This month we will start a four month exploration of what are traditionally called the five hindrances, five challenges that arise in our practice that block us from fully settling into life as it is. I prefer to call them five protections: sense desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and anxiety, and skeptical doubt. We will explore engaging with these energies with mindfulness and friendliness, allowing them to liberate themselves within spacious awareness. 

This weekend we will start with sense desire, the mind that gets caught in wanting and trying to obtain and hold onto what is pleasant, and see how desire can be transformed into spacious connection, embracing life free from grasping. 

Friday night (7-8:30 PM) we will set the framework for engaging with these five challenges/protections, and Saturday morning (9-12:30) we will practice together with sense desire. The sections can be taken individually or together.

This retreat will take place online. For more information, contact Newburyport Insight Meditation Center