Talk On Challenges That Stray Us From Our Mindful Path
In this talk we explore some of the most common challenges, or "hindrances", we encounter in meditation practice and generally along our path of mindfulness. We explore desire/craving, aversion/resistance, sleepiness/dullness/disinterest, restlessness/worry, and doubt/critical thoughts. The tending to these experiences that arise is the same as in other parts of the practice - notice and allow. We also discuss more detailed supports for when these arise in formal meditation practice.
Transcript
All right,
Today we're going to talk about some of the most common challenges in meditation and generally in mindfulness practice in life,
Whether you're sitting on the cushion or you're seeking to practice,
Bring mindfulness and mindful awareness to just daily moments throughout life.
And we'll also talk about how to approach them in this short talk.
So these challenges that we're going to speak about,
Kind of the most common challenges,
Are kind of similar in that we can think about them as challenges that kind of can push us off our path and stray us from our intention.
That is to kind of bring more that is to kind of bring more mindfulness and acceptance and compassion to ourselves and our lives and our world.
And they,
So they appear in different forms,
But overall they are that.
They are things that can kind of stray us from this good intention we have to follow this practice.
So they can show up when you are meditating and they can also show up in between times of meditation in your daily life,
Including kind of leading you to to not follow a meditation practice.
That can be one of the outcomes of these challenges,
These hindrances.
And overall,
The approach to all of them is going to sound really familiar because it is kind of a good summation of mindfulness.
And the point is that the approach to all of these hindrances is really similar.
First,
It's noticing that it's there.
And we're going to talk through kind of the labels that I have for each of those,
But I want to just kind of first talk to overall how we approach all of them and how it's the same for all of them.
The key first piece is noticing when these hindrances arise,
Notice that they're present for you in that moment.
And just like we do with bodily experience or however our breath is at the time or challenging thoughts or emotions,
We're going to notice and we're going to accept it as it is.
We're going to say,
Yes,
I see you.
We're going to see if we can be present for it just as it is.
It can be helpful as well.
And this can be,
This can feel maybe a little more reflective,
But paying attention to the kind of causes and conditions that lead to the arising of each of these hindrances and also to the passing of each of them.
So keep that in mind as we speak about each of the hindrances.
But one of the things we talk about in mindfulness is that wherever you place your attention,
That thing grows or kind of strengthens.
And so a place that you're putting your mind frequently will end up being a place that it goes to more frequently.
And so that kind of is a useful reminder if we're noticing a lot of one of the hindrances arising in us.
And then it can also be useful to bring wisdom and wise reflection to these hindrances.
Kind of if it feels kind of difficult to let them soften and dissolve just by noticing and allowing,
Just kind of tending and befriending,
As we say sometimes,
To bring some awareness to and curiosity to whatever the hindrance is that is arising in us at the time.
So let's dive into the hindrances themselves,
The most common ones that we speak about in the world of mindfulness.
And we'll get into some specifics around working with each of them.
So one of the most common ones is desire or craving.
And the desire in meditation practice often can be a desire for a particular experience,
Usually a kind of pleasurable sensory experience.
Obviously,
You can see that this is probably the case for most people.
So if you're a person who's probably.
.
.
In many cases,
This is the flip side of resistance or aversion.
And what I mean by that is that if we're desiring for a certain experience,
It probably means that there's some kind of unpleasurable experience going on in the moment that we're maybe seeking to get away from.
Or maybe we had a really nice meditation recently,
And before we sit down on the mat,
We're looking forward to having that same sense of peace and oneness with all,
With the entire world before we sit down.
So this can be a place where having regularity of practice can be really useful because as you gain more time sitting and being with whatever is,
Including times that are not lovely and pleasant,
And you're just all over the place and distracted,
And you're still practicing,
That is still the practice,
You're able to build over time this understanding and acceptance with yourself that this is the practice,
It is being with whatever is.
And so noticing desire arise in the moment is going to be another tool,
Another thing we're noticing,
Noticing that it's there,
And noticing when we have cravings for a certain experience and just acknowledging that.
Either if that's with a meditation or in our daily life.
And as I mentioned,
The flip side of that,
It feels that's kind of equally,
Is really also commonly present in us is aversion and resistance.
And this is again,
These two,
Desire and aversion,
Are really,
Really common,
Just basically like innate reactions we have all the time to all of life's experiences.
A craving for something to stick around longer,
If there's a pleasurable experience that we're in,
We want it to stay longer.
And then aversion for things that are displeasurable.
And I like the phrasing,
Tend and befriend,
Particularly for these kind of feelings of resistance or pushing away or I don't like this,
Generally,
I don't like this feeling.
So that,
As we talked about in the beginning,
The entire practice is to see,
To acknowledge that this aversion is present in me right now.
And to just hold that with softness,
To notice it,
And oftentimes just noticing it will bring some kind of dissolving.
And just holding it like you would hold a child that is sad and needs some comfort.
So not pushing away the pushing away,
Right?
Just noticing,
Seeing that it's present in you at the time.
And then the sleepiness or dullness that can also be a common challenge in meditation,
We kind of associate it with like neutrality or being bored.
And that,
I will say first and foremost,
I very much believe that most of us are sleep deprived all the time.
And so the first thing I would say is probably get more sleep if you can,
If that is some way that you can care for yourself,
Then I would first and foremost say that.
And then if it is something that,
So that's just kind of true,
Especially for kind of general practice,
If it is something that you can do to help you sleep,
Then I would say that you should definitely get more sleep.
And then if it's happening in meditation itself,
If you're finding you're often nodding off,
Or you're just kind of just interested,
Then you can adjust your posture to kind of be maybe like slightly less comfortable or less like lending itself towards falling asleep.
So maybe sitting up,
Sitting with your back not against,
Your back not supported against a wall or a chair,
Or opening your eyes to kind of gaze lightly upon like kind of soft gaze upon the ground right in front of you.
Or you can even try like standing posture or walking meditation are really,
Really great for supporting more of more weakness in hearing in meditation practice.
And then hearing is,
You know,
Paying specific attention to the sense of hearing can be a can be a really good way to just feel a little bit more alert,
Especially if there's obviously plenty of noise going around you,
Which is true for a lot of us who live in urban environments.
But also can be a really lovely thing if you choose to meditate outside.
There's so many lovely noises frequently outside.
So hearing,
Paying attention to the moment to moment changes of sounds can be a really lovely way to bring curiosity to your practice and also a little bit more of aliveness and weakness.
So the fourth one I want to talk about is restlessness or worry.
I really relate to this one.
One of the most common things that comes up for me when I,
When I sit down on the cushion and the mat is the is the planning mind.
Oh my gosh,
All the things in the future that I can think about.
And so again,
Kind of a pretty broad statement about,
About our world here is that I,
I,
Similar to sleep,
I don't believe that our culture for the most part,
Many of us don't live in a culture of allowing a lot of time for processing.
Many of us do that with friends and dear family members where we really like to talk and process through things,
Which is really lovely.
And some,
But some of us don't have that and,
Or maybe don't have quite enough of it,
Or you don't have a therapist.
So we don't have a lot of spaces in our life for kind of processing all that it is that we go through.
Sometimes very,
Very,
Very heavy stuff.
And not to say that thinking about something is the end all be all and processing something in a kind of logical or,
Or thinking or moving through process kind of way is,
It's not always the answer.
A certain amount of it can be helpful and a certain amount can be harmful.
But one of the things I will say is that,
You know,
It can be supportive to kind of work time into your life to,
To really process some things,
Whether that's chatting with people who are,
You know,
Good listening ears or journaling,
Or just spending some time walking and kind of,
You know,
Chewing on something.
So that can be helpful.
But then the reality for sure is that the vast majority of our thoughts are,
Are really kind of just chatter and unproductive and kind of a degree to which is not helpful.
And I really just kind of worry,
Kind of some with it,
With,
Without a,
Without a good place to go.
And so again,
A huge one here can be noticing those,
Noticing those thoughts,
Acknowledging the,
The,
The feeling,
Seeing where,
You know,
What is this physical sensations of worry and anxiety and restlessness in your body.
Sometimes this can feel like really just wanting to move and just kind of feeling like you need to get up and move.
And so,
Like not like a huge one here,
Is acknowledging,
Seeing that,
Acknowledging I'm feeling restless,
I'm feeling worry right now.
And being present for that as long as it remains and noticing those thoughts and coming back to an anchor that you have in your meditation practice.
Walking meditation can be one if you feel like you do really need some more movement or maybe bringing more stillness feels like the right,
The right thing for you at the time.
I think also we can all relate to having our phones close by,
Can be really not supportive sometimes of,
In particular of meditation practice,
But also just kind of like restlessness in life.
It is a common thing for us to reach to,
To put our mind,
You know,
Put our minds on.
And so maybe not using your phone for meditation practice,
But using some other kind of timer,
A watch or an alarm clock that you have that's on your phone and putting your phone kind of far away.
And I think that's also just true for non-meditation practice.
Like just find times to turn off your phone or put it on silent and then just kind of like,
You know,
Find times to turn off your phone or put it on silent and put it in a place that's not,
You're going to see it all the time and just be with the kind of feelings of restlessness that maybe arise because you're not near your phone or,
Or,
Or,
And see,
And see kind of what rises in those moments following.
So there's some general thoughts there.
And then some other,
There's a lot of different thoughts that come with one I'll mention.
And one of the really common one as well is like doubt,
Doubt about the practice or doubt in general,
Self-critical thoughts generally can this broad bucket of,
Of kind of resistance to the practice or resistance to yourself following this path.
And we mentioned tend and befriend,
And this is another really good way to do it.
And then there's also like,
You know,
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Like and also just in your,
In your daily life as you go forward with your day.
Thank you for joining me and I hope this has been wonderful and helpful for you and blessings to you.
Namaste.
