Meditating When You Cannot Sit Still

Some bodies do not like being told to hold still. If sitting motionless for ten minutes makes you want to climb the wall, you are not broken and you are not bad at this. You have been handed an instruction that does not fit you, and blaming yourself for it will not make it fit.

Try a moving anchor

The point of an anchor is simply something to come back to. It does not have to be the breath in your nose. It can be the feeling of your feet on the floor, the weight of your hands in your lap, or the slow swing of your shoulders as you walk.

I use walking for exactly this reason. It is the only version that has ever survived a bad week for me, because it never asks me to be still when every part of me wants to move.

• Walk slowly enough that you notice each step.
• Pick one sensation — heel, then ball of foot.
• When the mind wanders off, come back to heel.

Let the fidget happen on purpose

Restlessness often eases the moment it is allowed. Give yourself the first ninety seconds to shift, scratch, settle and rearrange. Then begin. Fighting the urge is what makes it loud, and the fight is usually harder than the fidget ever was.

Does this feel like giving in? It is not. It is removing the argument so the session can start, and starting is the part most people find difficult.

Shorten it until it is easy

Three minutes. Not ten. A practice you repeat tomorrow is worth more than one you abandon today. When three minutes starts to feel ordinary, go to five. That is the whole progression and it is deliberately, gloriously boring.

If restlessness is constant, severe, or shows up in every part of your life rather than just on the cushion, that is worth mentioning to a doctor. I am not qualified to sort that out, and no article should try to.

So does this mean you never sit still? No. It means you start where you are. Stillness is usually a result, not a requirement, and it tends to arrive on its own once the restlessness stops being a fight.

If you would rather practise than read, start with Meditation for overwhelm: 3-minute grounding, 3-minute letting go meditation for stress, 20-minute gratitude meditation for anger or What to do when you wake at 3am. Each one is meditation-length: a few minutes, no account, nothing to install. Or read next: Why Meditation Feels Worse Before It Feels Better and Meditate Before or After Exercise?.