Observing Obstacles With Equanimity And Compassion

See if you can find a way to sit that is comfortable.

Bring your attention inward.

Maybe closing your eyes if that's comfortable for you.

Or otherwise lowering your gaze.

Looking in front of you.

Then bringing your attention into the body.

Scanning the body from the crown of the head.

All the way down to the feet.

Slowly and observing the body as you scan.

Maybe moving your attention to your eyes.

Noticing if there is any tension behind the eyes.

Around the eyes.

Scanning further down,

Noticing perhaps tension or a clenching of the jaw.

Seeing if you can relax the jaw.

Unhinging the jaw.

Relaxing your tongue.

Maybe bringing a slight smile onto the face.

Smile on the lips but also a smile behind the eyes.

And then scanning further down the neck and the shoulders.

Relaxing the shoulders as best you can.

Maybe imagining a melting of the shoulders.

Like eyes melting to water.

Bringing your attention down the arms into the hands.

Relaxing your hands.

Scanning the chest.

Maybe noticing your heartbeat.

Or the rising and falling of the chest.

When you inhale and exhale.

Scanning the upper back,

The shoulder blades.

Bringing your attention further down the spine to the lower back.

Scanning the belly,

Seeing if you can soften the belly.

If that's possible for you.

And then scanning the pelvic area and your sit bones.

In touch with the surface you're sitting on.

Perhaps sensing the weight of the body.

Sitting on the chair or cushion.

And seeing if you can relax the body.

Maybe 5 or 10% more.

Perhaps allowing yourself to be carried by whatever you're sitting on.

And also by the floor.

The foundation of the building you're in.

And the earth itself.

Leaning into that as it were.

And then scanning further down.

Down the legs,

Into the feet.

Bringing your full attention to your feet.

Noticing the weight of the feet on the floor.

And the connection you make with the floor perhaps.

And then bringing your attention up again.

Into the whole body.

Sensing the whole body as it's sitting here in this moment.

Aware of sensations.

Relaxing that reptilian brain.

The ancient part of our brain.

Subconsciously sending your nervous system a signal that it's safe.

And then slowly bringing your attention into the breath.

And following the movement of the breath as it moves in and out of the body.

Noticing changing physical sensations of the inhale for it's full duration and the exhale for it's full duration.

And if you notice the mind wandering,

Just simply acknowledging where it went,

Labeling that and then relaxing your attention back onto the breath.

And in this meditation I'll be guiding you through the five obstacles or hindrances identified that can be an obstacle in our meditation practice.

But also in our daily lives.

Restlessness being one.

Sleepiness.

Avoidance or resistance.

Craving or desire.

And doubt.

Forces that can create so much sorrow for ourselves and for the world.

An opportunity to ask yourself,

Is there some way that I can live with these obstacles?

More skillfully,

More wisely.

To understand the very nature of both happiness and grief,

Sadness.

To find freedom in our lives.

We have to be willing to face all the so-called demons in our mind.

Depending on the relationship we have with them,

They can be cause for immense struggle.

Or maybe very valuable for growth,

For insights.

So the first step in skillfully and wisely working with these obstacles is to be able to identify them.

So the first obstacle that we're going to be exploring together is craving.

Craving for sense pleasure,

One could say.

Pleasant sights and sounds.

Pleasant smells and tastes.

Bodily sensations and states of the mind.

And there's nothing wrong really with desire,

With craving.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying pleasant experiences.

They're nice to have,

But they can fool us as well.

They fool us when we adopt the if only mentality.

If only I could have this or if only I could find the right relationship,

If only I had the right job.

Fool us into thinking that happiness,

Fulfilment lies at the horizon.

So bringing your attention to the obstacle craving,

Desire.

And noticing for yourself where in this moment is there a sense of craving or wanting something else.

Are you maybe craving for a different posture?

For a cooler space to sit in or maybe warmer?

Are you craving for something to eat or drink?

Investigating that within yourself.

And also investigating where do you sense this craving,

This desire in your body?

And what does it feel like?

Is it tension?

Is it contraction somewhere?

Is it warmth or a pit in the stomach?

And what kind of thoughts and emotions are related to it?

Joy or sadness?

Anger or fear?

Or a delusion of one of those emotions?

And then letting go of observing the craving and the desire and moving your attention to aversion and resistance.

And there is a different mind state at work here.

While desire and craving,

The wanting mind are seductive and can easily fool us.

The opposite energy of aversion and resistance and anger is much clearer to us.

Because the unpleasant is usually very obvious.

And this obstacle is accompanied by thoughts opposite as well.

If only I didn't have this,

If only I didn't need to do this,

Then I would be happy and fulfilled.

And it is contagious as well,

This obstacle,

In the sense that whenever we are in this mind state,

Whenever we are feeding this obstacle,

It can affect our experience and our interactions.

In a bad mood,

When whatever happens,

Whoever we meet,

Something is wrong,

Something will be wrong.

And resistance can really be a source of tremendous suffering in the mind.

And fear and boredom and judgement,

They are all versions of this obstacle.

So seeing for yourself in this very moment,

Are you noticing this obstacle being present?

Is there anything you are not wanting,

You are not accepting in this moment?

Small or big?

And what does it feel like in the body?

Do you feel tension somewhere?

Are your shoulders maybe moving towards your ears?

Is your jaw clenched?

Have your hands moved into fists perhaps?

And if you are not experiencing this in this moment,

Maybe remembering a situation where you did feel a strong aversion or resistance.

Trying to remember what your body signals were,

What your sensations were in that moment.

And what kind of thoughts and emotions are linked to this,

To the experience of this obstacle?

Anger is the one I named already,

Fear.

And then bringing your attention away from observing aversion and resistance.

Then moving your attention to observing sleepiness or drowsiness in the body.

Or it could also include laziness or dullness,

Fogginess in the brain,

Heaviness in the body.

And when we come across this obstacle in meditation or in our daily lives,

It hinders wakefulness,

Clarity.

It makes it difficult to work with the mind.

The mind is cloudy,

Concentration and focus are lacking.

And do you notice this in your practice in this very moment?

Do you notice a heavy body perhaps?

A difficulty to stay awake?

And what is your reaction to it?

How do you relate to it?

Are you resisting to this maybe?

Or are you craving some sleep?

In this way the obstacles they affect each other as well.

And then bringing your attention,

Your observing mind to restlessness.

The obstacle of restlessness,

The opposite of drowsiness and sleepiness.

And when you sense restlessness in your meditation or in daily life there is a sense of agitation,

Nervousness or even anxiety or worry.

You can notice the mind spinning in circles or flopping around like a fish in the water.

The body as well can be filled with restless energy,

Sensing vibration or jumpiness,

Being on edge.

And observing for yourself,

Do you notice a sense of restlessness in this moment?

Where do you notice it?

Maybe you are noticing the mind running through the same routine over and over.

Or trembling or other bodily sensations in the legs,

The hands,

Tingling perhaps,

Muscle contractions.

And this one also influences or is influenced by the other hindrances.

Maybe there is a desire to jump up and do something else,

Work on your to-do list.

Or there is a craving for relaxation in the body.

So where do you notice this in this moment?

Or if you don't notice it in this very moment,

Going back to a situation,

A moment where you did notice being fidgety,

Restless.

What did that feel like?

How did body and mind impact each other?

When we observe these hindrances of restlessness or sleepiness,

When we are able to see them,

Distinguish them without getting caught up.

This is also a way of tuning into our emotional system,

Our limbic brain.

And in a way being able to handle those obstacles also helps us to handle our emotions with more clarity and calm.

We could come to realize that no matter how much we worry over something,

How much we ruminate,

It never actually helps the situation.

We can notice the mind getting caught up in reminiscing or regretting,

Spinning the stories of our lives,

Jumping from object to object in its restlessness.

And being able to observe that and not react to it,

Helping our mind to become a bit stiller,

To practice patience and concentration.

And then letting go of observing this obstacle and bringing your attention to the last obstacle,

Which is doubt.

Doubt can be the most difficult hindrance to work with.

Because when we believe the doubt or we get caught in it,

Our practice just stops.

It paralyzes us.

And it can work as a magnet as well.

And all kinds of doubts come to us.

Doubts about ourselves,

Our capacities.

Doubts about our teachers.

Doubts about whether this even actually works.

Thinking,

I'm sitting here and all that I'm noticing is that my body hurts.

I feel restless.

Maybe the teacher doesn't really know what he or she is talking about.

Maybe thinking,

Oh it's too hard.

I'm not cut out to be doing this.

I don't know.

I can't meditate.

Seeing if you can observe if there's any doubt present in you right in this moment.

And if it's not doubt about the practice,

Maybe a doubt about something else that you're trying to work through.

And seeing if it's possible for you to observe it rather than getting carried away by the doubt.

Seeing how it begins.

What precedes the doubt?

What kind of thoughts arise?

What happens in the body?

Noticing how you're triggered by it possibly.

Observing how long it lasts and when it ends.

And then for the last part of the meditation,

Letting go of your observing attitude and bringing your attention back into the body.

Moving your attention to the feet.

Noticing the weight of your feet.

A sense of contact with the floor.

Noticing the weight of the body on the chair or cushion.

And then taking a couple of deep breaths.

Starting in the belly.

Filling the belly with your in-breath.

Moving up,

Expanding,

Filling the chest with your breath all the way to the top of your head.

And exhaling and doing that a couple of times for yourself.

And perhaps you'd like to set an intention for yourself for the rest of the day.

Maybe a way to be kind and compassionate when you come across one of the obstacles.

And remembering that they're here to teach us something,

Not to make things more difficult for us.

And then whenever you're ready,

When you hear the closing bell,

Opening your eyes in your own time.

The sound of the bell.

The sound of the bell.