Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Natural Rest
To take short, frequent moments of resting as open present-moment awareness — letting words, pictures, and sensations be as they are — as the ground for the inquiries.
Natural Rest in 5 lines: Many times a day, pause for a few seconds to a couple of minutes. Notice you’re already aware of this moment, and relax into it. Let words, pictures, and body sensations come and go exactly as they are — no grasping, no pushing. Notice and release the pull to reach a “better” next moment. Return lightly whenever you drift; frequency, not length, is the point — and it’s the ground from which to do the inquiries.
What it is
Natural Rest is the foundational practice of Scott Kiloby’s Natural Rest for Addiction approach and the ground on which his Living Inquiries are done.
It is not a long, formal sit; it is the simple, repeated act of resting in — and as — the present moment for short stretches, many times throughout the day. You pause, and you let words, mental pictures, and body sensations be exactly as they are — without grasping at them, pushing them away, or trying to control them.
The “rest” is a release of the chronic effort to fix the present moment or escape it into past or future. For Kiloby, this matters especially in addiction and craving, where the whole engine is seeking the next moment’s relief; natural rest interrupts the seeking by letting this moment be enough as it is.
Practiced often, it stabilizes attention so that, when an inquiry is needed, there is a settled, present awareness available to look from. It rests directly in the present moment as the point of power (Everything Happens in the Now), in stillness (The Inner Creates the Outer), through allowing/letting-go (The Inner Creates the Outer), as the open awareness Kiloby points to as one’s deeper nature (All Is One).
The Method
Faithfully, in outline (from Natural Rest for Addiction and Kiloby’s guidance):
- Pause, briefly and often. The practice is short and frequent, not long and occasional. Many times through the day — waiting in line, between tasks, on waking, before a meal, the moment a craving or worry stirs — take a few seconds to a couple of minutes to simply rest.
- Notice you are already aware. Without straining, notice the present moment is already here and already being experienced. You don’t have to create awareness; you relax into the awareness that is already present.
- Let everything be as it is. Allow whatever is arising — words/thoughts, mental pictures, body sensations and feelings — to come and go on their own. Don’t grasp the pleasant, don’t fight the unpleasant, don’t try to empty the mind. “Resting” means dropping the effort to manage the moment.
- Don’t seek the next moment. Notice any pull to get to a better moment — future relief, future calm, the next hit of stimulation — and let that seeking relax too. Let this moment be allowed to be exactly as it is. Kiloby frames recovery itself as the end of looking to the future for ultimate satisfaction.
- Return, lightly, again and again. When you notice you’ve been pulled into thought or seeking, that noticing is the return — gently rest again. The skill is built by frequency, not duration: dozens of tiny rests reshape the day more than one long session.
- Use it as the launchpad for inquiry. When a strong belief, craving, or anxiety is present and you want to look into it, begin from natural rest — the settled present-moment ground makes the Unfindable or Compulsion Inquiry possible., (Sourcing note: “natural rest” as short, frequent present-moment resting that lets words, pictures, and sensations be as they are — and that stops looking to the future for satisfaction — is Kiloby’s published teaching, described faithfully with short attributed phrases. Full guidance: Natural Rest for Addiction (2014) and livinginquiries.com.)
Source & Lineage
Scott Kiloby developed Natural Rest as the present-moment foundation of his recovery and nondual work, central to Natural Rest for Addiction (2014) and the Kiloby Center for Recovery.
It belongs to the broad nondual “resting as awareness” lineage — close to Loch Kelly’s effortless mindfulness, Adyashanti’s “true meditation,” and the present-moment teaching of Eckhart Tolle and Thich Nhat Hanh — while Kiloby’s distinctive contribution is its brief, frequent, all-day form aimed at interrupting the seeking that drives addiction.
Common refinements
Trying to empty the mind. Natural rest is allowing what’s here, not blanking it. If thoughts come, let them; resting is the non-grasping, not the absence of content.
- Making it a long formal sit. The power is in brevity and frequency — many tiny rests, not one heroic session. Tie rests to everyday cues (doorways, red lights, waking).
- Resting to get rid of a feeling. That’s seeking again. Rest with the feeling present, letting it be — not as a technique to make it leave.
- Waiting for a special “awareness” experience. You’re relaxing into the ordinary awareness already here; no fireworks required.
- Forgetting it’s the ground for inquiry. When stuck in a strong story or urge, rest first, then look.