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.