Lets use the example of over-identification with pain to illustrate the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination.
1. Ignorance (avijja): The person lacks understanding of the true nature of reality, including the transitory nature of pain and its causes.
2. Mental formations (sankhara): Due to ignorance, the person forms habitual patterns of reacting to pain with identification, seeing it as completely indicative of who they are as a person.
3. Consciousness (viññana): The persons consciousness is conditioned by these mental formations, making them prone to over-identification with pain.
4. Name and form (nama-rupa): The persons body and mind (psychophysical constituents) manifest in a way that is susceptible to intense pain and their personal history.
5. The six sense bases (salayatana): The persons sense organs (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and mind) interact with the external world, including the stimulus of painful sensations.
6. Contact (phassa): The person encounters the painful stimulus and becomes fully identified with the experience due to their habitual patterns of mental formations.
7. Feeling (vedana): The person experiences intense pain, and as they identify with it, the pain can become worse than it might otherwise be.
8. Craving (tanha): The person develops a desire to avoid the pain or to hold on to it; they may become attached to the feeling of pain and its story.
9. Clinging (upadana): The persons attachment to pain intensifies, perpetuating the cycle of identification and suffering.
10. Becoming (bhava): This clinging to pain reinforces the persons habitual patterns and karmic tendencies, deepening the experience of suffering.
11. Birth (jati): The persons over-identification with pain can lead to the creation of an identity, shaped by their experience of pain.
12. Old age and death (jara-marana): The persons attachment to pain, if left unaddressed, can lead to physical, mental, and emotional suffering and perpetuate negative consequences in future situations or even future lives.
In this example, we see how the Twelve Nidanas apply to the experience of over-identifying with pain. Without understanding dependent origination, the person may unconsciously perpetuate patterns of clinging and suffering, which leads to even more pain. However, by breaking this cycle with mindfulness and insight, a person can develop greater freedom and peace in the face of pain.

How to break cycle at each point:

Here are some ways to break the cycle of dependent origination at each point in the example of over-identification with pain:

1. Ignorance (avijja):
By developing an understanding of the true nature of pain and its causes, an individual can reduce their ignorance and become more capable of cultivating healthy patterns of thought and behavior.

2. Mental formations (sankhara):
By recognizing patterns of thought and behavior that perpetuate suffering and cultivating new, healthy patterns, an individual can reduce the impact of mental formations that reinforce over-identification with pain.

3. Consciousness (viññana):
By developing awareness of the impact of mental formations on their consciousness, an individual can become more mindful of their habitual patterns and reduce the degree to which these patterns influence their consciousness.

4. Name and form (nama-rupa):
Through mindfulness practices like body scanning and yoga, an individual can develop a more holistic understanding of pain and its relationship to the body and mind, reducing the degree to which they identify with the sensations of pain.

5. The six sense bases (salayatana):
Through sensory awareness practices like mindfulness of breathing or walking meditation, an individual can become more mindful of their sensory experiences, reducing the potential for over-identification with pain.

6. Contact (phassa):
By consciously and mindfully engaging with the experience of pain, an individual can reduce their automatic emotional and behavioral reactions to pain, decreasing the potential for over-identification with pain.

7. Feeling (vedana):
Through mindfulness practices like observing feelings without judging them or trying to push them away, an individual can develop a more skillful approach to the sensations of pain, reducing the potential for over-identification with pain.

8. Craving (tanha):
By becoming more mindful of the sensations and stories associated with pain, an individual can reduce their tendency to crave relief from pain or to cling to the stories that perpetuate the experience of pain.

9. Clinging (upadana):
By developing a more skillful relationship to pain, including recognizing the impermanence of the experience, an individual can reduce their tendency to cling to and identify with the sensation of pain.

10. Becoming (bhava):
Through mindfulness practices and other meditative techniques, an individual can cultivate new karmic tendencies that reinforce healthy patterns of thought and behavior, reducing the potential for over-identification with pain.

11. Birth (jati):
By recognizing the impermanence of their experience of pain and developing a more fluid and flexible sense of identity, an individual can reduce their tendency to identify with or define themselves by their experience of pain.

12. Old age and death (jara-marana):
By recognizing the potential long-term impact of over-identification with pain, an individual can become more motivated to develop healthy patterns of thought and behavior that reduce the impact of pain on their life, including physical, mental, and emotional suffering.