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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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Yoga Poetry
Created by Toshiko, Mamiko, Naomi and me during a Friday morning session.
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Fukushima, ten years on
Today is the 10th anniversary of the Tohoku Triple Disaster: earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. I wrote about my experiences at the time and you can look back though those posts (start here) if you want to know my thoughts in that moment. Here are my thoughts in this moment with a decade more experience:…
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Scat, Wild Boar
Never before see in our yard! Boar poop! The shiny circle in the center of the photo is a ten yen coin (about the size of a US quarter) for reference. What a big dump.
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After a month without sugar…
Normally February is the shortest month, but this year I decided to stop eating sugar. That turned 28 days into a very long month, indeed. I did it, though. And now it’s over. I’ll celebrate with a cookie for breakfast! Honestly, though, I will proceed on a course of more mindful consumption of sugar. I…
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