Ep. 223 - The Hindrances with Buddhist Teacher Trudy Goodman

Familiarizing listeners with the five Buddhist hindrances, Trudy Goodman suggests a compassionate return to mindfulness of the senses.

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In this episode, Trudy Goodman outlines:

• The 5 Buddhist hindrances: desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness/worry, and doubt
• Remembering that being affected by the hindrances is not a mistake or our fault, but instead is an opportunity to practice mindfulness
• How craving pulls us out of the present moment and how our senses can ground us back into awareness
• Reflecting on the feeling of wanting something, and whether our desires truly align with our core values
• The four kinds of suffering, most of which we have all experienced
• Understanding that aversion is not inherently ‘bad’ and how it can be a kindness to turn away from something that causes us pain
• Shifting our attention away from hostility and turning towards curiosity about our emotions
• Practicing walking meditation as a remedy to sloth and torpor 
• Getting to the root of our restlessness and discovering what we are trying to change about the present moment 
• How, beneath the paralysis of doubt and inner cynicism, there is often a lack of inner confidence 
• Living our lives fully, not wasting a moment, and being completely present as often as we can

“We each have our favorites of the hindrances, but again, these are not mistakes, these are not your fault, they’re part of the practice. When the mind gets lost in them, the doorway back to being present is through coming to our senses. What we see here, taste, feel, in this particular moment of our life. We know this is actually the only real moment of our life.” – Trudy Goodman

About Trudy Goodman:

Trudy is a Vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. For 25 years, in Cambridge, MA, Trudy practiced mindfulness-based psychotherapy with children, teenagers, couples and individuals. Trudy conducts retreats, engages in activism work, and teaches workshops worldwide and online. She is also the voice of Trudy the Love Barbarian in the Netflix series, The Midnight Gospel. You can learn more about Trudy’s flourishing array of wonderful offerings at TrudyGoodman.com

Aversion is also here to protect us from things that are painful in this life, the problem is that aversion doesn’t understand what true protection is. True protection comes from understanding that we can meet our suffering, that we have strong enough mindfulness and strong enough ability to be present, that we can hold it, that we can meet it, that it isn't going to flood us, overwhelm us, and destroy us, which is often the fear.” – Trudy Goodman

This recording was originally published on Dharmaseed.org

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