Whilst discussing the practice of sitting still, one of the distinguished meditation teachers, the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki, used to allege that the finest way to show a snake its true nature is to put it in a hollow stick of bamboo. 

Take a moment and afford this extraordinary metaphor some thought.  What could he have possibly had in mind by it?

Well, think that you’re a snake in bamboo.  What does it feel like?  Every time you attempt to slither, which is after all what snakes like to do, you bump against the walls of your straight as-an-arrow home.  If you pay attention, you begin to observe how slippery you actually are.

In the same way, sitting in a certain position and holding your body comparatively still furnishes a stick of bamboo that mirrors back to you every impulse and distraction. 

You begin to see how restless your body can be – and how overactive your mind, which is really the root of your body’s restlessness.  “Perhaps I should scratch that itching or respond to that phone or run that errand.” 

For every plan or purpose, there’s a comparable impulse in your muscles and skin.  But you’ll never discover all this activity unless you sit still.

The strange thing is, you can sit in the same position for hours without observing it when you’re happily absorbed in some favourite activity like watching a film or surfing the Net or working at a hobby. 

But attempt to do something you feel tedious or unpleasant – particularly an activity as strange and foreign as turning your attention back on yourself and observing your own breath or paying attention to your own sensations – and abruptly every minute can appear like an hour, every ache can seem like an ailment of life threatening proportions, and every item on your to-do list can take on overwhelming urgency.

When you’re perpetually behaving and responding in reply to ideas and outside stimulus, you don’t have a opportunity to get to know how your mind works.  By sitting still like the snake in bamboo, you have a mirror that shows you just how slippery and evasive your mind can be.

Keeping still also gives you a enormous edge when you’re working at developing your concentration.  Imagine a heart surgeon or a concert pianist who can’t calm down her body while plying her craft. 

The fewer physical distractions you have, the easier it becomes to follow your breath, practise your mantra — or whatever your meditation happens to be.

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