{"id":7334,"date":"2015-02-11T18:57:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T02:57:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/?p=7334"},"modified":"2015-04-03T10:53:49","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T17:53:49","slug":"7334","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/yoga\/7334\/","title":{"rendered":"Squeezing in Yoga Classes in Tokyo&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Been curious about this outdoor summer? event (it was snowing this time of the year!), utube recording from 2 years ago at a park in Roppongi &#8211; one station away from Hiroo &#8211; perhaps someday attend this kind of a consciousness raising event &#8211; to the ocean:) Human ocean at a park in the big city&#8230;Some translations interpreter did not translate since the audience is Japanese &#8211; outburst of &#8220;ITAI&#8221; = &#8220;ouch!&#8221; &#038; popular term, &#8220;gaman&#8221; a commonly used word especially by parents admonishing children-  with Zen Buddhist origin meaning &#8220;enduring the unbearable with patience and dignity&#8221; = &#8220;gaman&#8221;&#8230; a THICK mat should help alleviate the discomfort&#8230;&#038; stay PRESENT:)  Be in the NOW:)<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u30e8\u30ac\u30fb\u30a8\u30a4\u30c9\u30fb\u30c1\u30e3\u30ec\u30f3\u30b8\u306f \u6771\u4eac 2012\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tNufsegqD0U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>******************** Last night in Tokyo, Friday the 6th. ***********************<br \/>\nA big moon, almost a full moon followed me all the way to Haneda airport &#8211; every time I looked out the taxi window to my left, there it was &#8211; a big moon shining above the Tokyo skyline&#8230; Last Wednesday in Japan was old calendar New Year&#8217;s celebration, an auspicious day&#8230;and a full moon. Also ran into First Snow of this winter season last week in Tokyo&#8230; freezing cold but toasty warm inside&#8230; photos coming when I get over from this jet lag.  I am lacking one night&#8217;s sleep and feel&#8230; drained&#8230; head spin with a vertigo.  I am in my elements there and rarely suffer from a jet lag but as soon as I get back to California time, I am a bit off balance.  Other than my own home practice, I only had the time to drop into 2 yoga classes &#8211; held on 31st floor in Ginza highriser &#8211; overlooking red red Tokyo tower &#8211; really heavenly:)  Lovely instructor, <a href=\"http:\/\/taeko.jp\/profile\/\">Taeko Kubota<\/a>.  I like the way she incorporates a more traditional Japanese and simple lymphatic drainage self-care methods before the actual start of the class&#8230; and the fact that she is SO polite and gracious.  <\/p>\n<p>Last year when I dropped in on her class in September, seemed like she only had a handful of ladies but this time&#8230;the class size had tripled &#8211; and surprise, this time, few husbands\/gentlemen too &#8211; like 3?  One of the 3 gentlemen was so cute &#8211; when the class was over &#8211; the instructor do not say &#8220;Namaste&#8221; at a non-yoga studio setting in Japan &#8211; the instructor just says &#8220;Arigato-gozaimashita&#8221; (thank you very much) &#8211; this gentleman started clapping as in applauding, kind of like a child.  Us ladies just had to laugh at his child-like enthusiasm because the class usually ends in a rather solemn tone after a savasana where she does an adjustment for each student &#8211; this gentleman was old enough to be our father but he had this sweet positive energy we can learn from &#8211; I thought &#8211; why not?  we should be applauding &#8211; clapping in joy after finishing a yoga class:) It&#8217;s a joyful moment when you feel so clear-headed, light &#038; free. That feeling of joy  &#8211; of arriving even though she did not instruct not even one down dog or plank in her sequence &#8230; no sun salute &#8211; so NOT Western and yet feels so lovely &#8211; it&#8217;s effervescent &#038; sparkly &#8211; no power. All about balance and lightness&#8230;JOY:)<\/p>\n<p>After the class, I asked who she went to or who she would want to take a class from as an instructor &#8211; a basic recommendation I ask other instructors, and &#8230; of course, turns out to be the exact same class I had hoped to attend &#8211; among few others.  I really wanted to go to this amazing yoga teacher&#8217;s class but could not make it because my mother&#8217;s needs became much much greater &#8211; but purchased yet another of his books instead !  I will introduce this amazing Japanese yogi &#8211; Akira Watamoto sensei! There&#8217;s a subtle difference between Japanese interpretation of yoga to Western (or American) interpretation of yoga&#8230; not better or worse &#8211; just different based on different culture and lifestyle  &#8211; that&#8217;s just my thought as I can&#8217;t help but always compare and contrast. My busy mind needs to be tamed through the practice of meditation?<\/p>\n<p>Scientific and medical research proves that grey matter actually grows with steady and consistent practice of meditation &#8211; I don&#8217;t feel any smarter:) but I feel more at peace within and that&#8217;s enough for me at the present.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Moon River (Instrumental) - Yuki - Breakfast at Tiffany&#039;s\" width=\"580\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l-AmrVDCXeA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nMoon River by Yuki<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Been curious about this outdoor summer? event (it was snowing this time of the year!), utube recording from 2 years ago at a park in Roppongi &#8211; one station away from Hiroo &#8211; perhaps someday attend this kind of a consciousness raising event &#8211; to the ocean:) Human ocean at a park in the big [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[4,7,10,3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7334"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7334"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7336,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7334\/revisions\/7336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wagayoga.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}