Stopping restlessness

Category : Asanas (Postures), General advice, Philosophy 27th March 2017

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Inside Yoga 199 (27/3/2017)

After a walk or a visit to the garden my dog will come into the house and spend a few minutes walking to and fro, unable to stop and sit down, restless and not sure what he is supposed to do next. How many of us recognise this behaviour in ourselves?

The restlessness I describe above is a form of restlessness which is the result of kinetic energy built up from being out and about – in my dog’s case – and it simply takes my dog a little bit of time to shed this restless energy which is basically “activity” mode and switch to relaxing and resting mode.

Being a dog who I presume – though intelligent in a dog way – does not have a mind racing to and fro stopping him from stopping, it is his instincts which are making him pace our house for a while.

We are on the other hand are not only driven by instinct but a busy mind which can add to our restlessness because we could be pacing our house adding thoughts that there must be something else to do now, there must be something wrong, there must be… and so forth.

Recognising this pattern of behaviour is the first step in taking control of what we are doing. What we then do is critical, as we either disarm the restlessness or we add to it.

Take your yoga practice. Picture yourself entering a posture with this restlessness. We might find that due to our restlessness we did not feel that we held the posture as long as we could, that we did not feel “present” in the posture and after we did not feel that we got the best from the exercise. This scenario is not the fault of the practice but the fault of our approach and lack of awareness.

There is nothing wrong with restlessness itself, as it has its purpose in life, but when we are aiming to switch it off using yoga practice the key here is to know that we must enter and hold the posture and allow enough time to pass to switch from restless to stillness.

It might in some cases take a few exercises to reach this point, depending how we were at the start, but it’s all about being patient and not being in a hurry, because this is often a result of being restless.

This advice is even more important when it comes to seated meditation practice when we aim to be as still as possible. At first it can be difficult as restlessness makes it hard, but with time, like the expression says, let the dust settle first. Then, the real benefits of the meditation can be felt.

As we practice attentively we can notice the shift from restlessness to stillness, like a sculptor working a large piece of rock, little bits of restlessness fall away and sometimes a large chunk drops off. Eventually we are left with a masterpiece!

Be patient and let the stillness in.

Any questions or comments contact me via the blog reply panel below or email gary@yogabristol.co.uk
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