Hi,

I have to chip in here because the advice above is not particularly instructive and the first sentence incorrect. The thing to do does not depend on the type of meditation you are doing. The thing to do is to just notice it and let it be, whether it is a discomfort and you want to move a part of you or an itch that you want to scratch or a thought. Do not try to get rid of it in any way because by doing so your focus shifts to it and it will grow. Always, again and again and again return your focus back to your meditation subject, whether that be the breath, an image, whatever it is. You may spend your entire meditation being distracted, then returning your focus, distracted, re-focus, but it doesn’t matter, persevere, persevere, persevere. You may not realise but you are training your mind here and the fruits of this are abound, which you’ll see for yourself with time.

Things like itches and physical discomforts are common at first and part of the practice is learning to recognise that all this stuff is just the mind wanting to have it’s way with you. It doesn’t want to sit still, it always wants to be entertained, so you can understand how meditation is probably the last thing it wants to do. You’ll find that the mind will try very hard even with little discomforts and at first convince you many times (until you learn), that you have to move your leg (or whatever). It will say things like the pain is getting worse, it would be sensible to move it to help with the meditation, etc, it can be very sly. The thing is, once you sit up straight in good posture (or lie), then relax into the posture, take a few deep breaths then begin meditating, you may want to move but you don’t NEED to move until you have reached the end of your allotted time. My leg probably won’t fall off if I leave it here a little longer and so on. Eventually you realise this lol.

A few other hints I’d like to add that I only found out later but would have been useful to know at the start:
1. Set an alarm at first and solidly decide I’m going to meditate for such and such a time to build the discipline required for meditation and don’t stop until the alarm goes. Not setting an alarm you inevitably keep thinking, oh it must be 30min or whatever by now, and it isn’t, and you spoil your meditation/don’t build as much discipline.
2. Thoughts: I have to emphasise because it’s so easy to get into the trap. Do not push the thoughts away, it’s like Newton’s 2nd law, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Just be the witness and return to your subject of focus as best you can, repeatedly.
3. I found this helpful for a while, the practice of labelling any thoughts that come up into a context, eg future, past, regret, imaginary, distraction. Whenever a thought pops up, just in your mind say to yourself “future” if it’s a thought about the future etc. Don’t start analysing the thought to decide an appropriate label, just make it quick and automatic as soon as the thought pops up. I sometimes find that you can get distracted by a thought and suddenly without noticing it you embraced the thought and have been lost in it for 5mins and you suddenly realise and snap out of it. That is what this practice is good for preventing, the immediate labelling process as soon as a thought arises, stops it in it’s tracks much more readily I found. Again, as soon as you label, return to your subject of focus.

In life most people are a slave to their thoughts without even realising it, you will come to see this through meditation. You will gain with consistent practice, after not too long, a lot of personal power and liberation in your daily life with the training that meditation puts your mind through as you will start to become the master rather than the slave of your mind.

Good luck with it!