How Do I Practice with Restlessness?

On some days when we sit down to meditate, we feel anything but mindful or still. Indeed, there are days when we feel quite restless. Sometimes the restlessness may have a emotional or psychological flavor, but sometimes it can also have a physical component, where we literally have difficulty keeping our body still.

Perhaps when you are meditating, you notice that you are antsy. Maybe your leg is bouncing up and down as you are sitting on a chair. Or maybe you can’t sit still for longer than a few seconds. You might find yourself shifting every few seconds, adjusting your posture frequently and still not able to find a comfortable, restful position. You might catch yourself scratching or touching your body or face without consciously thinking about it.

If you noticing any or all of the above when you are meditating, congratulations! First of all, you are choosing to practice meditation even when you are feeling restless. That is already mindfulness! Instead of letting your mood or feelings dictate whether you will meditate today, you are choosing to do the practice regardless of how you feel, and to just sit with the experience. That is already a success.

Secondly, you are aware of that restlessness in its various forms. You notice the shifting, twitching, moving, scratching. You notice the mind spinning and racing. Being aware is already mindfulness.

Mindfulness practice means being aware of your present experience and just notice it, without judgment. So if you are restless, just be restless. We don’t need to judge the restlessness or judge ourselves for feeling restless.

Then, see if we can find our way back to the breath in the midst of all the commotion. Remember that even though the pendulum is always swinging back and forth, moving non-stop, there is a point in the pendulum that is always still, always at rest. So even when we are restless and the mind/body is moving non-stop, we can always return to that point of stillness inside of us, simply by feeling our breath as we inhale. That immediate connection with our breath, that clear and complete experience of breathing, is the point of stillness.