This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer here.

Recognizing Agitation and Dullness

Learning to identify agitation and drowsiness is the first step in overcoming them.

Agitation occurs when the mind is unbalanced, anxious or stressed. An agitated mind jumps from one thought to the next with such speed that it may seem impossible to slow down. In meditation, agitation usually occurs in the form of excessive thinking, but can also arise in emotionally as worry, stress or anxiety.

Dullness occurs when the mind becomes lethargic, drowsy or tired. A dull mind can give us the impression of being narrowly focused on our meditation object when, in fact, it is slowly drifting into drowsiness. In meditation, dullness makes our meditation object more fuzzy and “dream-like”, while shutting down peripheral awareness of our posture and environment.

We must train our mind to work with and overcome these obstacles, because by giving in to them, we actually train the mind to be agitated or to be dull. Therefore, as soon as we notice a hint of agitation or dullness, we must apply the antidotes below. The stronger the obstacle is, the stronger the antidote should be.

Antidotes to Agitation

These antidotes to agitation are ordered from light to strong.

Antidotes to Dullness

These antidotes to dullness are also ordered from light to strong.

The sooner you notice agitation and dullness, the easier they will be to work with. By applying the right antidotes to the challenges we face, our meditation sessions will become more enjoyable and fruitful.

If this sounds off-putting, don’t let this discourage you. Forty minutes indeed is a significant daily commitment. However, we should not see meditation as a sacrifice, but rather as an investment, and one that will quickly reap rewards that surpass our commitment. As we increase the length of our daily practice we will observe that:

• Meditation becomes more enjoyable, as our mind gets more focused and enters a “flow” state
• We get the opportunity to work with new challenges that were previously hidden
• Our mind is less distracted throughout the day, improving our overall productivity and well-being
• We reach deeper layers of mind and access unconscious knowledge and wisdom
• We get to know ourselves more intimately from direct experience
• We experience interesting and insightful states of mind and other intriguing phenomena
• Our motivation increases, and we look forward to meditating for longer periods

To reach our goal of 40 minutes, we start by experimenting will slightly longer sits than we’re used to. We will gradually increase the duration of our sits, for example in 5 minutes increments, until we can comfortably meditate for 40 minutes.

Should this serve as additional motivation, know that this course won’t expect us to lengthen our sits beyond 40 minutes. However, when our schedules allow for it, we should try sitting for longer, or meditating multiple times in a single day. Forty minutes is the daily minimum we should aim for, but longer and more frequent practice always yields exponentially greater benefits. Still, a 40-minute daily sit is enough to enable fast and significant progress.

Occasionally, we may find it hard or even impossible to meditate for a full 40 minutes. Perhaps we woke up later than expected, or are visiting family and don’t have the space required to practice. That is fully understandable.

However, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we must always meditate every day, even if for only two minutes. Of course, the benefits of a 5-minute-long sit are smaller than those of a 40-minute meditation. However, the difference between skipping meditation and meditating 2 minutes is even larger! Therefore, make a strong commitment to never skipping a daily meditation session.

• Counting the breaths
• Following the breath
• Connecting the breaths

By practicing these techniques, we have calmed our monkey-mind and developed more stable attention. However, our attention still gets distracted by thoughts, sounds or other sensations. To move forward, we need to develop introspective awareness.

Introspective awareness is the capacity to observe the state of our mind. Cultivating introspective awareness will allow us to take a step back and:

• Observe the movements of attention
• Notice potential distractions early on
• See clearly different qualities of our mind

To develop introspective awareness, we will practice checking in and labeling.

Checking in and labeling

So far, we have waited for our mind to spontaneously notice when it wandered away. Now, to strengthen this faculty of the mind, we want to voluntary check the state of our mind and give it a quick descriptive label.

After watching a few breaths, we will briefly turn our attention inward. Is our mind agitated or calm? Is it filled with energy or lethargic? Is is focused or distracted? As soon as we recognize our state of mind, we label it mentally with a single word like “agitated”, “calm”, “distracted” or any other quality of the mind we may notice. Don’t worry about the accuracy of the label!

Once we’ve checked in and labeled our mind state, we return to the breath and resume our meditation practice. If we have noticed that our mind is agitated, distracted or lethargic, we also take this opportunity to gently tighten our focus or increase effort.

By practicing checking in and labeling, we will notice that introspective awareness becomes sharper and stays longer. In these periods, we may feel like we’ve taken a step back. Instead of watching the breath, we are watching the mind watch the breath. This is excellent progress!

Keep practicing checking in and labeling until introspective awareness becomes continuous.

1. Once we can clearly observe several sensations during the in-breath, the out-breath and the pauses in between, we will pay closer attention to the pauses. Which one of the two pauses is longer?
2. Then, we’ll compare the in-breath and the out-breath. Are they roughly the same length? Is the inhale shorter than the exhale, or the opposite?
3. Finally, we’ll observe the change of different parts of the breath over time. Is this out-breath longer than the previous one? Is the pause between the exhale and the inhale always longer/shorter than the other pause? Is the breath getting shallower or deeper?

The goal of connecting the breaths is to develop more stable attention by closely observing and monitoring the breath. At this stage, while many find this technique useful, while others find it overly intellectual or hard to grasp. If you don’t see the benefits or feel like connecting is making you more agitated or confused, you can safely move on to the next practice: Cultivating Introspective Awareness.

Following the breath is a practice that will give your mind an additional task so that it remains interested and attentive to the breath. When following the breath, we want dissect and investigate the different parts of the breath in an engaged way. This will neutralize the natural tendency of the mind to wander away. Here is the step-by-step technique:

1. First, find the exact beginning, and the exact ending, of the incoming breath.
2. Similarly, find the exact beginning, and the exact ending, of the outgoing breath.
3. Then, observe the pauses between the in-breath and out-breath, and the out-breath and in-breath.
4. Once you can distinctly observe these aspects the breath, try to see all of them with equal clarity during a breath cycle.

These four instructions should keep your mind alert and interested for a while. However, you may find that at some point, the mind gets used to these instructions and loses interest. When this happens, you can move on to the fifth and final step of following the breath.

5. Observe all the different and changing sensations that make up the breath at the nose. Notice as many sensations as you can during the inhale, the exhale and the pauses in-between.

When practicing following the breath, we also should make sure that our peripheral awareness remains receptive and open; we’re not trying to shut down the background!

By practicing in this way, our mind will grow sharper and more sensitive. Our attention will be sustained for extended periods of time, while mind-wandering will occur less often. When mind-wandering does occur, it also won’t last as long.

As instructed previously, we should keep positively reinforcing the mental habit of noticing mind-wandering. When we see that the mind has wandered away, we take a moment to appreciate being conscious in this moment. Then, we direct our attention back to the breath, and practice following the breath as instructed above.

Also, remember to find joy and pleasure in this practice. Consciously bring to mind the enjoyable parts of your experience and savor them. This is time for you, away from the worries and movement of daily life. Appreciate it!

Once mind-wandering is rare and short, while periods of attention are longer and clearer, you can move to the next practice: connecting the breaths.