Yogi: I was more tense and restless in the first 2 days and I tried to relax by not pushing myself too hard. I tend to overthink and that leads to restlessness and tension. The mind is constantly not stable.
Sayadaw advices to practice samatha to calm the mind; do I understand it right?
Sayadaw: First thing, you want to tell yourself that thinking is not a problem. Thinking is the nature of the mind; it is a function of the mind. You want to tell your mind this because it doesn’t make your thinking into a problem.
The second thing is you want to meditate – you still need to be aware of something.
Take an object – but not be aware of thinking – and very gently you want to keep bringing your attention to the object; just know the object, again and again.
When you have managed to do this repeatedly, then you can take a look at your thoughts if you want to. That’s when you are ready.
If your thoughts come with associated feelings – and you can recognize something you’re thinking is accompanied by feelings – stop watching the thoughts and prioritize the feelings and use that as your object as much as possible.
As we keep observing the relationship between this thought and this feeling and if it comes with suffering and we’re not rejecting it, eventually the mind will think negatively less.