{"id":923,"date":"2021-01-14T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/?p=923"},"modified":"2021-01-15T21:55:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T03:55:46","slug":"january-14-transforming-challenges-to-objects-of-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/january-14-transforming-challenges-to-objects-of-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"January 14 &#8211; Transforming challenges to objects of meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dear Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yesterday&#8217;s post listed five common categories of challenges we may encounter in our meditation &#8212; and in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, I&#8217;ll offer a few ideas of ways we can work with these challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first thing is to recognize that these are habitual states of mind, so we don&#8217;t have to make this a problem. We do want to notice when a challenging state is present.  We can recognize the attitude we have with this challenging state&#8230; are we meeting this difficult state with more resistance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And also to notice when the state is not there! Enjoy those moments too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll list a few strategies my training colleagues and I brainstormed for each at our most recent training module in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Desire for pleasurable experience<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Notice what is pleasant in this moment, that there is enough in this moment.<\/li><li>Practice the opposite of gratitude or generosity.<\/li><li>Reflect on the ultimate unsatisfactory nature of whatever we are desiring. The new car will get scratched; the ice cream will be gone and we&#8217;ll be hungry again.<\/li><li>Pause and notice the anticipation and excitement, and then notice what happens next.<\/li><li>Get familiar with the energy of desire. Hang out in the dynamism without being pulled into the object.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Resistance to disagreeable experiences, aversion<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Notice how painful the aversion might be and invite some compassion.<\/li><li>Return to the body, breath, feeling of grounded into the earth.<\/li><li>If related to a person, imagine the person as a child, their innocence.<\/li><li>Notice the difference between the unsatisfactorness of the the object of the aversion compared to the unsatisfactoriness of the extra reactivity. (This is sometimes called the second arrow.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Restlessness or worry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Notice where there is contentment.<\/li><li>Feel body and feet.<\/li><li>Put some emphasis on the exhale, as that may invite some relaxation and letting go. Offer the restlessness on the out breath.<\/li><li>Engage in some activity before sitting to meditate.<\/li><li>Focus on sounds to allow a sense of expansiveness.<\/li><li>Be willing to be the first meditator to die of restlessness.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Sleepiness or dullness<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Open the eyes to let in more light.<\/li><li>Put some emphasis on the inhale, as that may invite some energizing.<\/li><li>Adding some directed attention, such as noting or counting the breaths.<\/li><li>Changing posture &#8211; sitting taller, raising arms over the head, standing.<\/li><li>Imagining the body in motion may bring a little brightness.<\/li><li>Walking meditation.<\/li><li>Be curious about what sleepiness or dullness really feels like.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Skeptical doubt<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Labeling doubt as doubt and not getting caught in the story of the doubt.<\/li><li>Come back to the present moment experience.<\/li><li>Borrowing the confidence a friend or teacher has in our ability to do this.<\/li><li>Being inspired by teachers.<\/li><li>Attending to just this breath, and now just this breath.<\/li><li>Splash some water on your face.<\/li><li>When not meditating, ask questions, read, or talk to teachers.<\/li><li>Trust in the goodness of your practice.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to try a guided meditation,&nbsp;here is a 25-minute guided meditation by Shaila Catherine that explores ways of recognizing and working with the five challenging states (she calls them hindrances), and she uses a bit different terminology: sensual desire, anger, restlessness, sloth and torpor, and doubt.<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dharmaseed.org\/teacher\/163\/talk\/54143\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/www.dharmaseed.org\/teacher\/163\/talk\/54143\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m sure you have strategies of your own. Let&#8217;s build a toolkit together! Post a comment or send me an email, and I&#8217;ll add a comment with all the emailed suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With good wishes,<br>Andrea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Friends, Yesterday&#8217;s post listed five common categories of challenges we may encounter in our meditation &#8212; and in life. Today, I&#8217;ll offer a few ideas of ways we can work with these challenges. The first thing is to recognize that these are habitual states of mind, so we don&#8217;t have to make this a problem. We do\u2026 <span class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/january-14-transforming-challenges-to-objects-of-meditation\/\">Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[238],"tags":[7,136],"class_list":["post-923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jan-2021","tag-hindrances","tag-shaila-catherine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=923"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":934,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/923\/revisions\/934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grzesina.net\/meditation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}