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Tension and nervous/restless energy
Hi,
I'm new here, so be nice!
I have a few questions, but first, I'll give you a little background. I've been learning about Buddhism for a few years now, and I've been meditating (awareness of the breath) on and off during that time. Lately, I've been feeling very compelled to put a much greater effort into my burgeoning practice, and making sure that I actually sit down to meditate, even if it's only for ten or fifteen minutes.
I've always noticed that I have a certain amount of tension when I meditate, and I've been more or less successful in recognizing it, and trying to relax a bit more, while continuing to be mindful of my breath. Over the last several days, however, whenever I sit down to meditate, I suddenly feel full of nervous or restless energy that makes it very difficult to remain mindful and focused. The quality of this energy is very coarse, and it lingers throughout the day after I stop sitting.
I'm not certain what the source of this energy is or what's causing it, nor am I aware of how to go about diffusing it. So, I thought I'd try to find some advice from some more seasoned practitioners: what do you think?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel
I'm new here, so be nice!
I have a few questions, but first, I'll give you a little background. I've been learning about Buddhism for a few years now, and I've been meditating (awareness of the breath) on and off during that time. Lately, I've been feeling very compelled to put a much greater effort into my burgeoning practice, and making sure that I actually sit down to meditate, even if it's only for ten or fifteen minutes.
I've always noticed that I have a certain amount of tension when I meditate, and I've been more or less successful in recognizing it, and trying to relax a bit more, while continuing to be mindful of my breath. Over the last several days, however, whenever I sit down to meditate, I suddenly feel full of nervous or restless energy that makes it very difficult to remain mindful and focused. The quality of this energy is very coarse, and it lingers throughout the day after I stop sitting.
I'm not certain what the source of this energy is or what's causing it, nor am I aware of how to go about diffusing it. So, I thought I'd try to find some advice from some more seasoned practitioners: what do you think?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Daniel
0
Comments
sensations, physical pain, torrents of thoughts etc...
Everytimes your attention goes to these things, everytime you catch yourself doing this, just refocus on the breath.
Eventually you will manage to keep you focus on the breath even when thoughts pops up and try to get your attention. you just don't mind them and they stop bouncing around your head too much.
and maybe cut down on the coffee a bit
(concentration meditation)
or
are you observing the breath to see 'what is this thing call breath'?
(insight meditation)
they utilize different dispositions etc.
This might be a good place for you to look. Meditation isnt "just sitting" and forcing yourself to stop thinking, this may cause further anxiety if done incorrectly.
I dont think focusing on your breath is helping you right now.
You should start learning to engage in a more active method and once that has stabilized your mind you can go back to the breath if you want to.
Often, people find that their minds appear to be worse... saying "well, my mind wasn't like this before" but you might find that your eyes are simply more open, and you're seeing a quality that was actually already there. Before meditating, we weren't relating to the mind in such a way, so seeing it more clearly now often disturbs us. Saying "yes, I have an unsettled mind and that's 100% normal, everyone goes through this stage before it settles" might help if this is the case.
If you're investing a great deal of intention on meditating, this could also be building the unsettledness, creating resistance. Try some walking meditation with your bare feet on the earth, or sitting under a tree. Connecting into the natural world might help meditation be a simple expression, rather than a 'built up life event' if you catch my drift.
And lay off the coffee
Good luck,
Matt
Well, now, I did consider whether it was the coffee, but I haven't been drinking any more than normal, which is to say about a cup or two a day. But I would say that the sense of being overstimulated on caffeine is much more--and this is ironic--calm than what I've been feeling. This energy is very, very course, as I mentioned. High adrenaline, fight or flight kind of feeling.
At this point, I'm trying to build my concentration on my breath, and learning to come back to it when my mind wanders onto other things.
Interesting. Please tell me more.
I would say all over, in fact, but I tend to notice it mostly in my legs when I stand up. Now, the tension, I notice mainly in my arms.
In terms of my mind, it's neither settled nor unsettled, but for the most part, I've been getting fairly better at keeping my attention more focused.
Well, that's a very interesting perspective that I hadn't considered. I need to think about this a bit.
Again, I hadn't really thought of it in these terms. I'll give walking meditation a shot, and see what happens.
And believe it or not, I drink half-caff coffee!!
Thanks for the feedback. You've all given me some helpful perspectives, and I appreciate it!
Daniel
Its normal for your ego to resist a practice which will dismantle its existence. If that sounds a little weird and freaky just think of it as a 'resistance' to enlightenment just like an airplane has resistance from the air when it flies. To counteract that you need to link into the reason why you are mediting. To be happy? for example... Also try to draw support from that which inspires you such as a friend who also practices. Saying a mantra or listening to a favorite dharma talk or reading. Something to sustain you. Remember or even read the lives of former Buddhist arhats or bodhisattvas. Remember at one time they felt this same tension.
Another trick is to tell yourself you are not meditating. Because meditation is just sitting it is not a big deal. Just say you are not meditating and sit. Note the tensions and say hello to them. Welcome them. Just go through your whole session noting your tension. Do not be impatient to get 'past' the tension because for right now the tension itself is the teaching of the buddha and it is what you have to work with.
One thing I've noticed is that if I've had too much to eat, or too much sugar, or just caffeine within a few hours of meditating I'm much more likely to have difficulty.
Rob
really appreciate it
i am new to this forum, n hi be kind to me just joking lol
i think its good to accept all ur thoughts and say to urself it is ok to experience such n such n try to focus on ur breathe n calm down
the method is to kill ur thoughts slowly n u know it takes time n i believe anyone can accomplish it
I haven't had so much trouble with my meditation lately, which has made it much more enjoyable. And I've been making an effort to make almost every activity into a meditation, where I try to just do the dishes, or just water the plants, or just put gas in the car--and then bring myself back to that activity whenever I notice my thoughts have taken me somewhere else. I think it's been helping a lot with my more formal meditation, in fact.
One of the things I've been trying to work on as well is not "controlling" my breath while observing it during meditation. In a way, I've been finding that when you're not paying attention to the breath, it almost doesn't exist (although, ostensibly it does exist), but when I do focus on it consciously, I feel as though I'm controlling it. I'm beginning to feel like that it's not possible to not control it, at least at first. What do you all think?