Obstacles naturally pop up on the yogic path to enlightenment and samadhi. Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras lists nine kinds of obstacles:
illness, inefficiency, doubt or indecision, carelessness or negligence, laziness, desires, misperceptions or assumptions, failing to attain stages of the practice, and instability in maintaining a level of practice once attained.

Although we all experience all of these obstacles to some degree, usually one or a couple tend to predominate and pop up as trends or habits.  For myself, I find doubt in my choices as well as desires for other outcomes than the ones I currently have to be my most frequent traps.

I’ve found that the more I study the complexity and beauty that is yoga, the more my practice becomes an expansive, joyful celebration of gratitude for all I have. The focus of my practice has moved from putting more emphasis on external opinion and the need to work towards perfection in practice (or life!), to the allowance to do whatever I feel inspired to do at a given time, as long as I do it with integrity and awareness.

How about you? What are some of your obstacles and/or reasons for missing practice? Can you identify yourself in Patanjali’s list in your asana and in your daily life? How have you been moved to work with any of these obstacles?

According to Patanjali, awareness or ‘seeing’ and intentioned focus or ‘single pointedness’ are key to uncovering solutions to these obstacles. Now is a great opportunity to take a look!