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Fire Investigation
We got a call this morning requesting us to go to 555 for questions from the fire investigators. After the quickest of breakfasts, we headed out the door. We ended up spending the majority of the day there. The questions were mainly for me as I was the last person in the house, on Tuesday…
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Gone, gone, gone
At about 12:30 this afternoon, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: 大山地区。建物火災。平塚５５１。 (Oyama area house fire. Hiratsuka 551.) 551 is the old house next to our kominka – the one with the big gate. Oh! But the announcement was wrong. It wasn’t 551. It was 555. Our kominka, “Go-Go-Go” is gone, gone gone. To be…
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112 Meditation Techniques
The Vigyan Bhairav Tantra specifies 112 ways to find reality through meditation. These are the answers that the god Shiva gave to his wife, Shakti, when she asked: O Shiva, what is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? What constitutes seed? Who centers the universal wheel? What is this life beyond form pervading forms? How may…
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Life is a kabure, old chum
Well, well, well. Nature attacked. I have kabure – contact dermatitis – on my face and neck. I’m not sure if it was urushi, the tree that makes Japanese lacquer and also the toxic urushiol that poisons ivy, oak and sumac, or if it was chadokuga, the tea tussock moth caterpillar with its poisonous hairs.…
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Teaching Community Yoga, a book
I started teaching yoga when I moved out of Tokyo in 2015. At first, I held a weekly class at Satoyama Design Factory, and then a daily class at Monaka, and from the start of the pandemic, a daily morning class via Zoom. Today is Day 415 of the Zoom yoga class – I haven’t…
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Floor planning
This is the current floor plan, more or less, of the kominka. It’s 120 years old and has had a lot of adjustments over the generations. The last renovation was about 6 years back, when the owner’s daughter and her family lived there; they updated the kitchen and bath. I really don’t like the layout…
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Go-go-go!
Tod & I (mostly me) have been looking for a new place to live since we arrived here in rural Chiba more than five years ago. The house we landed in is comfortable and easy to live in, but it’s on a busy road and we are renting, so we can’t really fix it up…
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9 points of dristhi
Drishti is focal point that enhances concentration when you are performing asanas, pranayama and meditation. The nine points are sky, thumbs, third eye, nose, hand, navel, toes, left, and right. While some yoga styles have a fixed or “correct” drishti for each pose, I prefer to let myself choose in the moment. For example, in seated…
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History of Asanas
Asana comes from the Sanskrit for “sitting” and around 500 BCE the first writing about asanas described them as a comfortable and stable seated pose for meditation.In the 10th century, a yogi stated that there were 84 asanas that came from the god Shiva. But they weren’t listed or described until 700 years later. In…
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Walking Meditation
Join me on a 10 minute walking meditation no matter where you are. Step mindfully with attention to each step. When your mind wanders, bring awareness to your breath, sensations in your body, and your five senses. Then return mindfulness back to the walk.
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