Teach Us to Sit Still, by Tim Parks

When Tim Parks suffered crippling pains usually associated with an enlarged or cancerous prostate, he turned to Western medicine. When cutting edge science and technology could not discover what the problem was, Parks turned to the ancient art of meditation and found an unlikely cure.

When English novelist and translator Tim Parks found himself suffering crippling abdominal pains, coupled with frequent nocturnal visits to the toilet, he did what any normal man would do. He turned to Western science and subjected his body to every single medical test known under the sun. This involved a lot of uncomfortable prodding and probing, of the most intimate and embarrassing kind. Blood tests and rectal examinations showed that his prostate was normal and not cancerous or enlarged, while excruciating tests on the bladder showed no signs of cancer there, either.

A friend who was an urologist gave surprisingly glib suggestions to his problem, like recommending surgery for an enlarged prostate in the hope that this would by chance fix the mysterious condition. One surgeon who did an exploratory into Parks’ bladder offered to operate on the prostate while he was there, as it would be no additional trouble. Horrified that a medical practitioner would suggest surgery in such an off hand manner, Parks insisted no.

As these two above examples show, Tim Parks was to learn how superficial a lot of Western medicine is. (Interestingly, Parks’ young urologist friend developed diabetes.)

After enduring all the gruelling tests and finally discovering that there was nothing wrong with him that modern medicine could detect, Parks still found himself very ill, buckled over in pain and unable to stop peeing every couple of hours. Driven to desperation and near madness, he discovered a self-help book titled A Headache in the Pelvis, by David Wise and Rodney Alderman. The book basically takes the view that the muscles of the pelvic floor are very tense in males, and need to be relaxed and massaged. Males, according to the authors, raised the muscles around the pelvis during periods of stress or excitement. Parks followed through on a few of the books simple relaxation techniques, and amazingly got some relief.

Yoga and Meditation Fix What Science Can’t

Having made this small break through, he became impatient for more improvements, and took the plunge into yoga and meditation. The process was long and difficult (try sitting in the one position for hours on end), but in the end Parks managed to totally cure himself. The long hours spent in meditation also brought revelation.

In short, Parks was an uptight and ambitious guy, competitive and eager to achieve fame, adulation and the respect of his peers. He came to the ironic conclusion that words, his obsession with words, had messed up his body. Although the real reason seems not the words so much, as the intense careerism that went with it. The mind, in its obsession to achieve career goals, had in essence become divorced from the body, even at war with it.

One recurring theme in the book is that busy and hyper people seem to develop these prostate problems and illnesses. The implicit suggestion is that busy Western lives, obsessed with competition, careers and status, war against the body and make it sick. To heal ourselves, we need to get back in touch with the body and start living in the here and now.

Readers should trust Parks and his revelations. Teach Us to Sit Still is no miraculous cure book; it took the author quite a while to heal himself through meditation. Nor does he proselytise. The book is full of humility about the human body. Parks goes into some very embarrassing and intimate details, laying himself very bare. In fact, he always swore he’d never tell anyone about his medical condition. Parks himself comes across as a no-nonsense Englishmen, a skeptic disdainful of easy answers and easy enlightenment.

Teach Us to Sit Still should be given to anyone who is suffering an illness that cannot be cured by Western medicine. (Please note, I am by no means suggesting that Western medicine be ignored, or that this book suggests that incurable diseases can be cured by meditation.) Or even perhaps for people suffering depression or who simply do not feel quite right. Bottling up so much stress within the body can disrupt the complex array of organs that keep us alive. A mind that aggressively divides itself from the body is on a sure path to disaster.

To cure himself of physical pain, Parks renounces career, fame and adulation to concentrate on being a whole person living in the here and now. Teach Us to Sit Still is surely an antidote to busy Western lives built on notions of aggressive competition and hierarchy.

Teach Us to Sit Still, by Tim Parks. Published by Harvill Secker. ISBN: 978-1-846-55399-8