Cultivating the mindfulness of death assists in the path of awakening. Working with the challenges/hindrances that come up after the first day of full practice. An introduction to the 32 Parts of the Body meditation.
An exploration of the practice of mindfulness and hot it helps navigate the hindrances of desire, aversion, doubt, sloth and restlessness in meditation and the path.
What is mindfulness - how can we develop it in our meditation and lives and how does awareness reveal freedom and its obstacles - i.e. the hindrances to meditate and how to to overcome them.
Struggling with the hindrances draws us back into form. Each hindrance has to be thoroughly understood so that when it arises we no longer invest reality into its appearance. Discernment is the only tool that can reveal the truth of its emptiness. In seeing the true nature of the hindrance, we see our own and the struggle ends. All other applications of practice reinvest thought into the form and make it more than what it is.
In order to come to clarity and equanimity, the mind must learn to open to all states. Learning how to work with the 5 Hindrances is key to this process, and opens the door to the peace that we seek.
How we develop a wise and compassionate approach to all aspects of our lives through learning how to have a wise and compassionate relationship to the hindrances.
Tentative elaboration of the gradual Training found in the suttas. Starting with Sila and Samadhi and sub-divisions. Simple description of guarding the sense doors. Full understanding and the five hindrances.
A reflection on how to work with the challenges we all encounter in meditation. Craving, aversion, sleepiness, restlessness, and sceptical doubt are challenging but temporary visitors which obscure our deeper truth. By recognising them as such and learning to work skillfully with them we can free ourselves from their grip, revealing the natural purity and radiance of our heart and mind.
To deepen our meditation practice we need to work skillfully with whatever is a disturbance -- whether it's the gross forms of the hindrances, or the subtlest manifestations of restlessness. This subtle restlessness often comes from a primal anxiety. We need to recognize this and find the stillness in our experience. Then we can truly be with things as they are.
After recently returning from six months of study and practice in Asia, Heather shares a few stories from her trip, weaving the themes of the outer journey and the inner journey of retreat. Teachings and practice tips focus primarily on working with strong emotions, the five hindrances and the process of letting go.
