareness 

STEP 1: COMPLETED: You have chosen PATH 1 

STEP 2: COMPLETED: You have completed Softening

STEP 3a: Develop Skill in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3b: Develop skill in TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3c: Develop skill in TIER 3 Access Concentration

STEP 4: Develop Skill in Sukha-Vedana Jhana 

STEP 5: Develop Insight Into Reality

STEP 6: Decondition Habitual Patterns

STEP 7: Condition Wholesome Qualities

STEP 8: Disentangle Your Awareness 

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