Meditation · Insight
Five Hindrances Troubleshooter
Naming which obstacle is running today's sit is 80% of the antidote
The classical Buddhist map of the five obstacles that show up on the cushion. Naming which one is running the sit is often 80% of the antidote.
The five — which showed up today?
- Sensory desire (wanting the sit to feel a certain way)
- Ill-will / aversion (wanting to be somewhere else, someone else)
- Sloth / torpor (heaviness, sleep, dullness)
- Restlessness / worry (can't settle, planning, agitation)
- Doubt (does this even work, am I doing it right)
Antidotes
Desire → attention to the unsatisfactoriness · Aversion → metta · Sloth → posture check, eyes open, walking · Restlessness → longer exhale, body scan · Doubt → note "doubting" and return.
Which hindrance is my regular visitor — and my go-to antidote
Hindrances are the practice, not obstacles to it
They are what shows up on the cushion because they show up in the mind. Meeting them there is exactly the work.