Creating any healthy new habit is not easy. It’s heartening to me that Patanjali acknowledges this in the Yoga Sutras. As he’s espousing the many benefits you’ll gain from your new yoga practice, he stops to mention the barriers you will encounter.
As with other truths discussed in the Yoga Sutras, these obstacles are as relevant for people today as they were for yogis committing to the practice thousands of years ago.
All nine obstacles are disruptions to the heart-mind field of consciousness (citta) and can be debilitating to a practice, because distracting thoughts and emotions (vrtti-s) arise when antarāya-s are present. These nine obstacles are:
Disease
Apathy
Self-doubt
Carelessness
Fatigue
Regression
Sexual preoccupation
Erroneous views
Ungroundedness
~Nicolai Bachman, The Path of the Yoga Sutras
It’s great to know that these obstacles are out there, because, with planning, you can anticipate them and stop them from disrupting your practice.