The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org. So hello and welcome and as an introduction to this meditation I'm going to be addressing in the

meditation through the meditation the issue of

restlessness or agitation as that's the fourth of the five hindrances and it's valuable to understand that the tradition says that unless you're fully

enlightened human beings will always carry with them a degree of agitation or

restlessness.

So if you should feel that way, it's just part of the human experience.

If being human comes along with that, there can be varying degrees of it, of course,

and sometimes it can take over and sometimes

it's subtle. But one of the triggers for agitation, this number of triggers for this agitation is so fundamental, but one of them has

to do with the other kind of hindrances which especially the first two desire avariciousness

sensual desire and avariciousness and ill will or aversion. And these are also

considered to be part and parcel of most human beings. We're kind of born with

them this tendency. So if we have any of the

hindrances, there's no need to take them personally like you're the only one

who has it and therefore you're terrible. We all, all human beings contend with them. They're part

of being a human being and then learning to be wise about them is part of the task and how to hold them without any further reactivity, hold them

without shooting second arrows.

So, but the first two, desire and aversion,

they contribute to agitation.

If you have too many desires desires and we're jumping around chasing

them that's an agitated state. If our desires are frustrated or if somehow we have desires but we can't act on it and we feel the strong desire to do something,

...