Difficulties in Meditation: A Beginner’s Guide to the Five Hindrances

One of the most common meditation problems is thinking that difficulty means you’re doing something wrong. In reality, these difficulties in meditation are part of the practice.

If you’re new to meditation, you might quickly discover that it isn’t always peaceful. You sit down expecting calm, and instead your mind races, your body fidgets, or you suddenly remember everything you need to do later. This is completely normal.

What happens in meditation is that, by stilling and quieting the mind, we begin to see the grooves of our mind — what it gets up to all the time. Usually, we don’t have enough mindfulness to notice this. As a result, meditation can feel like a confrontation with yourself, but really, it’s just revealing what’s always happening beneath the surface.

Difficulties in Meditation: The Five Hindrances

The Buddha taught that, as human beings, we fall into five main ways of turning away from the present moment. These are called the five hindrances. The invitation is to see these hindrances not as obstacles, but as teachings – gold dust, if you will – that can guide us in a good direction.

If you’re exploring meditation for beginners, learning about the five hindrances can be incredibly helpful. They show us that distraction, sleepiness, doubt, desire, and resistance are not personal failures. They are simply patterns of the mind.

The five hindrances are:

1. Restlessness and anxiety

   This could be physical restlessness, where you just want to get up and move, or the restlessness of the mind that won’t stop racing.

   
   

   Restlessness during meditation is very common, especially when we’re used to being busy, stimulated, or constantly on our phones. You may notice your body feels tense, your thoughts jump around, or you feel an urge to stop meditating and do something else.

   
   

   Anxiety during meditation can also appear. Sometimes, when we slow down, we become more aware of worry, unease, or nervous energy that was already there beneath the surface.

   This doesn’t mean meditation is making things worse. It often means you are beginning to notice what your mind and body are carrying.
   

2. Sloth and torpor

   This is sleepiness or dullness, which often appears when we meditate — even if we were energetic before sitting.

   
   

   You might feel heavy, foggy, bored, or like you’re drifting off. Again, this is not a sign that you’re bad at meditation. It is simply something to notice and work with.
   

3. Desire for sense experience

   This is when the mind gets fixated on something pleasant, like food, comfort, entertainment, or a pleasant sensation.

   
   

   It often sounds like: “Everything would be better if…”

   Everything would be better if I had a coffee.

   Everything would be better if I checked my phone.

   Everything would be better if I were somewhere else.

   
   

   In meditation, we start to see how often the mind reaches out for the next thing.
   

4. Ill will and aversion

   This is when the mind fixates on something uncomfortable.

   It might be irritation, frustration, self-criticism, or resistance to what is happening. You might think, “I hate this,” “I can’t do this,” or “This meditation is going badly.”

   
   

   Ill will and aversion can feel like a strong block to meditation, but they too can become part of the practice.

   
   

5. Doubt and indecision

   This is the voice that says, “I can’t do this,” or questions the meditation practice altogether.

   
   

   You might wonder whether meditation is working, whether you’re doing it properly, or whether it’s worth continuing. Doubt can be sneaky because it often sounds reasonable. But if we listen too much, it can stop us from practising at all.

Working with Difficulties in Meditation

The key to working with the hindrances is not to fight them, suppress them, or pretend they are not there. Instead, we learn to meet them with mindfulness.

1. Acknowledge them

   Recognize and name the hindrance.

   
   

   You might gently say to yourself:

   “This is restlessness.”

   Or: “This is doubt.”

   Or: “This is sleepiness.”

   
   

   Naming what is happening can create a little more space around it. Instead of being completely caught up in the experience, you begin to see it more clearly.
   

2. Have confidence

   Trust that you can work with the hindrance. It’s not an impossible force.

   
   

   Every meditator experiences difficulties. Even people who have practised for years still meet restlessness, desire, aversion, sleepiness, and doubt. The difference is that, with practice, we learn how to respond more creatively.

   
   

3. Start where you are

   Accept your current experience and resolve to work with it. Don’t think of the hindrance as an obstacle to practice. The hindrance is the practice.

   
   

   This is one of the most helpful things to understand about meditation for beginners: you do not need to arrive with a calm mind. You begin with the mind you actually have.

   
   

4. Cultivate a sky-like mind

   When a hindrance feels overwhelming, try to expand your awareness outward, creating a sense of spaciousness.

   
   

   You might notice the room around you, the feeling of the body breathing, or the sounds coming and going. The difficulty may still be there, but it is no longer the whole sky. It is more like a cloud passing through.

   
   

5. Commit to your potential for change

   In Buddhist terms, this is the practice of 'going for refuge' — recognising our unlimited potential for growth and transformation.

   
   

   This helps us not to give in to the hindrance and stop, but instead to respond creatively.

Difficulties in Meditation Are Part of the Path

If you experience difficulties in meditation, you are not failing. You are seeing your mind more clearly.

Restlessness, anxiety, sleepiness, desire, aversion, and doubt are not signs that meditation is impossible for you. They are invitations to deepen your mindfulness.

The point is not to have a perfect meditation. The point is to keep coming back. Each time you notice what is happening and return to the present moment, you are practising. Each time you meet your experience with patience and curiosity, you are strengthening your mind.

And over time, these ordinary meditation problems can become the very conditions that help you grow.

Come to the Croydon Buddhsit Centre and Learn More

The danger of meeting difficulties in meditation is that you can start feeling like you can't do it. And without the guidance of a teacher, and the company of others who are in the same shoes, it can feel like a lonely battle. So, if you want to give meditation a good go, it's best to do it with others, in a beginner-friendly context.

Check out the meditation drop-in sessions we run at the Croydon Buddhist Centre here, or find a centre that's more local to you.