Lets use the example of aging and retirement to illustrate the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination:

1. Ignorance (Avijja): The first link in the cycle is ignorance or a lack of understanding of the nature of life and the impermanence of all things, including our own physical existence.

2. Mental Formations (Sankhara): Our beliefs, attitudes and past experiences form our mental habits and predispositions toward aging and retirement. For example, someone who values financial security may have anxiety about retirement.

3. Consciousness (Vinñana): Our consciousness, or awareness of our existence, is conditioned by our mental formations and past experiences. These condition our beliefs and emotions about aging and retirement.

4. Name and Form (Nama-Rupa): Our psychophysical makeup or existence, including our body and mind, is conditioned by our past experiences and mental habits.

5. The Six Sense Bases (Salayatana): Our perceptions and senses make contact with the external world, including experiences of aging and retirement.

6. Contact (Phassa): As we age, we make contact with different experiences and sense perceptions, including physical changes, emotional issues and societal expectations around retirement and aging.

7. Feeling (Vedana): Our experiences of aging and retirement, whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, create various feelings that shape our attitudes and reactions.

8. Craving (Tanha): Based on our feelings, we may crave for certain outcomes, such as the desire to hold onto youth or maintain financial security in retirement.

9. Clinging (Upadana): Our craving creates attachment and clinging towards certain outcomes, such as fear of financial insecurity or resistance to physical changes associated with aging.

10. Becoming (Bhava): Our mental habits and attachment create our becoming, which includes our attitudes and perceptions around aging and retirement, as well as the behaviors we engage in to manage our fears around these topics.

11. Birth (Jati): Our becoming manifests into our actual experiences, including the physical processes of aging and the transition into retirement.

12. Old age and death (Jara-Marana): As we age we experience the difficulties of the ageing process and its eventual end in death.

In this example, the Twelve Nidanas show how our attitudes and perceptions around aging and retirement are conditioned by our conditioning and habits. Through understanding this cycle, one can cultivate mindfulness and gain insight into the impermanent and interconnected nature of existence, ultimately leading to peace and freedom from suffering around aging and retirement.

How to break cycle at each point:

To break the cycle at each point related to aging and retirement, one could apply the following practices:

1. Ignorance (Avijja): Develop wisdom by realizing the impermanence of all things and the natural processes of aging. One can seek out teachings on Buddhism or aging, and use mindfulness practices to investigate the nature of reality.

2. Mental Formations (Sankhara): Cultivate positive intentions and mental habits that support a healthy attitude towards aging and retirement. For example, developing empathy and gratitude can help shift perspectives towards acceptance and joy.

3. Consciousness (Vinñana): Develop awareness of the ways in which past experiences and mental habits shape present attitudes towards aging and retirement.

4. Name and Form (Nama-Rupa): Cultivate awareness of the interdependent nature of body and mind and work towards maintaining physical and mental health.

5. The Six Sense Bases (Salayatana): Apply mindfulness to sensory experiences and work towards cultivating a healthier relationship with them. Develop restraint in sensory indulgences and seek out positive sensory experiences.

6. Contact (Phassa): Cultivate awareness of how sensory experiences create feelings and reactions related to aging and retirement. Work towards a healthy emotional relationship with aging and retirement.

7. Feeling (Vedana): Recognize the impermanent nature of feelings and work towards a balanced emotional relationship with the aging process.

8. Craving (Tanha): Develop awareness of the desires and cravings that arise related to aging and retirement. Cultivate the ability to let go of desires for outcomes that are not in alignment with the natural processes of life.

9. Clinging (Upadana): Recognize when attachment is present and cultivate the ability to let go of attachment to outcomes that are not in alignment with the natural processes of life.

10. Becoming (Bhava): Cultivate a healthy relationship with aging and retirement by cultivating positive attitudes and habits around these topics. Work towards accepting the natural processes of aging and retirement.

11. Birth (Jati): Maintain a present-moment awareness of the aging process and cultivate an acceptance of the changes that come with it.

12. Old age and death (Jara-Marana): Cultivate a grounded awareness of the natural process of aging and the end of life, and work towards developing equanimity and peaceful acceptance of these processes.