Question

If you find yourself in the middle of a hindrance attack, yet you can't locate it in the body, what should you do then?

Answer

Say we are walking along, a hindrance comes up, we note it and come back, keep walking. It comes back, we note it and come back, keep walking. Four or five times, it is there and now you have more to do. Stop and stand still, check through your body, see if anything is tight, tense or different in someway. Maybe your hands were at your belly when you started; maybe they are a bit higher now, anything. Just look for anything. If you find absolutely nothing, fine, go back to the walking. If you find something, note it, realize it and go back to the walking. If the hindrance keeps coming after that, then stop and stand still, and do a reflection. Do either the Compassion/Lovingkindness meditation, do any one of the Five Reflections, etc., try to bend the thoughts with the reflection. When you are done with that, go back to the walking. If it comes again you might try the same reflection again or you might try a different reflection, a variation. So the body awareness part is one step, the first step to do as it may prevent the mind going off into thoughts and getting caught by hindrances. But if the body awareness doesn't help you, then you have more reflective techniques to use.

Our apologies if there are any errors in the above text. If anything seems to be wrong or confusing in any way, please feel free to contact the teachers for further clarification.