Hi there, welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday.

It's Dora.

Today we continue our exploration of meditation jargon, where we look at common words used

in meditation and mindfulness, and I offer insight into how to use and apply these words

in your practice and also in your everyday life.

In today's episode, we break down the word resistance.

If you meditate, I'm sure you've heard this word before.

Us teachers may say, letting go of resistance, noticing any resistance.

See if you can be with that sense of resistance as it is.

Now the path of least resistance may be an alluring one.

But if there's anything I've learned, a little bit of resistance of struggle is what can

actually help us to grow.

No mud, no lotus as they say.

And this doesn't mean that we need to always learn life's lessons the hard way, but when

we do experience a bit of friction, if we can work with it in a skillful way, then there's

much we can learn about ourselves and others.

So in meditation, resistance is seen either as a craving or aversion, meaning what we're

either holding onto, clinging to thoughts, beliefs, sensations, experiences, or where

we're trying our best to avoid, repress and deny what is happening.

Essentially, resistance is anything that obstructs us from the present moment, and it can

hinder us from allowing things to be as they are.

Resistance thoughts and sensations are transient in nature.

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