Why I Started Sitting

Try The Way meditation app (free for 30 days with our link!): https://www.thewayapp.com/whyistarted...In this episode of Why I Started Sitting, Vidyamala Burch tells the story of how an outdoors-loving childhood in New Zealand was upended by a spinal injury at 16. Ten years of denial followed, then a car accident, a collapse, and a night in intensive care when a voice told her she only had to live this moment. She describes her first meditation, guided by a hospital chaplain, a yoga weekend she couldn't escape from, finding Buddhism in Auckland, and leaving New Zealand for a retreat centre in England.She talks about her ordination, the second crisis that showed her she'd been using meditation to escape, and how her own search for a way to live with pain became Breathworks. She also shares a simple practice to try if you're suffering with pain of any kind.Timestamps:0:00 Trailer1:17 Introduction3:21 Welcome, Vidyamala Burch3:50 What is vedana?8:10 Growing up in New Zealand14:44 A spinal injury at 1618:37 Ten years of denial20:22 The car accident23:08 Intensive care24:24 "You just have to live this moment"27:15 A hospital chaplain and a first meditation29:53 Teaching herself to meditate32:32 The yoga weekend35:00 Discovering Buddhism37:16 Moving to Taraloka42:11 Ordination46:28 1997: another dark night51:38 Using meditation to escape54:43 How to tell if you're escaping57:47 Founding Breathworks1:07:31 Mindfulness for Health1:10:47 A practice for when you're in pain1:14:26 Take it seriously, hold it lightlyAbout Vidyamala:Vidyamala Burch OBE is the co-founder of Breathworks, which teaches mindfulness-based approaches to living well with pain, illness and stress, and the co-author of Mindfulness for Health. She has lived with chronic pain for most of her life, and is an ordained member of the Triratna Buddhist Order.Breathworks: https://www.breathworks-mindfulness.o...Mindfulness for Health: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-...Vidyamala Burch: https://www.vidyamala-burch.comMentioned in this episode:Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Full-Catastr...Living Well with Pain and Illness by Vidyamala Burch: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Living-Well-...Taraloka Buddhist Retreat Centre: https://www.taraloka.org.ukAbout the show:Why I Started Sitting is an interview podcast about the personal stories behind people's meditation practice: how they started, and what kept them going.Hosted by James DeeneyProduced by Ben HarrisFollow us wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you don't miss a conversation.Website: whyistartedsitting.comAlso available on the Why I Started Sitting YouTube channel.#Meditation #Mindfulness #VidyamalaBurch

Try Henry’s meditation app, The Way, free for 30 days: https://www.thewayapp.com/whyistarted... In this episode of Why I Started Sitting, Henry Shukman traces the long road from that experience to becoming a Zen teacher: a childhood in Oxford with parents who turned out to be spies, the misery that followed him to Cambridge, a week of sleeping almost non-stop when he started Transcendental Meditation, and a first Zen retreat so hard he planned to leave halfway through. He talks about the teacher who finally put a name to what had happened at 19, the red flags to look out for in spiritual teachers, and the experience that washed away his sense of self for good.Timestamps:0:00 Trailer1:01 Introduction2:49 Welcome, Henry Shukman4:46 Growing up in Oxford with parents who were spies8:19 Eczema and early meditative states11:30 An awakening at 19, then despair at Cambridge16:04 Discovering Transcendental Meditation21:22 Sleeping for a week, then clarity23:08 Turning to therapy26:14 Finding Zen29:54 The first Zen retreat33:37 "The ship has no captain"38:06 Zen and the writing life42:23 Finding a teacher: "Why are you here?"48:29 Red flags in spiritual teachers51:44 From student to teacher53:38 The self that never came back56:19 Building The Way1:02:05 Henry's practice todayAbout Henry:Henry Shukman is a Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage, co-founder of The Way meditation app, and the author of One Blade of Grass, his Zen memoir. Before he began teaching, he spent years as a poet and writer.The Way (free for 30 days): https://www.thewayapp.com/whyistarted...One Blade of Grass: https://henryshukman.com/writing/one-...Henry Shukman: https://henryshukman.com/Mentioned in this episode:Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg: https://nataliegoldberg.com/books/wri...About the show:Why I Started Sitting is an interview podcast about the personal stories behind people's meditation practice: how they started, and what kept them going. Hosted by James DeeneyProduced by Ben HarrisSubscribe (and ring the notification bell!) to ensure you don't miss a conversation.Website: whyistartedsitting.comAlso available on YouTube, or your chosen podcast platform. #Meditation #Zen #HenryShukman

Watch the full episode with Henry Shukman on Wednesday 21st October.Henry Shukman had been meditating for six or seven years when he went on his first week-long Zen retreat, and he thought he was "pretty good at this thing". Nine hours a day of sitting, way up a dirt track in New Mexico, soon changed that.In this clip, taken from Episode 1 of the Why I Started Sitting Podcast, Henry describes the pain, doubt and restlessness of those first days, and the moment he gave up on leaving early. Then comes the experience that arrived while he was listening to the wind in the pines: "There's nobody on board. The ship has no captain."About Henry:Henry Shukman is a Zen teacher in the Sanbo Zen lineage, co-founder of The Way meditation app, and the author of One Blade of Grass, his Zen memoir. Before he began teaching, he spent years as a poet and writer.About the show:Why I Started Sitting is an interview podcast about the personal stories behind people's meditation practice: how they started, and what kept them going.Subscribe/follow the podcast so you don't miss the full conversation.#Meditation #Zen #HenryShukman

Why I Started Sitting is a story-first meditation podcast about the people who take the path of practice seriously. And the lives that led them there.

Most of us can sit still for ten minutes. But some people go far beyond that. Weeks on silent retreat, months alone, a lifetime on the cushion. Why is that? Where does their motivation come from? This show goes looking for the answers.

Each week, host and ten-year meditator James Deeney sits down with serious practitioners - Buddhist teachers, long-term meditators and leading voices in mindfulness - to trace the real human story behind the practice. What made them sit in the first place? Why did they keep going when it got hard? And what started to change in their lives over the years?

This isn't a beginner's how-to or an abstract dharma lecture. It's closer to a memoir grounded in honest real life experience. A place to explore the stories behind the stillness.