4. Mindfulness Training

Mindful walking

Mindful walking is a good preparatory exercise for the sitting sessions. It can settle the mind a bit, so you can get a head start in the following sitting meditation. It’s also a good way to fill up your daily schedule if you have too much free time. The suggested schedule I provide includes one to two hours of mindful walking per day—30 minutes before two sitting sessions and one optional hour.

How much mindful walking you do is up to you. If you’re a fan of it, feel free to do it as much as you want. It definitely doesn’t hurt. A balanced approach would be doing about half an hour of walking before some sitting sessions, as the daily schedule example suggests.

Feel free to leave mindful walking out if you feel like it’s not bringing much value. It’s not necessary for attaining jhana. Some mindfulness can be developed while walking, but the significance of walking is nowhere close to the sitting practice.

Mindful walking instruction

The goal is to settle the mind, cultivate mindfulness of the walking process, and stay away from restless thinking.

Three phases of a step

Find a flat straight path up to around 10 meters (33 feet) long. It’s ideal to walk barefoot. Keep your eyes on the ground a few steps ahead. Walk back and forth on that path, being mindful of the three phases of each step:

Lifting: the foot lifting off the ground, going up in the air
Moving: the foot moving forward in the air
Stepping: the foot going down and stepping on the ground

Follow all three phases of each step. Walk in slow motion, moving one foot at a time—with the attention on the given foot, be mindful of its movement. Internally labeling the three phases of a step—lifting, moving, stepping—can help. If the attention wanders away to thinking, listening, or anything else, just realize it and bring it back to the walking process.

Walk like that to the end of the path. There, you can take a bit of a break, relax, and then turn around and go back. If you get into too much thinking during the breaks, keep them short, or just slowly turn around and go back immediately without a break.

That’s it—no rocket science. Keep walking slowly, mindful of the three phases of each step for the whole session.

Five phases of a step

As you cultivate mindfulness this way, gradually, the phases may start to seem too long and too easy to follow. Then, you can split each step into five instead of three phases:

Raising: raising the heel off the ground
Lifting: lifting the foot up in the air
Moving: moving the foot forward in the air
Lowering: letting the foot go downwards
Stepping: touching the ground and completing the step

Everything else remains the same as for the three phases. This five-phase method is good enough to support any stage of the seated mindfulness of breathing practice.

Mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati)

The meditation technique for stilling the mind from overdrive to jhana is mindfulness of breathing (anapanasati). Over the course of the mindfulness of breathing training described below, the mind will, hopefully, gradually become more serene, stable, and unified around what you are mindful of. That is the development of samadhi. It can range from very mild at the beginning to the samadhi of the first jhana.

The breathing process is naturally an ideal tool for meditation. First, when you are just sitting still, breathing is the only bodily movement that remains, so it’s relatively well noticeable and easy to work with. Second, it’s naturally always there; you don’t need to produce it artificially.[1] Third, as the mind and body affect each other, stilling the breath can help still the mind.

Combining meditation techniques

It’s not uncommon to combine two or more sitting meditation techniques on a retreat instead of sticking to one at a time. An example could be supplementing the mindfulness of breathing practice with an evening session of loving-kindness or compassion meditation.

If the focus is on attaining jhana, I recommend using one technique—mindfulness of breathing—at a time. The reason is similar to not combining different meditation postures. Every time you switch from one technique to another, the mind needs to readjust. Adding another technique may thus slightly disrupt the momentum of your samadhi development effort.

However, you may become bored with mindfulness of breathing only. Adding one session of another technique in your daily schedule (perhaps shorter than the mindfulness of breathing sessions), such as loving-kindness or compassion, can gladden the mind and help. But again, if you are OK without it, and your main objective is jhana, it’s better to stick to mindfulness of breathing only.

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I will explain three modes of anapanasati, where the second and third modes have two slightly different variants. An overview of the features of all the mindfulness of breathing techniques is presented in a table at the end of this mindfulness of breathing subchapter.

Mode 1: Long/short breath awareness

The sutta passage for the first mode is:

“Breathing in long, he understands: ‘I breathe in long’; or breathing out long, he understands: ‘I breathe out long.’ Breathing in short, he understands: ‘I breathe in short’; or breathing out short, he understands: ‘I breathe out short.’” (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, sutta 118)

The goal at this stage is to be mindful of the breath by observing whether it’s long or short. As I understand it, the “long” and “short” should be interpreted as referring to the depth of breath, not the duration.[2] I also find it the more appropriate interpretation for the training. With this interpretation, a long breath corresponds to a deep one, and a short breath corresponds to a shallow one. I stick to “long” and “short” in this manual. However, “deep” and “shallow” would be also suitable. So, you follow every in-breath and out-breath, discerning whether it’s rather long (deep), or short (shallow). There are four options: long/short in-breath and long/short out-breath.

Notice that the sutta speaks about “understanding.” It doesn’t mention any specific location to focus on. You don’t have to worry about any particular location. Try to have a general awareness and understanding of whether the in-breaths and out-breaths are long or short. You may naturally incline towards some specific area where you perceive the breath (especially if you’re used to focusing intentionally on the location from your past practice). That’s all right. The point is that it’s not about the location. It’s about being mindful of the breathing process.

You are observing the breath passively, meaning you are not intentionally influencing the breath in any way.

You can apply internal labeling. If the in- or out-breath is long, you can label it “long” (or “deep”). If it’s short, you can label it “short” (or “shallow”).[3] For the sake of simplicity of the labeling, you don’t need to distinguish between in- and out-breath, meaning you can just use “long”/”short” for both in- and out-breath (instead of having four labeling options: “in/out long/short”).

You may wonder where the threshold between “long” and “short” is. Well, it’s up to you. After some time, you will have a decent sample of the in- and out-breathing length (depth). Based on that, you divide the breath into what seems rather long and short. The point is to give the mind something to observe so that it stays with the breath. Exactly where you draw the line between “long” and “short” is not essential.

If you realize the mind has wandered away from the breath—you find yourself thinking, listening to something, or attending to anything else—just return your attention to the breathing process and continue. Don’t see the mind-wandering as an error in the practice. It’s something to work on, but not something to be frustrated about. Just keep patiently returning over and over. This approach to mind-wandering applies to all modes of the mindfulness of breathing practice.

That’s it. With the help of internal labeling, try to be mindful of whether the in- and out-breaths are long (deep) or short (shallow). You do that for the whole meditation session. If it seems difficult in the beginning, and the mind is often wandering away, that’s fine, that’s normal. It’s training the mind to be constantly with one thing only—the breath, which is not supposed to be easy. As with any other training, it requires patience, especially in the beginning.

Mode 2: Experiencing the whole body

The sutta passage for the second mode is:

“He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in experiencing the whole body’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body.’” (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, sutta 118)

There are several interpretations of what “experiencing the whole body” means. For example, experiencing the whole (physical) body, experiencing the whole body (of the breath), or experiencing the whole body (through body “scanning”). I will explain the first two. They can be easily upgraded to the third mode, the gateway to the first jhana.

Experiencing the whole physical body

Don’t worry about long/short anymore. Now, you’re continuously experiencing, perceiving the physical body as a whole as you’re breathing. If you hold your breath, it’s not as easy to experience the whole body as when breathing. The breathing helps you experience the body through the movement associated with the breathing.

The breathing itself is thus not the main object of attention now. It’s a tool for experiencing the physical body as a whole. In that sense, it’s not mindfulness “of breathing,” but rather mindfulness “of the body, while breathing.” That’s all right since “mindfulness of breathing” is just a specific translation of the original Pali term anapanasati, which may not be ideal for everything anapanasati refers to. I use the translation “mindfulness of breathing” because it’s very common, and I’m simply going with the Bhikkhu Bodhi translations of the suttas. However, it doesn’t mean that the breath is always the main object of the anapanasati practice.

Again, you’re not necessarily focusing on any specific small location. The body as a whole is the location. You’re mindful of the body as a whole throughout the entire breathing process.

You’re not intentionally influencing the breathing in any way. You’re passively experiencing the whole body while breathing naturally.

If the mind wanders away from perceiving the body, you just return the attention to the body and continue.

If it helps keep the attention on the body, you can continue to help yourself by internal labeling: “(whole) body.” If it’s unnecessary or even distracting, drop the labeling.

After some time, if the practice becomes pleasant, if it starts feeling good, that’s great. Passively enjoy it, meaning let the pleasantness be there; don’t try to stop it, but you’re not actively focusing on it either. Treat it as nothing more than a nice by-product of the practice. You’re still actively attending only to the whole body with the help of breathing.

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The approach to pleasantness described above holds for all three modes of mindfulness of breathing. You can, or should, passively enjoy it but never make it your main object of attention. The task is always to follow the instructions for the given mode and treat pleasantness as a convenient by-product of the meditation. The condition for the pleasantness arising is that you have been following the instructions. Don’t change the winning strategy until the mindfulness of breathing finish line (first jhana).

Experiencing the whole body of the breath

Here, you’re also no longer working with the long/short breath. You’re being aware, mindful of the whole breathing process from the beginning to the end (including being mindful of the gaps in between the in- and out-breaths, if they are there).

Again, it’s not about a particular location of focus. It’s about general awareness of breathing in every moment. It’s being mindful of the fact that breathing (or the gap in between) is happening. If the mind naturally inclines towards perceiving the breath at a specific location, that’s fine.

Generally, the way you perceive the breath may be naturally changing. That’s to be expected—it’s normal. What remains the same is the principle that you stick your attention to the breathing process and continuously follow it.

Breathe naturally. Don’t try to influence the breathing in any way.

As always, if you notice the mind has wandered away, get back and continue.

If it helps keep the attention with the breath, you can again help yourself by internally labeling: “in(-breath),” “out(-breath).” If the labeling becomes redundant, abandon it.

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So, the two variants of the second mode are similar. The difference is that for the physical-body one, the attention is with the physical body as a whole, and for the breath-body one, the attention is with the breathing process from the beginning to the end. You can try both variants and choose the one that feels more natural and pleasant, and during which the attention tends to wander away from the body/breath less often.

Mode 3: Tranquilizing the bodily formation

The sutta passage for the third mode is:

“He trains thus: ‘I shall breathe in tranquillising the bodily formation’; he trains thus: ‘I shall breathe out tranquillising the bodily formation.’” (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, sutta 118)

Another sutta[4] defines “bodily formation” as in-breathing and out-breathing as it is tied to the body. Other interpretations relate more directly to the physical body. The good thing is that it doesn’t matter much for the practice. When you sit in meditation, the last bodily movements that still occur are those associated with breathing. Tranquilizing breathing is thus equivalent to tranquilizing the physical body.

Influencing the breath

Sometimes, it’s suggested that meditation is about not “doing” anything. That “doing” in meditation is bad. For instance, the suggestion would be to always only passively observe the breath, as opposed to influencing it. Such an approach is not necessary. You need to “do” something in many meditation techniques. That doesn’t mean you force it. You can and should still be relaxed. But you’re intentionally giving a direction to what is happening.

In the first two modes of mindfulness of breathing, you only passively observe without trying to influence the breath. The point of the third mode is that you deliberately tranquilize the breathing process—the last bodily movement you can tranquilize. Whether you’re coming from the physical-body or the breath-body variant of the second mode makes only a little difference. As pointed out above, stilling the breathing process and stilling the physical body are equivalent. If you’re experiencing the whole body, you see it as tranquilizing the bodily movements associated with the breath. If you’re mindful of the breath itself, you see it as making it as shallow as possible.

You have two tasks now. The main one is still experiencing the whole body or being mindful of the breath (depending on which second mode variant you’re coming from). The additional one, in the back of your mind only, is to gradually, gently tranquilize the breath so that it (and the associated movements) becomes subtler and subtler. The limit is that it’s so subtle that you can’t even perceive it anymore.

The “gradually, gently” is important. If you forcefully shorten the breath, at some point, you’ll need to take a deeper one to make it up and get more oxygen. That’s not the way. Tranquilize the breathing body gradually, gently, and indirectly by keeping that aspiration (to still the movements or make the breath shallower) in the back of your mind. Slowly, unforcefully, you try to tranquilize as much as you can. You can try to make the breathing “disappear” (don’t worry, you’ll survive).

Pleasantness is your friend

The tranquilizing might make the meditation more and more pleasant. The approach to pleasantness mentioned earlier still holds. Still, take it only as a nice by-product of the practice. Do not actively focus on it. Nonetheless, at this stage, you can welcome it a bit more. You can passively delight in it. You can even smile slightly during the sitting. Meditative pleasure, happiness, and joy are conducive to the first jhana. The joy can also stem from the realization that the hindrances are gone (if they are). Allow yourself to feel happy that your mind training is going so well.

The meditative pleasantness is your friend on the way to jhana. Don’t get distracted by it. Focus on walking the path. But welcome and enjoy the presence of your friend. In other words, the primary task is still being mindful and tranquilizing the breathing body, but you’re also open to the pleasantness and joy stemming from the gradual unification of the mind and the weakening of the hindrances.

What if the breath “disappears”?

One “issue” that may happen at this stage is that the breath “disappears.” I put “issue” into quotation marks because it’s not really an issue. It’s an indicator that you’ve been doing it right. If the task is to tranquilize the breathing, getting to the point where it’s so tranquilized that you can’t even perceive it is a good result. I also put “disappears” into quotation marks because, obviously, the breath never really disappears.

If the breath becomes so subtle you can’t perceive it, don’t see it as a problem. See it as an opportunity. When the object of mindfulness is something obvious, clearly tangible, it’s easier to be mindful of it. However, subtle objects can be more conducive to getting deeper into samadhi.

If the breath “disappears,” take a magnifying glass (not to be taken literally), and try to be sensitive to even the subtlest manifestations of the breath. There is a good chance you’ll still be able to find something. It will require being very calm, sharp, and concentrated. You need to unify the whole mind around what you’re trying to be mindful of. Calm, sharp, concentrated, mindful, unified—yes, sounds like samadhi. Working with the very subtle breath helps develop samadhi.

So, don’t give up on the breath too quickly if it “disappears.” It has not disappeared. It’s just very subtle. Try to discern it by applying sharper, more focused attention. And if you manage to perceive that very subtle breath, keep tranquilizing even that. The instruction has not changed. You’re just getting deeper and deeper.

If you really can’t find the breath anymore, that’s also OK. You don’t need to search for some other object to work with. Being mindful of the body, or the breath, is not the purpose of the training. It’s the tool you use to still and unify the mind. You can just sit there, enjoying the serenity you’ve developed, ready to tranquilize any subtle breathing once it appears again. It’s not going to last forever. Sooner or later, the breath will be there again for you to tranquilize.

The springboard to the first jhana

A summary of the third mindfulness of breathing mode is that your main anchor is still experiencing the whole body or the breath; you have the aspiration in the back of your mind to gradually, gently, and indirectly tranquilize the breathing body by making the breath as subtle as possible; and, if it’s there, you delight in the pleasantness without making it the main focus of your attention.

This technique—the third mode of mindfulness of breathing[5]—is the springboard to the first jhana. The Anapanasati sutta passage on tranquilizing bodily formation is followed by a passage on experiencing rapture (piti). Rapture is the main feature of the first jhana. From the sutta perspective, it makes sense that the tranquilizing technique would lead to jhana.

How to work with the mindfulness of breathing techniques

Outside of a retreat

Meditating 20–60 minutes daily, or at least somewhat regularly, can already make a difference. Besides the benefits of mindfulness, it can serve as a solid basis for a potential jhana retreat in the future.

You can successively try all three modes of mindfulness of breathing, staying at least a few weeks with each. Then, you can pick the one you like the most and keep using it as your primary mindfulness technique.

In a retreat setting

If you go on a retreat and already have one of the three modes as your primary mindfulness technique, you can use it as a starting point for the retreat. If you have not yet been practicing any of the three modes described in this chapter, it would make sense to start with the first one.

This is not set in stone, but if starting with the first mode, one could switch to the second one after, let’s say, five to ten days, and then to the third one after another five to ten days. This is just a suggestion. The ideal times to switch will be individual.

If one of the first two modes doesn’t work well for you, you can skip it. If you have the time, eventually, it makes sense to end up in the third mode. The tranquilizing is the culmination of the pre-jhana mindfulness training. There is nowhere else to go from there in terms of developing samadhi, except for the first jhana happening.

Key Takeaways

“Meditative pleasure, happiness, and joy are conducive to the first jhana. The joy can also stem from the realization that the hindrances are gone (if they are). Allow yourself to feel happy that your mind training is going so well. The meditative pleasantness is your friend on the way to jhana.”

“Being mindful of the body, or the breath, is not the purpose of the training. It’s the tool you use to still and unify the mind.”

“A summary of the third mindfulness of breathing mode is that your main anchor is still experiencing the whole body or the breath; you have the aspiration in the back of your mind to gradually, gently, and indirectly tranquilize the breathing body by making the breath as subtle as possible; and, if it’s there, you delight in the pleasantness without making it the main focus of your attention. This technique . . . is the springboard to the first jhana.”

OVERVIEW OF THE MINDFULNESS OF BREATHING TECHNIQUES (see the PDF version of the manual)

[1] We are not worrying now about the deeper states, in which the breath subjectively “disappears.”

[2] Just as in English, the Pali terms for long and short can refer to both time and distance. I believe the sutta speaks about how far the breath goes in terms of its depth, not how long it lasts.

[3] Of course, you can also use the corresponding terms in a different language.

[4] The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, sutta 44.

[5] In the sutta on mindfulness of breathing—Anapanasati sutta—it is listed as the fourth step, as the first two steps are covered by our first mode.

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