I have a bad habit—an annoying one that has haunted me my entire life. Every time I am sitting or lying down, no matter what I am doing—eating, writing, reading, watching TV, thinking, talking—one of my legs is bouncing, up and down. Non-stop, tapping the floor with my heels, a continuous stream of energy seeking an outlet. This habit makes me seem impatient and hyperactive.

It is a habit I have been trying to get rid of because sometimes it disturbs the people around me, disrupts the silence, and, above all, wastes my energy. My body has always been restless, and it's really hard to stop it. I have to consciously concentrate to avoid bouncing my foot. Then, as soon as I focus on something else, my foot starts bouncing again.

To the Yogis, my habitual movement of the foot is like not closing a water faucet properly. Water is wasted over time, drop by drop. Vital force, or prana, is wasted every time I tense the muscles that make my foot bounce.

"Every action, conscious or unconscious,” Yogi Ramacharaka remarks, “uses up a certain amount of vital force.”