Cambridge Insight Meditation Center

02/11 – 4/01 Mindfulness of Breathing: Sixteen Steps to Awakening

Week 1 (2/11/2026)

Ānāpānassati: Session 1 (2/11/26) Home Practice

  • Become aware of the connection between the breath and the body in terms of energy. Which ways of breathing feel calming?  Which ways of breathing feel energizing?
    • If you already have a meditation practice that uses awareness of breathing, try feeling the breath in a location other than your usual or favorite location.
  • Spend five to ten minutes (or longer) feeling the breath in each of the breath centers in this ‘map’:
    • Below the navel
    • Above the navel and below the sternum
    • Center of the chest at the breastbone
    • Feeling the flow of breath at the throat
    • Somewhere in the head, at the tip of the nose or farther back in the nasal or sinus cavities
  • Count the length of the inhale and the length of the exhale. To count five breaths in each area, you can count like this for each round of inhalations and exhalations:
    • (inhale) “1 2345…”  (exhale) “1 23456…”
    • (inhale) “2 2345…” (exhale) “2 234567…
    • (inhale) “3 23456…”  (exhale) “3 23456…”   and so on for 4 and 5
  • Some of you requested a video to help you remember the energizing practice we did in class.  This video is a little older.  Now, as we did it in class, I like to relax the shoulders more on the first squatting motion, with the palms facing down. Then I hold the palms facing each other as I lift through the chest and raise the arms for the full chair pose.

Resources and readings for this session are located here, along with a copy of the home practice.

Week 2 (2/18/2026)

Ānāpānasati: Session 2 (2/18/26) Home Practice

Click here for a PDF of the home practice, which includes some reference material, based on our work in the First Tetrad.

This week, for home practice:
  • Continue a regular practice of 20-40 minutes of daily sitting practice, if possible.
  • Try to use the roadmap we have used in class to visit the breath centers in the body
  • Remember that the first resting spot of ‘a calm and relaxed body’ lies with step 4 in this tetrad.
  • Remember that we start out attending to particular areas in the ‘map’ we have chosen, but we end up with a sense of the whole body breathing, using a broad, spacious sense of the body.  Relax any tension that you can let go of along the way as you move through the map.
  • Use the counting of the length of the inhale and exhale for at least the first third of your practice time, then you can switch to a meditation word or phrase, such as “Bud-dho” – or “Breathing in, Breathing out” for the remaining of the first four steps.
  • Keep 80% of your attention on the feeling of the breath energy in the body, using the other 20% for counting or a meditation word or phrase.
  • Follow along with this guided audio file if you would like
  • Notice at times in daily life, where the breath is felt in the body as you breathe.
  • Read as much of the reference material as you would like.  The main points to take away are that breath energy is more than just air. The fact that we can feel, hear, taste, smell, see or conceptualize anything depends on the presence of ‘life-force’, (Pāna in Pali and Prana in Sanskrit), which is always present in each moment of life and which is renewed with each breath. 
Week 3 (2/25/2026)

Ānāpānasati: Session 3 (2/25/26) Home Practice

Click here for a PDF of the home practice, which includes some reference material.

  1. Continue the work with the first tetrad, the body, by continuing to notice when there is tension in parts of the body, and when the body is relaxed.   During the day, when you sense tension, try feeling the breath energy around that area, bringing awareness to the tension and the soothing qualities of the breath.
  2. For formal practice, try moving through the four steps of the first tetrad in varying lengths of time: 10 minutes, 15 minutes, and 20 minutes. Remember to transition between a more spotlighted awareness at the beginning and a broader, more connected spacious awareness by the end of your session.  Drop the counting in the last few minutes of your session, but continue using directed thought, by using a phrase from the sutta, or a note along with your awareness of the flowing breath, having a sense of the whole-body breathing.
  3. If you want to try moving to the second tetrad, at the end of one of your sessions (#2 above), pay attention to whatever ease is present in the body and mind as you ‘abide’ with ease in the body in step 4.  Bring to mind a time when you felt joyous and light, perhaps after sitting practice, walking or movement practice, or maybe being in nature.  Say a phrase or two to yourself that might invite more joy and ease to the present moment, such as:
    • “Breathing in, just as I have felt joy before, may I be open to joy in this moment” “Breathing out, just as I have felt joy before, may I be open to joy in this moment”
    • “Breathing in, just as I have felt ease before, may I be open to ease in this moment” “Breathing out, just as I have felt ease before, may I be open to ease in this moment”
    • As we move into working with the second tetrad, notice throughout the day when there is something you are excited about or that you are looking forward to – how does that energy feel in the body?  When you are resting or relaxed (but not napping), how does that feel in the body?  Does anything stand out?
  4. I will be sharing different Qigong videos, each week. I love practicing along with this one, from Judy K. Young.  The forms are uncomplicated, and the fact that there is no commentary or music makes for a very contemplative practice. Enjoy!
Week 4 (3/4/2026)

Ānāpānasati: Session 4 (3/4/26) Home Practice

Click here for a PDF of the home practice, which includes some reference material.

  1. Continue your daily practice up through the second tetrad on your own as we did in the last session, starting with an awareness that is more narrowly focused on the breath centers and then moving to a more flowing, broad awareness of the breath sensations and energy in the whole body. I have recorded a guided audio practice to help you use the optional Tibetan  ‘tools’. Remember you don’t have to use them all at once, though you may do that. You can just use shapes and colors or use the seed syllables.
  2. Nonsense- to remember the seed syllables from our last session try:   Lovely Violet Roses Yearn for Higher consciousness, using the first letter + “am.”
  3. Rest in the first abode of a “relaxed and calm body and breath,” noticing and appreciating any feelings of ease in the body. You can drop the counting at this point, but you may still want to use a meditation word or a phrase. Invite Joy and Happiness as you shift to the second tetrad.  Phrases such as, “May I be sensitive to joy as I breathe in” or “Just as I have felt joy before, may I be open to joy in this moment.” The main ‘abode’ in this tetrad is Step 6, Sensitive to Happiness and ease (sukha). Steps 7 and 8 help us return to the resting place of Step 6 when the mind wanders.
  4. Look at the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, The Four Foundations of Mindfulness, and compare the sections there with the way the tetrads are practiced in Ānāpānasati. You don’t need to do an in-depth reading or analysis; instead, just notice, for example, how long each foundation is, compared to the same Foundations in Ānāpānasati, or the differences and similarities in the practices. The sutta can be found HERE. 
  5. Look at this short Thich Nhat Hanh video from Plum Village. Notice what he says about the relationship between Samatha and Vipassana. 
  6. Our first tetrad is mostly Samatha = calming or to even out – “calm abiding”, TNH calls this stopping in the video. We called it creating seclusion.
  7. The second tetrad moves toward Samādhi = collecting, bringing together, making steady, concentrating,  developing the concentration factors (jhana factors) of non-sensual pleasure, refreshment, and ease (Pīti and Sukha). The tetrad then moves more into Vipassana, in steps 7 and 8, as we are aware of getting pulled away from the present and practice abandoning (calming) those energies, as we return to the breath. Notice the feeling of joy in the body when it happens naturally in daily life.
  8. Our next stop, the third tetrad, moves even more fully into Vipassana.
  9. Preparing for our next session, here is the text for the third tetrad.