The Buddhist tradition notes five main obstacles during meditation. These challenges distract the meditator from the meditation technique.

These hindrances sidetrack the mind away from present moment awareness, preventing relaxation and concentration.

If these obstacles disrupt meditation ongoingly, the long-term meditator may have trouble cultivating the deeper states of compassion, insight, and wisdom that meditation can provide. Quite bothersome and disadvantageous! 

The five common obstacles to meditation include:

1. Grasping, craving, or desire: daydreaming, craving sweets, thinking about vacations, sensual desires. The mind is distracted by images, visualizations, and cravings for things that are pleasant.
2. Aversion or ill-will: judgmental mind, inner critic, not wanting to meditate, general agitation, feeling annoyed by others. The mind is distracted by thoughts and feelings about things that are unpleasant.
3. Restlessness: fidgeting with alignment and props, restless body, itching, scratching, busy mind, planning mind, making mental lists.  The mind is distracted by constant motion and has trouble remaining still and present.
4. Sloth or torpor: sleepiness, tiredness, lack of motivation, foggy headedness, trouble focusing, sluggish body, slouching. The mind is distracted by lethargy or grogginess and has trouble remaining alert.
5. Doubt: skepticism, uncertainty, cynicism, wondering whether one is “doing it right,” worry about whether meditation is valuable. The mind is distracted by apprehension and has trouble remaining committed and present.

Which hindrances have you faced recently? Though we tend to encounter the same hindrance again and again, it’s common to bump up against each one at some point. Though it’s difficult to completely eliminate the hindrances, knowing which one(s) distracts you from meditation most often is helpful for reducing its occurrence in the future.

Elevated Doshas and the 5 Obstacles

See how similar these obstacles are are to the elevated or vitiated states of Ayurveda’s three doshas. Here are some common irritations that arise when the doshas are agitated:

• Vata: scattered mind, feeling spacey, restlessness, fidgety body, difficulty focusing, inconsistency, fear, nervousness, ungroundedness.
• Pitta: frustration, anger, aggressiveness, aversion, ill-will, overthinking, criticism, judgmental mind, hot headedness.
• Kapha: lack of motivation, sluggishness, sleepiness, lethargy, foggy headedness, lack of clarity, obstinance.

Notice how similar this list of elevated doshas is to the list of meditation hindrances?

When the doshas are elevated, they contribute to the meditation obstacles—blocking or veiling the natural sattvic state of mind that supports meditation. When out of balance, the doshas play a part in triggering or escalating the five hindrances. 

This is important to note, as dosha-balancing diet, lifestyle, and self-care techniques can radically enrich your meditation practice by reducing the hindrances and boosting a state of sattva.

• Sattva: clarity, balance, harmony, ease, order, inner calm. This peaceful mind state supports insight and awakening.
• Rajas: over-stimulated, frenzied, restlessness, spinning, moving too fast, hyperactivity. When disturbed, rajas puts the mind in a hectic, turbulent, overexcited state.
• Tamas: inertia, apathy, torpor, destructiveness, lethargy, laziness. When disturbed, tamas puts the mind in a dull, ignorant, idle state.

See how similar elevated rajas and tamas are to the meditation hindrances?

Extra rajas can directly lead to craving, ill-will, and restlessness. Likewise, extra tamas can directly lead to sloth, torpor, and doubt. To cultivate a consistent and deep meditation practice, Ayurveda encourages reducing excess rajas and tamas, while actively boosting sattva.

How to Enhance Your Meditation with Ayurveda

The meditation path is meant to help us awaken to our own true nature, recognize our interconnectedness, and see clearly into the true nature of reality. Unfortunately, the hindrances are real roadblocks to that awakening—especially when meditators get stuck in a rut repeatedly wrestling with the hindrances.

Although it’s tough to fully overcome the hindrances, it is beneficial to investigate and work with the hindrances when they arise, as that builds mindful awareness, self-regulation, and presence. 

When the doshas and gunas are harmonized, the body-mind tends to experience more ease, balance, and harmony.

So, by reducing the hindrances with appropriate diet, lifestyle practices, and Ayurvedic self-care techniques, meditators have a substantially better chance of sitting comfortably, relaxing, committing to the meditation technique of choice, and enhancing concentration—thereby boosting clarity, compassion, insight, and wisdom. 
This is an excerpt from Banyen Botanicals publishings.

Read more here

Kapha is principally a combination of Earth and Water and is the energy that forms the body’s structure, and provides the “glue” or cohesion that holds the cells together. Kapha supplies the water for all bodily parts and systems. It lubricates joints, moisturizes the skin and maintains immunity. In balance, kapha is expressed as love, calmness, and forgiveness. Out of balance, it leads to attachment, greed, possessiveness,
and congestive disorders.

Ayurveda teaching on Kapha

In recognizing the eternal unconditioned awareness that is our true self, we unlock the door to the infinite, the eternal, the divine, the very essence of timeless teachings…in doing so, we may just discover the boundless wisdom that is our own fundamental nature waiting to be unveiled.

Anandamayi Maa

Key Principles
1. Inquiry into the nature of the self
2. Embracing the totality of life
3. Awakening of subtle energies
4. Devotion and surrender
5. Living with simplicity and focus

Other quotes:
“This body has lived with father, mother, husband, and all. This body has served the husband, so you may call it a wife. It has prepared dishes for all, so you may call it a cook. It has done all sorts of scrubbing and menial work, so you can call it a servant, but if you look at the thing from another standpoint, you will realize that this body has served none but God, for when I served my father, mother, husband, others, I simply considered them as other manifestations of the eternal, and served them as such. When I sat down to prepare food, I did in spirit of divine service. Hence, I was not quite worldly, though always engaged in household affairs. I had but one ideal to serve all as Pure Awareness, to do everything for the sake of Pure Awareness..”

A history definitely worth watching, of profound awareness we are not normally exposed to (without seeking). Perhaps this is because of her gender and the fact her teachings can lead us to the ultimate freedom that already lies within each of us, under layers of self inflicted and misguided (no matter how well or ill intended) false distractions that lay over the true nature of the path of enlightened living. Consciousness REMAINS as a continuous entity. there is no transformation of consciousness. but only a manifestation of consciousness into several individual units that one calls life & universe. with rigor, one would get to the knowledge that “I am not this body” and “I am not in this world, but the world IS I “, for without my existence of “I”, the world ceases to exist. When one is pure consciousness, there is none to feel the bliss.

Silence is an expression of this universal truth.

Becoming your own therapist means examining your own mental attitudes and understanding the nature of your own mind (your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors). Understanding the nature of your own mind allows you to control your mind naturally, without needing to push or force it…

This involves being aware of your internal world and recognizing the patterns and habits that shape your mind…you can cultivate a more positive and compassionate mindset, greater self-awareness and
inner peace.

Lama Yeshe

Only 5% of the stuff in our universe is made up of normal matter, but that is where most of us put 100% of our focus and attention. This creates an illusion of separateness where we believe we are alone and that when our material body dies, that’s the end. We even call this stuff “matter” because we believe it is all that matters. But, the other 95% of stuff in our universe is made up of energies and a mysterious dark matter, which actually govern our universe, our bodies, our experiences and our lives. This non-material universe can also be called the spiritual universe. As we tap into this spiritual dimension, we start to see how all things are connected, we see relationships, we feel energies, we sense intuition, and we discover the true nature of our mind. Todd Perelmuter takes us on a spiritual journey, from Aloneness to Oneness, where borders and barriers disappear, and open hearts and open minds take hold. It takes us to a place where anger, greed, hatred and fear cease to be, and only love, joy, peace and gratitude remain. Todd Perelmuter studied meditation and mindfulness from world-renowned teachers around the world for over 9 years. Upon his return to the States, he created EastWesticism, a nonprofit dedicated to helping everyone reach their highest potential and lead a peaceful, calm, and stress-free life. 

Our pure conscious awareness are similar in that nothing can alter those states you can never freeze space or burn space or alter space in any way it’s eternal and unchanging this is the nature of our true selves the realization comes that it’s not your life you can’t possess something you are you are life all the knowledge and wisdom is in each and every one of us you don’t have to read any book or belong to any religion this is a universal and available to everyone way of living never forget that every moment is a miracle you know that’s that’s the goal of spirituality is to never forget that death is the beginning of the last great adventure and exploration of humanity it’s every person gets to go explore this thing that no living person knows about death and of itself is a beautiful process it’s it’s like being born death is the great equalizer no matter
how rich or how poor we’re all going to that same direction everybody lives on through
life living on we’re all the same life force energy and that that’ll go on forever
life will go on experiencing the universe as the universe intended we’ve all been everybody and we’ll all be everybody it’s about enjoying the good times
while they’re here and knowing they won’t last and when the bad times come
imagine a movie where the camera is shaking all the time it would be the worst movie you’ve ever seen you could barely focus on anything that’s going on and you’d probably walk out in five minutes stillness is everything an opportunity to observe our chaotic mind and allow it to settle down no matter what else is happening to you …. more in the video…

With the practice of Yoga Nidra, every day you will become more sensitive to tension, and every day you will be better able to drop it.

Annie Payson Call, Power through Repose, Training for Rest

Sometimes called yogic sleep, yoga nidra is defined by some as “a kind of deep sleep in which you don’t lose consciousness.” As well as creating a more restorative state of relaxation, it is said that yoga nidra can relieve stress, frustration and insomnia as well as muscular, emotional and mental tensions. In short, in can help us all deal better with the stress of modern life.

Anadamurti Gurumaa

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Yoga Nidra

Some related links to Yoga Nidra are presented below:

https://youtu.be/OXxJ6GS6za0
Yoga Nidra – Science, Benefits, Sankalpa & Practice

Advanced Yoga Nidra Meditation For Restful Sleep & Relaxation | Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)
https://youtu.be/RcXemRLVW1Q

Research-backed benefits of Yoga Nidra | Anandmurti Gurumaa (English)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-lB2cu092U