Working With The Hindrances To Meditation

Five common factors were recognised by the Buddha that got in the way of people's spiritual practice and hindered their growth. 2,500 years later, that's still the case. We're human. Our minds will try and derail us from our meditation practice. So if you know what they are in advance then this increases your likelihood of success in establishing a regular practice Session 1 introduces the hindrances.

In the session we are looking at restlessness and anxiety. Helen talks a little bit about how this might show up in your practice and then there will be a practical element for practice. This is so you start to become familiar with that pattern so you can recognise when it comes up and see it for what it is.

In session two we looked at the hindrance of restlessness and anxiety. Now we're going to go to the other side of the coin to explore sloth and torpor. Learn how to meditate when maybe you can't be bothered. It feels like too much effort or you're tired or anything else related that might get in the way of your spiritual practice.

In this session, we're moving on to looking at sense desire where we might get distracted, as the name suggests, by our senses. That could be any of the six senses because in Buddhism the Mind / thinking is also a sense and we all know how we can get distracted. by thoughts.

In this module we're going to be looking at the next hindrance, which is ill will. As the title suggests this is when negative thoughts come up and get in the way of our practice. Remember you are not your thoughts and you don't have to believe them.

Helen believes this is the hindrance that would derail people the most from their practice. When doubt is present it can be beneficial to know the science and believe what is possible from a regular practice.

In this final session, we recap over the hindrances to meditation and how each can be acknowledged when it shows up in our meditation practice. We revisit each hindrance in a reminder and look at how meditation can benefit our whole life.