The Hindrances | Introduction The Space of Possibility

As you're probably aware by now, practicing mindfulness isn’t always easy. There are just times and seasons in our lives when everything feels off. When we don’t feel concentrated. We can’t connect well to others or to our experience. Our emotions may be either dry and unfeeling or in extreme turmoil. And it’s nearly impossible to watch even a few breaths without becoming distracted. This, of course, is completely natural. It’s a universal experience for each of us at times to be flooded with obstacles that cloud our hearts and minds and prevent us from staying open, connected, and receptive to the ever-changing flow of experience.
I thought we’d take the space in this course, then, to look a bit closer at some of these obstacles, or hindrances. We’ll practice identifying them, opening to them, and working skillfully with them. We’ll learn how to embrace them as a part of our path to awakening rather than treat them as personal ‘failings’ or something ‘bad’ we have to avoid.
Okay, so, what hindrances will we explore?
Well, there are many hindrances that cloud awareness and strip us of our wisdom.
In this course, though, we’re only going to explore the five traditional hindrances laid out by the Buddha. We’ll start with just these five for a couple reasons. First, it would be overwhelming to open ourselves to the whole range of hindrances and their various subtleties right at the get-go. That’s just not practical or manageable. And second, this group of five encompasses most of the general disturbances we face, especially if we look at the energy dynamic, or quality, of each of them. So, to begin, these five lay a good foundation to build upon. And then, as you gain direct experience working with these five, you can further delineate and build out the subtleties of each of them.
Okay, so what are the five?
Well, the first and often most difficult is desire or thirst – the attitude of reaching out for pleasure, wanting it, grasping it, longing for it. The second is ill-will or hatred – any kind of pushing away from experience: resistance, irritation, or aversion against the unpleasant. The third is a low energy state, which is traditionally boxed into sloth and torpor, but which we can think of as lethargy, sleepiness, drowsiness, dullness, heaviness, laziness, or a lack of driving power. The fourth is an overly energized state, a frenetic and agitating one, which is often expressed as restlessness and the anxiety that accompanies it. And, finally, the fifth is doubt, which expresses itself in a multitude of ways: skeptical doubt, self-doubt, uncertainty or fear, confusion, or indecision - that feeling of going back and forth or, at its extreme, that feeling of being paralyzed and unable to do anything at all.