TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing

"Mindfulness of in-&-out breathing, when developed & pursued, is of great fruit, of great benefit." MN 118 the Buddha

In this lesson your focus is on balancing the structure of your attention by developing skill in five sequential characteristics of breathing. During Stage 2 of TIER 1 of Mindfulness of Breathing your mind will have a tendency towards dullness due to over-calming of the knowing function of awareness. Insight into dullness as an imbalance of effort needs to be developed for dullness to no longer arise. Stage 2 is completed when you learn to stablise your attention on one point of breath sensation, free from restlessness and dullness.

 Instructions 

• Refer to TIER 1 Instructions (previous page)

 Meditation 

• Meditation Skill 09: Cultivate Skill in Applying
• Meditation Skill 10: Cultivate Skill in Acknowledging
• Meditation Skill 11: Cultivate Skill in Sustaining
• Meditation Skill 12: Cultivate Skill in Experiencing
• Meditation Skill 13: Cultivate Skill in Stabilising

 Progressive Meditation Menu 

• Progressive Menu for PATH 1 & 2

Return to PATH 1

Return to PATH 2

 “Always mindful, they breathe in; mindful they breathe out.” MN10 The Buddha.

This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.

• Weekly Online Meditation Classes
• MIDL Community Subreddit
• Personal Guidance Available

1. Become familiar with the Meditation Summary (this section).
2. Read the Meditation Instructions, or listen to the You Tube Video.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with the technique.
4. Learn to meditate without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.

• HOW LONG?: 35 min 1-2 times daily. 
• HINDRANCES: Habitual Forgetting (4), Directed Thinking (6), Wandering (7), Doubt (8). 

• 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.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing.

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4, Marker 5 and Marker 6 sequentially as one meditation practice.

WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN THIS LESSON

• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.

Once you are confident in your ability to meditate using Markers 1-5, it is time to include your sixth meditation object, awareness of in and out-breathing. More specifically keeping a continuous knowing in regards to whether the breath is coming in, or going out.

     Once your attention has settled on the natural flow of breath within your body, you will start to become more aware in regards to whether the breath is coming in, or going out. To help clarify this it is useful to gently soften all effort along the length of each out-breath. You then simply relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself, thereby resetting natural breathing and clarifying the beginning of each in-breath.

     The purpose of clearly knowing each in and out-breath is to increase the application of attention therefore drawing attention away from meditative hindrances and cultivating attentions accuracy and continuity in preparation for the development of tranquility.

If Directed Thinking (6) and Wandering (7) continue at this stage then they will most likely be accompanied by a re-emerging of Habitual Forgetting (4). This happens due to a weakening of curious attention in regards to breath experience and the observation of attention. It is the mental factor of curiosity that stimulates interest, and the mental factor of interested attention that develops the clear perception necessary for mindfulness. So without curiosity, mindfulness will weaken and Habitual Forgetting will return. 

     To the meditator this can appear as a failure of skill because of the apparent collapse of samadhi, Doubt (8) may arise. It should be understood that this collapse is not a sign of lack of skill but rather a collapse of samadhi due to the relationship between deep relaxation and the habitual hijacking of attention into a state of delusion. This delusive state is normal for the habitual mind in everyday life, so this is not a failure of the meditators part but a simple matter of patiently retraining the mind in regards to deep relaxation and attention structure. Collapses of samadhi due to imbalances is the ideal time for the meditator to develop the perception of anatta (not-self) in regards to attention.

Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation following the below instructions.

• Read Instructions: Meditation Skill 09: Cultivate Skill in Applying.

It can be helpful to use the above guided meditation a number of times to give you a feel of the rhythm and pace of this meditation. Combine the recorded guidance with the written instructions below, and your own experience to develop skill. Once you are confident you can stop using the recording and meditate under your own guidance.

1. Create Your Physical & Mental Posture.
2. Establish Mindfulness on the Touch of Your Thumbs (Marker 1).
3. Widen Awareness to the Room Around You (Marker 2).
4. Be Aware of Your Body as it Sits (Marker 3).
5. Gently Soften into Sensations Within Your Body (Marker 4).
6. Experience the Natural Flow of Your Breathing (Marker 5).

(15 minutes)

MARKER 6

Notice that you can know if your breath is drawing into your body, or if it is going out again. Establish a continuous stream of remembering in regards to knowing each in, and out-breath. Learn to hold a continuous knowing of what each breath cycle is doing. Once again you are not focusing on the breath at this stage but rather holding a remembering within your mind, of what the breath is doing. In each breath cycle, follow each out-breath to its end, relax, and become aware of each in-breath as it draws back in. 

Three things are held in mind at this stage: 

• Relaxing in the pause after each out-breath.
• Knowing if the breath is drawing in, or going out.
• A continuous stream of remembering of these two.

To help train this knowing you can silently say "in" as the breath draws in, and "out" as the breath goes out. Once your attention aligns with each breath abandon using the silent words (labels) and learn to remember each breath, without a training aid.

In mindfulness of breathing we change the way that we deal with distraction. 

When you notice that your attention has wandered:

1. Soften awareness back into your body to ground it.
2. Experience what it feels like to be present.
3. Reflect on what it felt like to be distracted.
4. Let a slow breath out through your nose, relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. Thereby resetting the natural breath.

If you notice that your are controlling your breathing:

1. Let a slow breath out through your nose, relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. Thereby resetting the natural breath. You can also practice to weaken the desire to control using Meditation Skill 08.

Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.

1. It is important meditate daily and to commit to your set time.
2. Remember  there is no such thing as a bad meditation, just an opportunity to learn and develop insight. When your mind is all over the place and your attention has collapsed, take this as an opportunity to observe anatta: the autonomous nature of your attention.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with this technique.
4. Learn to meditate daily without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.
5. Keep meditating daily until you fulfill the below progression criteria.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 10 when you can stay with the flow of each in and out breath without wandering of attention it for 60% of the time.

“When (insert hindrance) is present within them, the meditator knows: 'there is (insert hindrance) present within me’.” MN 10 The Buddha.

This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.

• Weekly Online Meditation Classes
• MIDL Community Subreddit
• Personal Guidance Available

1. Become familiar with the Meditation Summary (this section).
2. Read the Meditation Instructions, or listen to the You Tube Video.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with the technique.
4. Learn to meditate without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.

• HOW LONG?: 35 min, 1-2 times daily, until you understand how to incorporate labelling into your meditation practice.
• HINDRANCES: This is the antidote for the habitual tendency towards wandering of attention.

• 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.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.

You continue to join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4, Marker 5 and Marker 6 sequentially as a foundation for developing skill in acknowledging when attention habitually wanders.

WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN THIS LESSON

• How to Use Labels to Train Your Attention

A label is a silent, intentional word describing your current experience, that is used both direct your attention and to clarify the experience in order to develop insight. 

Labels are applied during meditation by gently repeating a simple word describing what you are experiencing. This label may be aligned with the experience of of sitting in meditation as: "sitting", "sitting". During mindfulness of breathing as: "in, in" as the breath comes in and "out, out" as the breath goes out. While gently labelling, make sure that the labels are concurrent with the experience to increase the accuracy of attention. Labelling is a way of saying: "This is what I am experiencing now".

At some time during meditation your attention will be drawn away from your meditation object. When this happens intentionally turn your attention towards what is distracting you, and clarify this movement of attention by labelling the distraction appropriately in terms of your experience of it by using labels such as: "hearing, hearing", "thinking, thinking", "aching, aching" and so on.
    If a thinking pattern arises again and again during your meditation it is then helpful to clarify the emotional charge that is feeding it. This is done by observing and labelling the type of thinking that is present such as: "planning, planning", "discussing, discussing", "doubting, doubting" etc.
    Whatever is driving the thinking process. When you notice the emotional charge within the thinking process we use the MIDL Softening Into skill to relax your relationship to it. When the thought dissolves through the relaxing of our participation we then come back to the experience of your body/breathing again. 

When using labels during meditation, you should begin by bringing awareness to the experience of your meditation object. In the case of your body as it sits, you silently say: “sitting, sitting". The first label ‘sitting’, points your awareness towards the experience of sitting, the second label allows you to mentally feel it. 

     In the case of your breathing as it flows through your body, you silently say: “in, in” as the breath draws in, and “out, out” as the breath goes out. The first label ‘in’, points your awareness towards what your breathing is doing, the second allows you to mentally feel it. This process of acknowledging what you are aware of, and mentally feeling the experience of it, is the purpose of repeating it twice.

     At some stage your attention will wander, this is the nature of the habitual mind. If your attention is drawn out to a sound, you silently say: “hearing, hearing”; to an itch: “itching, itching”, if you feel frustrated: “frustrated, frustrated” etc. The first label is used to acknowledge where your attention now sits, the second to mentally feel the experience of the distraction. This is the important part. The doorway to vipassana insight is not found by acknowledging things, but by experiencing them. It is the same process when lost within thoughts of the past or future. When you notice that you are thinking about something, acknowledge it by silently saying “thinking, thinking”, to withdraw your awareness from it.

Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation following the below instructions.

• Read Instructions: Meditation Skill 10: Cultivate Skill in Acknowledging.

It can be helpful to use the above guided meditation a number of times to give you a feel of the rhythm and pace of this meditation. Combine the recorded guidance with the written instructions below, and your own experience to develop skill. Once you are confident you can stop using the recording and meditate under your own guidance.

1. Create Your Physical & Mental Posture.
2. Establish Mindfulness on the Touch of Your Thumbs (Marker 1).
3. Widen Awareness to the Room Around You (Marker 2).
4. Be Aware of Your Body as it Sits (Marker 3).
5. Gently Soften into Sensations Within Your Body (Marker 4).
6. Experience the Natural Flow of Your Breathing (Marker 5).
7. Know if the Breath is Coming in or Going Out (Marker 6)

(5 minutes)

MARKER 1

Once your body and mind have relaxed into your meditation posture, bring awareness just to the touch of your thumbs, establishing a stream of remembering on it. Apply a gentle label by silently saying: "touching, touching". Keep these labels relaxed with a pause between each word and notice the affect this has on the application of your attention.

(5 minutes)

MARKER 2

Once your attention has settled on the touch of your thumbs, widen your awareness to the room around you. What it feels like to be in this room. The touch of air on your skin, the flow of distant sounds, the happiness of the ease that comes with nothing to do. Apply a gentle label by silently saying: "hearing, hearing" for sounds, or "knowing, knowing", for the experience of the room. Keep these labels relaxed with a pause between each word and notice the affect this has on the application of your attention.

(5 minutes)

MARKER 3

Once your attention has settled on the experience of the room around you, gently soften and allow your awareness to naturally narrow into the experience of your body as it sits,  establishing a stream of remembering on it. Apply a gentle label by silently saying: "sitting, sitting". Keep these labels relaxed with a pause between each word and notice the affect this has on the application of your attention. 

(5 minutes)

MARKER 4

Begin to soften and relax awareness into your body, becoming aware of any sensations present. Relax into sounds, into warmth, coolness and pressure with the chair/floor. Apply a gentle label by silently saying: "warm, warm", "cool, cool", "pressure, pressure". Keep these labels relaxed with a pause between each word and notice the affect this has on the application of your attention.

MARKER 5

As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it. 

(15 minutes)

MARKER 6

Notice that you can know if your breath is drawing into your body, or if it is going out again. As the breath draws in, apply a gentle label by silently saying: "in, in", inline with the in-breath. As the breath goes out, apply a gentle label by silently saying: "out, out", inline with the out-breath. Establish a continuous stream of remembering in regards to knowing each in, and out-breath.

(15 minutes) 

Relax your effort and allow your mind to habitually wander. Whenever you notice small and gross movements of your attention, use a silent label to clarify where it wandered to. Your attention may move to a sound, an itch, thinking etc. When it does, follow this same principal: Use a simple, silent label to describe where your attention has wandered to: 

"hearing, hearing", “itching, itching”, “thinking, thinking”. 

Pause between each word, allowing the first word to point your attention towards the distraction, and the second to allow you to mentally feel it. Using labels in this way, you clarify the habit of wandering and importantly, withdraw your participation from it. This will gradually weaken this habit.

Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.

1. It is important meditate daily and to commit to your set time.
2. Remember  there is no such thing as a bad meditation, just an opportunity to learn and develop insight. When your mind is all over the place and your attention has collapsed, take this as an opportunity to observe anatta: the autonomous nature of your attention.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with this technique.
4. Learn to meditate daily without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.
5. Keep meditating daily until you fulfill the below progression criteria.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 11 when you can stay with the flow of each in and out breath without wandering of attention for 80% of the time.

“Breathing in long, they know: ‘I am breathing in long’; or  breathing out long, they know: 'I am breathing out long.’ Or breathing in short, they know: ‘I am breathing in short’; or breathing out short, they know: ‘I am breathing out short’.” MN10 The Buddha

This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.

• Weekly Online Meditation Classes
• MIDL Community Subreddit
• Personal Guidance Available

1. Become familiar with the Meditation Summary (this section).
2. Read the Meditation Instructions.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with the technique.
4. Learn to meditate without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.

• How Long to Meditate: 40 min 1-2 times daily. 
• Hindrances: Doubt (8), Gross Dullness (9), Gross Restlessness (10).

• 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.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4, Marker 5, Marker 6 and Marker 7 sequentially as one meditation practice.

WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN THIS LESSON

• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.

Once you are confident in your ability to meditate using Markers 1-6, it is time to include your seventh meditation object, awareness of the full length of each breath. More specifically keeping a continuous knowing in regards to the beginning, middle and end of each breath.

     Once your attention becomes stable in regards to noticing each in and out-breath you transition towards being aware of the full length of each breath. This transition increases your noticing's from one on each in-breath and one on each out-breath, to multiple noticing's along the length of each breath. Increasing the applications of attention along the full length of each breath lowers the habitual applications of attention towards distraction, and increases those applied towards the meditation object.

Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation following the below instructions.

• Read Instructions: Meditation Skill 11: Cultivate Skill in Sustaining.

It can be helpful to use the above guided meditation a number of times to give you a feel of the rhythm and pace of this meditation. Combine the recorded guidance with the written instructions below, and your own experience to develop skill. Once you are confident you can stop using the recording and meditate under your own guidance.

1. Create Your Physical & Mental Posture.
2. Establish Mindfulness on the Touch of Your Thumbs (Marker 1).
3. Widen Awareness to the Room Around You (Marker 2).
4. Be Aware of Your Body as it Sits (Marker 3).
5. Gently Soften into Sensations Within Your Body (Marker 4).
6. Experience the Natural Flow of Your Breathing (Marker 5).
7. Know if the Breath is Coming in or Going Out (Marker 6)

(15 minutes)

MARKER 7

When you can stay with the flow of each in and out breath, then see if you can notice the very moment each breath begins. To do this simply be aware of each out-breath all the way to its end, relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. In this way the full length of each in-breath will become clear to you. Once each in-breath is clear, relax, and wait for each out-breath to happen naturally. Noticing the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Observing in this way you will become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath. 

     Be careful of over-straining at this stage, be soft and gentle in your observation, turn this into a game. Use your softening skills to relax if you find you are becoming tight, expanding your awareness to your body and watching from afar can also help with this.

     Be careful of balancing calming with detailed attention. If your focus is on detailed attention and you are not also cultivating calm, your mind will become tight and agitated. If your focus is on calm but not on detailed attention, awareness will gradually become dull as its ability to know becomes over calmed.

Keep your attention steady on this point, either the abdomen or tip of the nose is best, and simply be aware of each breath as it passes this one point. Put gentle effort towards being aware of the full length of each breath, as it passes this point. Make sure that you are not following the breath in and out of your body, but rather keeping attention on one stable point, while aware of the flow of each breath as it passes it.

Analogy: Carpenter and the Saw

Like a carpenter cutting a piece of wood with a saw, your attention rests on the point where the saw cuts the wood. Not following the saw back and forth with your eyes, but instead focusing on the point of contact between the saw and the wood. In the same way you place your attention on one point of breath sensation, such as appears at the tip of your nose as air enters and leaves it. Or the centre of your abdomen as it expands outwards, and relaxes inwards. Aware of the full length of each breath as the experience of it passes that point.

Try It Now!

Take some stronger breaths in and out of your nose right now, and feel sensation in your nose from that air touching it. Then allow your breathing to settle down, and see if you can still feel the breath sensation in your nose. If using your abdomen, place your awareness within the centre of your abdomen, and feel the movement expand and deflate around that stable point, like a balloon. Not following the expansion and deflation in and out, but rather resting on that stable point of attention. Resting attention on one point, making it steady, firm, is necessary for the development of samatha.

In mindfulness of breathing we change the way that we deal with distraction. 

When you notice that your attention has wandered:

1. Soften awareness back into your body to ground it.
2. Experience what it feels like to be present.
3. Reflect on what it felt like to be distracted.
4. Let a slow breath out through your nose, relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. Thereby resetting the natural breath.

If you notice that your are controlling your breathing:

1. Let a slow breath out through your nose, relax, and wait for the breath to draw back in by itself. Thereby resetting the natural breath. You can also practice to weaken the desire to control using Meditation Skill 08.

Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.

1. It is important meditate daily and to commit to your set time.
2. Remember there is no such thing as a bad meditation, just an opportunity to learn and develop insight. When your mind is all over the place and your attention has collapsed, take this as an opportunity to observe anatta: the autonomous nature of your attention.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with this technique.
4. Learn to meditate daily without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.
5. Keep meditating daily until you fulfill the below progression criteria.

PROGRESSION

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 12 when you can develop stable attention on the full length of each breath without habitual wandering or entering into Gross Dullness, for 80% of the time.

"In this same way the meditator divides experience within their body — regardless of posture or activity — in terms of these four elemental qualities. Within the experience of this body: ‘This is earth element, this is water element, this is fire element, & this is wind element’.” MN 10 The Buddha

1. Become familiar with the Meditation Summary (this section).
2. Read the Meditation Instructions.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with the technique.
4. Learn to meditate without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.

This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.

• READ: Meditation Instructions
• JOIN A CLASS: Online Meditation Classes
• POST A QUESTION: MIDL Community Subreddit
• PERSONAL GUIDANCE: Private Guidance Available

• How Long to Meditate: 45 min 1-2 times daily. 
• Hindrances: Subtle Dullness (11), Subtle Wandering (12).

• 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.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4, Marker 5, Marker 6, Marker 7 and Marker 8 sequentially as one meditation practice.

WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN THIS LESSON

• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.

Once you are confident in your ability to meditate using Markers 1-7, it is time to include your eighth meditation object, awareness of sensations within the full length of each breath. More specifically keeping a continuous knowing in regards to the difference in sensations between each in and out-breath.

     As samadhi develops you will become ever more intimate with the experience of breathing. With this increased intimacy will develop sensitivity to different sensations within each breath. Your task during this stage is to become so intimate with breath sensations that the very idea of breathing fades into the background. When this develops you will be left with one point of breath sensation on which you allow your attention to stabilise on. This requires developing a heightened sensitivity to the balance of effort. Too much and restlessness will arise, too little and awareness will become dull.

Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation following the below instructions.

• Read Instructions: Meditation Skill 12: Cultivate Skill in Experiencing.

It can be helpful to use the above guided meditation a number of times to give you a feel of the rhythm and pace of this meditation. Combine the recorded guidance with the written instructions below, and your own experience to develop skill. Once you are confident you can stop using the recording and meditate under your own guidance.

1. Create Your Physical & Mental Posture.
2. Establish Mindfulness on the Touch of Your Thumbs (Marker 1).
3. Widen Awareness to the Room Around You (Marker 2).
4. Be Aware of Your Body as it Sits (Marker 3).
5. Gently Soften into Sensations Within Your Body (Marker 4).
6. Experience the Natural Flow of Your Breathing (Marker 5).
7. Know if the Breath is Coming in or Going Out (Marker 6).
8. Know The Full length of Each Breath (Marker 7).

(10 minutes)

MARKER 8

Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath. The breath at the tip of the nose for example may be cool as the breath draws in, and warm as the breath goes out. The breath in the abdomen may contain different sensations on the expansion, then it does on the deflation. It is important to allow awareness to rest on one chosen point and to soften/relax your effort to do the meditation in order to begin to stabilise your attention on one point.

Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.

1. It is important meditate daily and to commit to your set time.
2. Remember  there is no such thing as a bad meditation, just an opportunity to learn and develop insight. When your mind is all over the place and your attention has collapsed, take this as an opportunity to observe anatta: the autonomous nature of your attention.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with this technique.
4. Learn to meditate daily without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.
5. Keep meditating daily until you fulfill the below progression criteria.

You are ready to progress to Meditation Skill 13 when you can stay with the flow of sensations within each breath free from habitual wandering and gross dullness.

BACK TO MENU

This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.

• Weekly Online Meditation Classes
• MIDL Community Subreddit
• Personal Guidance Available

1. Become familiar with the Meditation Summary (this section).
2. Read the Meditation Instructions.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with the technique.
4. Learn to meditate without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.

• HOW LONG?: 45 min 1-2 times daily.
• HINDRANCES: Subtle Dullness (11), Subtle Wandering (12), Subtle Restlessness (13).

• 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.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of Your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.
• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.

You now join Marker 1, Marker 2, Marker 3, Marker 4, Marker 5, Marker 6, Marker 7, Marker 8 and Marker 9 sequentially as one meditation practice.

WHAT YOU ARE LEARNING IN THIS LESSON

• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

Once you are confident in your ability to meditate using Markers 1-8, it is time to include your ninth meditation object, awareness of one point of breath sensation. At this stage your attention becomes so aligned with the perception of breath sensation, so stable, that all perception of time ceases. With the ceasing of the perception of time, comes the ceasing of the idea 'this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath'. This is replaced by what is experienced as: one stable, continuous, point of sensation, free from the idea of breathing or time, free from sensoury distraction.

Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation following the below instructions.

• Read Instructions: Meditation Skill 13: Cultivate Skill in Stabilising.

It can be helpful to use the above guided meditation a number of times to give you a feel of the rhythm and pace of this meditation. Combine the recorded guidance with the written instructions below, and your own experience to develop skill. Once you are confident you can stop using the recording and meditate under your own guidance.

1. Create Your Physical & Mental Posture.
2. Establish Mindfulness on the Touch of Your Thumbs (Marker 1).
3. Widen Awareness to the Room Around You (Marker 2).
4. Be Aware of Your Body as it Sits (Marker 3).
5. Gently Soften into Sensations Within Your Body (Marker 4).
6. Experience the Natural Flow of Your Breathing (Marker 5).
7. Know if the Breath is Coming in or Going Out (Marker 6).
8. Know The Full length of Each Breath (Marker 7).
9. Be Aware of Sensations Within Each Breath (Marker 8).

(5 minutes)

Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. You task here is to gently calm the intellectual function of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness. If the intellectual 'doing' is too high then subtle restlessness will be present and attention will not stabilise on one point of breath preventing tranquility from arising. 

     If when calming the intellectual 'doing' you also over calm the ability of awareness 'to know', then you may inadvertently create the conditions for subtle dullness to arise. To find this balance it is helpful to first calm the functions of your body by softening, accessing the pleasure of this relaxation. Then while aware of the pleasure of the relaxation of the body, allow it to enter your mind as you let go of the desire 'to do'. In this way your mind will bind to the pleasure and the imbalance of slipping into subtle dullness will be avoided.

(5 minutes)

I use the word 'allow' because this suggests a 'getting out of the way'. As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. This is experienced as a disappearance of the concept 'I am breathing in, I am breathing out' or any idea that there is such a thing as the length of the breath. For sensations along the length of the breath to be perceived, there must also be a concept of time. When this concept of observing over time is let go of, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.

     This takes skill in letting go of all control, and a subtle sensitivity to balancing effort 'to do' within the mind. To do this make sure that you maintain within your peripheral awareness two things: the structure of your attention, and the balance of your effort, so that you can make subtle adjustments. 

     In regards to maintaining balance: if you notice subtle 'going out' of your attention or subtle restlessness, you need to soften your effort. If the one point of breath sensations starts to become dull and difficult to perceive, then you need to increase the knowing of your awareness by paying more attention to detail. Tuning into the pleasure of letting go and the increasing feeling of calm will also prevent subtle restlessness and dullness.

(10 minutes)

MARKER 9

Learn to allow your attention to rest on one point of breath sensation. With practice you will experience shifts from effort to effortlessness, this shift is very distinct. Your main goal is to learn to move from intentional vitakka (intentional applying of attention) to autonomous vitakka (your mind now autonomously applies attention to the meditation object). It is this shift that gives rise to the experience of effortlessness.

Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.

1. It is important meditate daily and to commit to your set time.
2. Remember  there is no such thing as a bad meditation, just an opportunity to learn and develop insight. When your mind is all over the place and your attention has collapsed, take this as an opportunity to observe anatta: the autonomous nature of your attention.
3. Use the Guided Meditation at least once to become familiar with this technique.
4. Learn to meditate daily without guidance to help you develop skill and insight.
5. Keep meditating daily until you fulfill the below progression criteria.

You are ready to progress to TIER 2 of Mindfulness of Breathing when you can effortlessly rest attention on one point of breath sensation free from subtle dullness, subtle wandering, and subtle restlessness.

• View the Progressive Menu see your next step.

STEP 1: COMPLETED: You have chosen PATH 1 

STEP 2: COMPLETED: You have completed Softening

READ: INSTRUCTION: TIER 1 of Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3: COMPLETED: You have completed TIER 1

YOUR NEXT STEP

READ: INSTRUCTION: TIER 2 of Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 1: COMPLETED: You have chosen PATH 2

STEP 2: COMPLETED: You have completed Softening

READ: INSTRUCTION: TIER 1 of Mindfulness of Breathing

STEP 3: COMPLETED: You have completed TIER 1

YOUR NEXT STEP

READ: INSTRUCTION: TIER 2 of Mindfulness of Breathing