The Meditative Hindrances

 

One of the first things you will notice when you start meditating is how difficult it is to stay focused on your meditation object for any length of time. You’ll be counting the breath and feeling quite present, then all of a sudden you realise you’ve been thinking about a challenging work project you’re enjoying for who knows how long!

 

You may also experience things like sleepiness, anger about a difficult exchange with someone, or you're concerned about an upcoming study assignment. No matter how hard you try, your mind keeps going off somewhere with its own agenda, which is doing pretty much anything except staying present with the breath.

 

Welcome to your mind! Don’t worry, this is perfectly normal, it’s what you’ve been doing with your mind all along, and that's why it’s happening in meditation. This is the first in a long line of reveals that comes from engaging with this practice. These mental habits or tendencies are literally who we are, they’re the grooves we’ve carved in our mind because of the way we’ve always used it.

 

They’re traditionally called the hindrances because they obstruct the mind from entering meditative absorption, a calm and integrated state known as samādhi. Part of meditation practice is to become more familiar with the nature of our mind, and more skilful at working with these mental hindrances so they fall into abeyance through our constant efforts to be absorbed in our meditation object. 

 

These hindrances have been systematically catalogued into particular 5 separate categories and there are traditional antidotes to them that can be used as we encounter them in meditation.

 

Sense desire

This is exactly what it sounds like. In meditation we have thoughts or fantasies about things we want to have, own or experience, it is an expression of our basic craving. We are not engaged with our current experience in meditation so our mind is habitually looking elsewhere for its usual ‘entertainment’. It’s a bit like your mind is saying to you ‘Sorry pal, but I don’t really want to do this, this is not the way we normally do things, so I’m off, bye!

 

Ill will

This hindrance is the flip side of sense desire. In this case, rather than desiring something, we feel an aversion to it, or we want the experience to go away. You might be thinking about someone you don’t like, perhaps you are in a conflict with them at the moment. You might feel strong discomfort in your body because of your meditation posture. Perhaps the person meditating beside you is breathing too loudly and it’s irritating you.

 

This is our basic feeling of aversion or wanting to be free of an unpleasant feeling that arises due to our physical pain or unpleasant thoughts.

 

Restlessness and anxiety

This hindrance covers both mental and physical aspects of being in a high energy state. Mental restlessness can manifest itself in our physical bodies too. We might find it very hard to stop moving and shifting in our mediation posture, or perhaps constantly finding itches to scratch. Our mind can also be jumping from thought to thought without any rhyme or reason.

These high energy states can be expressed as anxiety or worry. We cannot drop a line of thought that relates to something we have done or need to do. It can be linked to life problems we need to resolve, guilt or shame about things we’ve done, or regrets and so forth.

 

Sloth and torpor

This is the opposite to the last hindrance, it addresses both physical and mental tiredness. A slothful state describes a state of physical tiredness or heaviness. We might be exhausted from a long day at our job and the body is not up to it. Usually this hindrance is associated with torpor which refers to mental tiredness.

 

If we are prone to high energy mental states or suffer from anxiety we can find that we can drop into this state quite quickly when we meditate. When we give the mind and body a chance to stop, it can just switch off.

 

Sloth and torpor can also manifest itself due to emotional and psychological issues that are not being addressed. Also it might be an indication that we are approaching our meditation with far too much effort, this hindrance can be a reaction to this sort of forced meditation.

 

Doubt and indecision

Doubt and indecision is a state of ambivalence about what we are doing and why we are doing it. This means that we are not sure about wanting to engage with meditation, we haven't really convinced ourselves that it is worth the effort, we’re not really inspired by it.

 

Basically, we lack conviction in ourselves and the practice, it is a lack of commitment.

This state reminds me somewhat of boredom, you have energy but you don't feel interested or emotionally engaged with anything so this energy has nowhere to go, which creates a rather unpleasant feeling of disengagement.

 

These five hindrances describe our mind as it is most of the time, in or out of meditation! Anytime the hindrances are present, to some extent we are not. Full mental absorption during meditation comes from being in a state where the hindrances become dormant, and our mind is then fully present, clear and concentrated.

 

 

Working with the hindrances

Working effectively with the hindrances is the heart of meditation practice. This is where we are working with the basic stuff of the mind, our mind as habit. Through meditation we come to know ourselves better, we start to know our own mind. To work with the mental hindrances is to change our minds and effect change in our life, this is the real growth point of our practice and ultimately why people come to meditation.

 

Being able to classify our distractions into specific hindrances is very useful as it provides a perspective on our mind and its usual habitual patterns. With practice we can very quickly note our distraction, classify what kind it is, then apply our mind to transform this distracted energy and once again become concentrated and aware. So let’s look at the ways in which we can work with the hindrances to unify and concentrate our minds.

 

 

Applying antidotes

When we become aware of a hindrance in meditation, we can change it by cultivating or bringing into being the opposite and more positive mental factor in relation to this particular hindrance.

 

Sense desire
Noting the hindrance for what it is will help to decrease its hold on us. Here we can apply ourselves with more intention to our meditation object to focus our energy. We are trying to redirect this coarser energy back towards our meditation object.

 

Try to bring to mind a sense of contentment and peace. This can be helped by focusing on the breath as we are doing this, feeling a sense of calm that the breath brings as it comes deep into our abdomen.

 

Ill will

Once again the first step to working with a hindrance is to fully acknowledge that it is happening and not denying its existence. The more fully we can see the state we are in, the better placed we are to change it. In fact, just bringing awareness to our experience has a transforming effect.

 

Patience is the traditional antidote to ill will, but this is not the ‘grit your teeth and bear it’ kind of patience. Patience actually comes from an inner peace and sense of kindness towards others. So when we feel ill will in our meditation, we try to come back to a sense of kindness. We may be able to do this by thinking kind thoughts about ourselves, or of a good friend and allow these thoughts to permeate our mind.

 

Ill will is quite a painful and damaging mental state. We can acknowledge these harsh thoughts and irritation and see how they are hurting us, and potentially hurting others through our future actions if we continue to entertain them. We don’t want to harm ourselves or anyone else so with kindness towards ourselves, we try to let go. We can acknowledge that the state we are in is impermanent and will pass, like clouds passing across an infinite blue sky.

 

Restlessness and anxiety

This hindrance is a high energy state so we try to bring some calm and contentment into our experience. This compulsive thinking is quite difficult to dissipate so we need to redirect this energy to a more positive activity.

 

We can do this by bringing our attention to the lower part of the body, cultivating a sense of calm within the physically lower part of the breathing process, i.e. where the breathing comes deep down into our lower abdomen. We can also use our energy to focus on our posture, noting any tension or restlessness that we are manifesting in our bodies.

 

Another method is to chant or say a calming phrase in your mind, you can also time it with the in and out flow of the breath. For example, on the in breath you could say to yourself ‘relax’, and then on the out breath ‘let go’. As you exhale you could also imagine your restlessness and anxious thoughts leaving your body with the breath and dispersing into the atmosphere.

 

Sloth and torpor

Sloth and torpor usually indicates either physical or mental tiredness, or that we are emotionally blocked in some way. This state can be difficult to resolve as we are already in a low energy state, and we need energy to move it. The temptation to stay in the state is almost irresistible, so we have to arouse our energy and interest in what’s going on.

 

Traditional antidotes to this hindrance are visualizing bright light, illuminating our meditation object. With the mindfulness of breathing meditation we can focus our attention higher in the body or on the strongest sensations of the breathing process. Even though you might meditate with your eyes closed it can help if there is plenty of ambient light when suffering from sloth and torpor. If it is particularly bad you can even meditate with your eyes open.

 

If this hindrance is refusing to respond to your attempts to resolve it, you might decide to do some walking meditation and alleviate the tendency to tiredness that way. Walking meditation can be just as engaging as sitting practice, so don't be reticent about trying it.

 

Doubt and indecision

The first thing that we need to do to work with doubt is to recognize that it truly is the hindrance of doubt. This means looking into yourself and seeing what is holding you back from really engaging with the practice.

 

Do you think meditation is really able to help you, do you feel you are able to practice it effectively? In other words, is this an issue of confidence in the practice or lack of self confidence. If there is a lack of confidence, can you at least resolve to give it a good try, commit yourself to it for a while to see what it yields.

 

 

Other general antidotes

 

Reflection

Here we can reflect on the nature of the hindrance and the consequences of allowing it to continue, how it will affect us. You can also note that these states are momentary and that they will pass.

 

Detachment

Once we become aware of the distraction, we sit back and just observe it without investing any further energy into it, just see it for what it is. We can see our mind like the infinite clear blue sky and thoughts or distractions as clouds passing across that sky. We don't need to be emotionally involved with them any longer.

 

Exception: This antidote is not appropriate for low energy states like sloth and torpor.

 

Suppression

If we get to this stage and still we cannot move our hindrance we might need to be quite firm and just say ‘no’ to it. Once we have seen it and acknowledged it, we then quite firmly but gently push it aside but without being too willful. This is not to be confused with repressing a thought or mental state which is more about denial that it is happening or exists.

 

Exception: Not to be used for sloth and torpor or anxiety.

 

Looking at the Bigger Picture

If all other efforts to work with a hindrance has failed, you may need to just accept that at this particular moment your mind is not going to cooperate. This is only one meditation session and the intention that you have put into practice will still be having a positive effect even if you are not able to work effectively with your mind. You have your whole meditative life in front of you, so take all this in with a greater perspective and kindly note that this is all part of the learning and growing experience. 

 

 

Conclusion

Working with the hindrances is an important skill and will reveal great understanding about the nature of your own mind. Becoming adept at caringly but firmly cajoling your mind into an absorbed state is a practice that will benefit all aspects of our life and journey of growth. Once you have some meditative experience you will know which are your most common hindrances, so feel free to avail yourself of as much information and inspiration for working with them in effective ways.