TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing: stage 1

“A meditator, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to a secluded place, sits down, folds their legs crosswise, holds their body erect and establishes mindfulness to the front.”  MN 118 the Buddha 

In this lesson we will cover how to build your attention structure during mindfulness of breathing, in a way that calms any tendency towards restlessness and reactivity. Insight into restlessness, how it arises and how it ceases needs to be developed for restlessness to no longer arise.

Meditation Type: Vipassana (insight)

Instructions

Optional detailed instructions for TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing are covered here.

• Read instructions: TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing (separate page).

Support Table

MIDL mindfulness of breathing introduces 12 Experiential Markers & 16 Meditative Hindrances which are observable experiences that can be used to track your progression.

• Print Table: 16 Meditation Skills, 12 Experiential Markers & 16 Hindrances.

Meditation

• Meditation Skill 04: Cultivate Skill in Mindfulness.
• Meditation Skill 05: Cultivate Skill in Focusing.
• Meditation Skill 06: Cultivate Skill in Grounding.
• Meditation Skill 07: Cultivate Skill in Observing.
• Meditation Skill 08: Cultivate Skill in Allowing.

TIER 1 Continued

• TIER 1 Part 2: Meditation Skills 09-13

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The 12 Experiential Markers are a series of experiences that naturally occur as a reflection of the development of samadhi and tranquility. Since you are now beginning mindfulness of breathing, your first Experiential Marker will be intentionally created, whereas the following 11 Markers will unfold as a natural sign of your progression.

Your first Experiential Marker for mindfulness of breathing is the simple experience of your thumbs touching each other. By keeping this simple experience within your mind, continuously remembering it, you will develop the strength and continuity of your mindfulness.

I recommend meditating for 20 min 1-2 times daily.

Detailed Instruction PDF

Your Meditation So Far:

Create your meditation posture using your softening skills:

1. Begin meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. 
2. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, with thumbs lightly touching in the middle.
3. Gently soften, relax awareness into your body as in Meditation Skill 03.

What You are Learning this Lesson:

EXPERIENTIAL MARKER 1: Remember the Touch of Your Thumbs

Instructions

Bring awareness to the pressure of your thumbs lightly touching each other. To strengthen mindfulness, put gentle effort towards keeping that experience within your mind, remembering it, and noticing anytime your attention wanders away from it.

At first you may find this difficult and that your mind wanders between thoughts, memories or that you even forget what you are meditating. All of this is perfectly ok and part of meditation. 

Be curious, treat it like a game of noticing. It is helpful to see wandering of attention and forgetting during meditation as habits that can be changed through precise attention training, and not as something that is personal. 

With daily attention training you will find that your ability to keep a simple object such as the touch of your thumbs, in short term memory, will become easier. 

It is just a matter of two things: 

1. Patient, gentle, precise repetition.
2. Finding the pleasure in meditating itself. 

Training Attention will trigger Meditative Hindrances.

• Meditative Hindrances are disturbance to samadhi (unification of attention) that arise due to an imbalance in effort or the structure of your attention.  Each Meditation Skill is designed to reveal these imbalances within your mind so that you can target any weaknesses and strengthen them.

Want more Detail?

Read Instructions: 16 Meditative Hindrances (separate page).

Meditative Hindrance: 

(4) Habitual Forgetting, (5) Gross Wandering. 

• Habitual Forgetting = Habitually forgetting your meditation object.
• Gross Wandering = Attention habitually scanning the six senses.

Antidote: Curiosity + combine the softening technique you learnt in Meditation Skills 03 with the grounding of your attention on the touch of your thumbs in this Meditation Skill, to decondition habitual forgetting of your meditation object and wandering of attention.

How is this Done?

When feeling the touch of your thumbs and keeping it in mind, gently soften/relax your effort rather than trying to hold your attention on that one point. Whenever you notice that your attention has wandered, be happy that you noticed and soften/relax back into your body, before reestablishing your attention back on the touch of your thumbs.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 05 when you can continuously remember the touch of your thumbs without completely forgetting it for 80% of the time. 

It is important to note that this Meditation Skill is concerned with overcoming the hindrance of habitually forgetting. Habitual forgetting occurs when mindfulness becomes weak, and you completely forget that you are meditating. 

As long as the touch of the thumbs is somewhere within your awareness, even in the background, it is not considered as forgetting. During this training you will also find that you still think about the past and future. This is completely normal at this stage and will be calmed in a later Meditation Skill.

Meditation Skill 04

• Guided Meditation
• Simple Instructions
• Detailed Instructions (pdf)
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Becoming aware of the room around you is a sign that you have reached Marker 02.

Marker 2 arises as samadhi on the touch of your thumbs develops and peripheral awareness naturally expands to the simple experience of just sitting in the room meditating. The flow of distant sounds, and the general feeling of just being here.

Becoming very aware of your body sitting is a sign you have reached Marker 3. 

Marker 3 arises as samadhi develops and your awareness naturally turns away from external disturbance and narrows to just the feeling of your body sitting on the chair or the floor. The touch of air on your skin, hands resting in your lap, pressure of your body and feet touching the floor.

I recommend meditating for 30 min 1-2 times daily.

Detailed Instruction PDF

Your Meditation So Far:

1. Create your meditation posture.
2. Marker 1: Remember the Touch of Your Thumbs.

What You are Learning this Lesson:

MARKER 2: Tuning into the Experience of The Room 

• Open your awareness to the room around you, sounds, air on your skin.

MARKER 3: Your Body as it Sits in Meditation

• Bring awareness into the feeling of your body you sit in meditation: Hands resting in your lap, pressure of the floor, heaviness of your body.

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, and Marker 3 sequentially as one meditation practice.

Instructions

Cycle Through all Three (15 minutes)

You then continue to slowly cycle between those three layers of focus:

• Marker 1: Bring awareness to the experience of your thumbs touching each other.
• Remember it for 1 min.
• Marker 2: Open your awareness to the room around you, sounds, air on your skin.
• Remember it for 1 min.
• Marker 3: Bring awareness into the feeling of your body as you sit in meditation.
• Remember it for 1 min.

Gradually extending the amount of time you spend on each focus. Mentally feeling the individual experience of each. Making each layer of focus steadier. Your aim is to become comfortable transitioning between these three focuses.

When you notice your attention has wandered

It is normal for your attention to wander when training your attention. Whenever you notice that you have forgotten what you are doing or that your attention has wandered, simply use slow gentle softening breaths and soften/relax into your body, feeling the pleasure of each softening.

Tune into the subtle pleasure of softening, the pleasure of abandoning and relaxing effort. Offer your mind an alternative pleasure reward to wandering, one that arises through letting go, release.

Meditative Hindrance: 

Mental Restlessness (3), Habitual Forgetting (4), Doubt (8).

• Mental Restlessness = Unable to experience mental comfort.
• Habitual Forgetting = Habitually forgetting your meditation object.
• Doubt = Losing trust in your meditation practice, technique, teacher.

Antidote: Curiosity + combine the softening technique you learnt in Meditation Skill 03 with the grounding of your attention on the touch of your thumbs learnt in Meditation Skill 04 to decondition habitual forgetting of your meditation object and wandering of attention. 

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 06 when you can comfortably change the focus of your awareness from narrow (thumbs), to wide (room), to middle (body) and back again.

Meditation Skill 05

• Guided Meditation
• Simple Instructions
• Detailed Instructions (pdf)
• Back to Main Menu

Losing perception of your body borders and becoming more aware of the sensations within it, is a sign that you have reached Marker 4.

Marker 4 arises as awareness softens into your body until the idea of 'my body' dissolves and all that is left is awareness immersed within bodily sensation. This creates a reference point for awareness from which you will develop mindfulness of breathing and insight into anatta (not-self) by observing your attention habitually move away from it.

I recommend meditating for 30 min 1-2 times daily.

Detailed Instruction PDF

Your Meditation So Far:

1. Create your meditation posture.
2. Marker 1: Remember the Touch of Your Thumbs.
3. Marker 2: Tuning into the Experience of The Room.
4. Marker 3: Your Body as it Sits in Meditation.

What You are Learning this Lesson:

MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within Body

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3 and Marker 4 sequentially as one meditation practice.

Instructions

Begin to ground awareness by softening and relaxing it into your body, becoming aware of any sensations such warmth, coolness and touch to anchor your attention.

Take advantage of any wandering of your attention away from this grounding point in order to cultivate your perception of the anatta (not-self) autonomous nature of your mind.

Meditative Hindrance: 

Habitual Forgetting (4), Gross Wandering (5), Directed Thinking (6). 

• Habitual Forgetting = Habitually forgetting your meditation object.
• Gross Wandering = Attention habitually scanning the six senses.
• Directed Thinking = Thinking regarding past and future events.

Antidote: Curiosity + combine the softening technique you learnt in Meditation Skill 03 with the grounding of awareness within bodily sensation that you learnt in this Meditation Skill. 

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 07 when you can be aware of your bodily sensations and can notice any gross wandering or habitual forgetting for 80% of the time.

Meditation Skill 06

• Guided Meditation
• Simple Instructions
• Detailed Instructions (pdf)
• Back to Main Menu

Awareness of the natural flow of breathing in your body is a sign that you have reached Marker 5.

Marker 5 naturally arises as a reflection of the development of both samadhi and calm. As your mind settles down and withdraws from external things, you will experience periods of being able to perceive subtler experiences such as breathing.

I recommend meditating for 30 min 1-2 times daily.

Detailed Instruction PDF

Experiential Markers:

• Create your meditation posture.
• Marker 1: Remember the Touch of Your Thumbs.
• Marker 2: Tuning into the Experience of The Room.
• Marker 3: Your Body as it Sits in Meditation.
• Marker 4: Awareness Grounded Within Body.

What You are Learning this Lesson:

MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4 and Marker 5 sequentially as one meditation practice. 

Instructions

As relaxation deepens you will naturally start to become aware of breathing as it flows through your body. The gentle stretch as the breath draws in, and the natural relax as the breath goes out. 

When the experience of your breathing occurs, be careful of grasping onto it. Instead, just be aware of it as part of the overall experience of your body. Not focusing in on any location, but rather just keeping a gentle remembering of the general experience of each breath within your mind. 

MAP: Body Sitting --> Flow of Breath (body).

The natural flow of breathing within our body when relaxed is pleasurable. There is a wonderful gentle stretch every time the breath comes in, and a calming release every time the breath goes out.

I find it helpful to relax my awareness into my lungs. From this point the pleasure of each stretch and each relax is easy to feel. When you can feel this pleasure smile into it with your eyes, allowing it to grow and enter your mind.

Without accessing meditative pleasure meditation can become dry and tense from effort, accessing meditative pleasure makes meditation joyful and effortless.

Meditative Hindrance:

(6) Directed Thinking, (7) Wandering.

• Directed Thinking = Thinking regarding past and future events.
• Wandering = Random, meaningless thoughts, images and fantasies.

Antidote: Curiosity + combine the softening technique you learnt in Meditation Skill 03 with the grounding of awareness within bodily sensation that you learnt in Meditation Skill 06. 

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 08 when you can be aware of your natural breathing as it flows in your body without becoming completely lost within thinking for 80% of the time.

Added Note

At this stage your attention will still wander at times, and thinking will still occur in the background. Because samadhi is not yet stable and tranquility immature, this is perfectly normal. 

The important part in this Meditation Skill is that you develop skill in being able to notice whenever you become lost within thoughts or fantasies for 80% of the time. Progression is an increase in the speed in which you notice wandering of attention rather than absence of wandering itself.

Meditation Skill 07

• Guided Meditation
• Simple Instructions
• Detailed Instructions (pdf)
• Back to Main Menu

This Meditation Skill contains no Experiential Markers and is used to decondition any tendency you may have in your mind towards controlling your breathing.

Explanation

Breathing has a wonderful characteristic that makes it the perfect tool for deconditioning habitual tendencies towards control from the mind:

1. Breathing can happen autonomously (naturally) controlled by the brain.
2. Autonomous breathing can be over-ridden by taking an intentional breath in and out.
3. Autonomous breathing can be over-ridden by the stress response when the mind perceives danger. 

The tendency towards habitual control is conditioned by the stress response. When you observe your breathing, any habitual tendency towards control will convert your breathing from autonomous breathing controlled by your brain to stress breathing as a reflection of perceived danger. 

This is experienced as tightness, tension, strain, uniformity in each breath. Intentional softening breathing turns stress breathing into autonomous breathing.

I recommend meditating for 30 min, 1-2 times daily, until you experience natural breathing free from control.

Detailed Instruction PDF

Your Meditation So Far:

1. Begin meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. 
2. Structure your meditation the same as Meditation Skill 07.

What You are Learning this Lesson:

1. Bring awareness to the tip of your nose and gently breathe out. Relax and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. Observe and soften any fear that the breath will not come in again. 
2. When the breath draws in, by itself, experience the natural breath free from control. Its beauty, it sense-of-ease. 
3. Observe any tightness or tension that gradually arises within the breath as a reflection of habitual control. When observed breathe out, relax and wait for the breath to draw in again by itself. 
4. Repeat.  

This is the Meditation Skill for deconditioning the habitual desire to control your breathing.

Meditative Hindrance: Habitual tendency towards control. 

Antidote: Curiosity + this Meditation Skill. 

You are ready to progress to TIER 1 of Mindfulness of Breathing: Stage 2 when you can experience natural breathing as it flows within your body, free from habitual control for 80% of the time. 

Added Note

If you find that after a few weeks that your mind still holds onto the breath and will not let go of control, it is more beneficial to stop this training and try a different approach. The key is that the mind controls out of fear. 

To change this behaviour it is important to give your mind a sense of safety by learning what it means to deeply relax physically, and by tuning into the pleasure of letting go in everything that you do. Slowly relaxing in your body, softening effort within your mind, and tuning into the pleasure of each softening is the key.

• View the Progressive Menu to see your next step.

Meditation Skill 08

• Guided Meditation
• Simple Instructions
• Detailed Instructions (pdf)
• Back to Main Menu