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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to talk about dealing with restlessness and agitation. Now, it's not uncommon to feel a little bit restless during meditation. We've probably all experienced this from time to time. And although this feeling might be a little bit of an unwanted visitor, it can actually also be a very powerful teacher if we can learn to become curious about it and work with it rather than against.
So in daily life, we are actually probably experiencing this kind of restlessness. It's more than we realize. But when we do feel it, our natural tendency is to usually immediately distract ourselves from the feeling, drown it out or escape it. Perhaps we go and eat something, drink something, start scrolling on our phones. Maybe we push through it or become reactive and start getting angry, frustrated, or tense.
So this is the wonderful thing through meditation, we can learn a different way of being with this restlessness inside. We can learn to gently and compassionately face our feelings of agitation. So by bringing this mindful awareness to it, we can transform our relationship with this turbulent inner state. Sometimes the agitation might be like a background unease. And then other times it might be really intense or difficult to be with.
But in either case, we can learn to work with it and wage peace with it. So we really want to bring an attitude of befriending this feeling of restlessness, being curious, kind of having a playful curiosity about it. And we can do this by simply letting go of any struggle against the experience of agitation, making room for it to be there, just letting it be. Sometimes it can be wonderful to say to yourself, to mentally note something like, okay, restlessness is here. Or you could say something, like right now it's like this.
So we do this in the service of bringing in a curious and accepting awareness so that we can sit with our experience without pushing it away, and over time we develop our capacity to be less reactive, more calm and centered. We're also more able to live our lives intentionally because we're cultivating this ability to stay present and grounded with the agitation instead of it compelling us to distract, escape, or be overwhelmed. There's truly so much power in training ourselves to stay present in these moments where we usually run or shut down. This can be really transformational. So the next time you feel agitation, unease, restlessness, or boredom arising in your practice or in your life, instead of resisting it or being compelled to distraction, see if you can gently allow it to be there, be present with it and let the awareness surround that restlessness in a soothing and kindly awareness.
As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And just inviting you to now settle in for today's meditation.
Soothing All That Is Restless
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to talk about dealing with restlessness and agitation. Now, it's not uncommon to feel a little bit restless during meditation. We've probably all experienced this from time to time. And although this feeling might be a little bit of an unwanted visitor, it can actually also be a very powerful teacher if we can learn to become curious about it and work with it rather than against.
So in daily life, we are actually probably experiencing this kind of restlessness. It's more than we realize. But when we do feel it, our natural tendency is to usually immediately distract ourselves from the feeling, drown it out or escape it. Perhaps we go and eat something, drink something, start scrolling on our phones. Maybe we push through it or become reactive and start getting angry, frustrated, or tense.
So this is the wonderful thing through meditation, we can learn a different way of being with this restlessness inside. We can learn to gently and compassionately face our feelings of agitation. So by bringing this mindful awareness to it, we can transform our relationship with this turbulent inner state. Sometimes the agitation might be like a background unease. And then other times it might be really intense or difficult to be with.
But in either case, we can learn to work with it and wage peace with it. So we really want to bring an attitude of befriending this feeling of restlessness, being curious, kind of having a playful curiosity about it. And we can do this by simply letting go of any struggle against the experience of agitation, making room for it to be there, just letting it be. Sometimes it can be wonderful to say to yourself, to mentally note something like, okay, restlessness is here. Or you could say something, like right now it's like this.
So we do this in the service of bringing in a curious and accepting awareness so that we can sit with our experience without pushing it away, and over time we develop our capacity to be less reactive, more calm and centered. We're also more able to live our lives intentionally because we're cultivating this ability to stay present and grounded with the agitation instead of it compelling us to distract, escape, or be overwhelmed. There's truly so much power in training ourselves to stay present in these moments where we usually run or shut down. This can be really transformational. So the next time you feel agitation, unease, restlessness, or boredom arising in your practice or in your life, instead of resisting it or being compelled to distraction, see if you can gently allow it to be there, be present with it and let the awareness surround that restlessness in a soothing and kindly awareness.
As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And just inviting you to now settle in for today's meditation.
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Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
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I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
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Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
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Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
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Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
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I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
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