(9) MIDL Insight Meditation: The Buddhas Formula for Insight 

Hi U Vajiradhammo, I am sorry to hear what you are experiencing; it is tough times for your country. From your name, are you a monk ordained in a Burmese tradition? ".....Is possible in daily life to weak burdens of deep depression, fear and anxiety without jhāna?...." Yes, from my experience it is. It is the very process of developing the conditions for jhana based on an insight path of relaxing, letting go of control, that removes the conditions for anxiety & depression rather than jhana itself. "...How to destroy past unhappy life experiences in life and misfortunes in meditation?..." Past experiences and memories do not need to be destroyed or removed, this approach is the wrong path and will only make them stronger. It is through finding safety in your body experience, aligning your awareness with and surrendering to the present, finding enjoyment in the comfort and ease of letting go, that your mind will find safety and the suffering with gradually recede. What you can do: You do not need to develop concentration at this time, instead you need to develop skill in relaxing, letting go. Relaxing, letting go aligns with the sial (morality) part of the Noble Eightfold Path and develops harmony. I have a section on my website that describes a breathing technique that worked for me and many others. midlmeditation.com/meditation-for-anxiety I recommend for now following the instructions in Step 1 daily for 3-4 weeks. This meditation skill is practiced laying down and is used for changing stress breathing patterns. I encourage you to be curious about what it means to practice these exercises gently and with little effort or strain. When the breathing is right it will feel good and have a calming effect. You are also welcome to join my weekly meditation classes online if you would like to come in contact with a community of Buddhist insight meditators whose focus is on developing skill in relaxing / letting go that leads to both jhana and freedom from dukkha. midlmeditation.com/meditation-classes

@@midlinsightmeditation hello dear Stephen. Glad very much to see your answer. No. I'm layman. I use small word "u" - meaning -upasaka.

Thank you. But is it possible that just work with breathing and belly breathe can weak fear and depression within?! I thought it would be work with thoughts - feelings - mental and physical state.

@@u_Vajiradhammo "...But is it possible that just work with breathing and belly breathe can weak fear and depression within?..." Yes, it is very possible. The mind conditions the body, and the body conditions the mind. It is insight into this intimate relationship between kaya, vedana and citta that frees. Learning how to soften/relax into the experience of our body is the first and easiest doorway when working with anxiety and fear. "...I thought it would be work with thoughts - feelings - mental and physical state..." It is important not to see this as work. There is nothing wrong with your mind or body, they are simply trying to protect you. Your task is not to fix them but rather to find a place of safety within the experience of your body. Learning to understand your body and minds autonomous nature (anatta) is important here. The unpleasant feeling (vedana) is present in your body simply because your mind is signaling danger. This feeling (vedana) though unpleasant cannot hurt you in any way, it is simply a feeling. Thinking and contents of thoughts are not worth our time as insight meditators. The mind is a problem solver, that is why it thinks, when there is no problem to solve it stops thinking. Increased thinking and defensive thoughts are simply a protection mechanism of the mind. When your mind feels safe thinking will settle down by itself. Initial safety is found by developing what the Buddha referred to as kaya-gata sati (mindfulness immersed within the body). When our mind is in an anxious state so is our body. Our body always reflects the state of our mind. When our body responds to fear within our mind it enters an anxious state, preparing for danger. When the mind then sees our body in this anxious state, especially its unpleasantness, and it reacts to it by becoming hypervigilant, looking for that danger in everything. Thinking is simply part of this defensive process. The first doorway is to find relaxation within our body. Since slow diaphragmatic breathing interrupts the stress response it creates a gap of relaxation and a feeling of calm. Our mind viewing our body in a deeply relaxed state, takes in this into itself and turns off its defenses, creating a gap in the anxious cycle. It is in this gap that we move onto the next stage of deconditioning habitual patterns of the heart and mind by training our mind in samatha based on softening and letting go in all aspects of life. This is a skillful doorway to breaking up anxiety into the four Satipatthanas: kaya, vedana, citta and dhammas in a way that integrates samatha calm and vipassana insight.

@@midlinsightmeditation thank you Mr. Stephen. Am I right understand that your method as mahasi sayadaw vipassana? Firstly awareness of belly (movement?!, after letting go everything, relaxing) then developing appana samadhī, jhānas? Earlier I practiced paauk method, development concentration on immovable area near nose until success level for the next level, vipassana.