Happy holidays and namaste 🫶
Switching off, acts of kindness and the shape of love
Hey it’s Misha from Tokyo Mindfulness! The hot chocolate is brewing, the cat is snuggling up and I am winding down for the New Year…😴
I wanted to thank you for being part of the Tokyo Mindfulness community. Even just coming to one event, you’ve made a shift towards greater self-awareness and taking the inward journey. Given all that’s going on in the world — the meta crisis, the hyper fast pace of society, and the hijacking of our attention — finding inner peace and balance is important now more than ever.
Just a few years ago, I would take 2 weeks off and be totally offline. I’d do this 4 times a year without fail. This is becoming more rare nowadays as work-life is so blended. This holiday season I’ve made an intention to unplug from the digital world and reconnect with myself, friends and family in a deeper way.
"How often do you make visits to yourself?"— Rumi
I will announce our schedule after Jan 5th, with our first meditation of the year being a daytime session on the 9th. Stay tuned for announcements in a couple of weeks! In the meantime, I am sharing a few ideas and highlights...
A List of Mind-Body Resources in Tokyo
If you missed it, the other week I sent a comprehensive list of resources to support you on your spiritual and emotional healing journey in Japan. From hypnotherapists to waterfall meditations, most of these resources have some English-speaking ability. Enjoy!
Latest IG post
Our last retreat of the year was in Yamanashi prefecture in an area called Minobu, famous for Nichiren Buddhism. It was a perfect end to the year. Sarah, who attended, shared a really nice IG post about her experience with the group!
What I’m listening to
The Most Powerful Healing Techniques
I’ve experimented with a lot of meditation, therapy and healing modalities in the last few years. Here are five of the most profound techniques that have left a lasting impact on me with links/instructions:
Forgiveness meditation: We’re all holding on to emotional baggage from the past. Letting go of what you’re holding on to internally feels infinitely lighter than accumulating more stuff. This simple technique I learned from Dhamma Sukhha invites you to place a hand on your heart and repeat the words “I forgive myself for not understanding.” Try it for 1 hour and let it transform you.
Metta meditation : AKA “friendliness” meditation. Two ways we usually work with meditation. First is shining the light of awareness onto our experience. Second is actively cultivating qualities of the mind-heart we want to see in ourselves. Metta is often seen as a side practice but I have made it into my main practice the last 2 years, which has marked one of my biggest shifts — the result is that my “inner critic” is essentially gone (or perhaps taken on the new role of sipping piña coladas).
IFS therapy: We all get hurt at an early age, which creates parts of our psyche that are frozen in time that haven’t been fully integrated. These hurt parts create defenses and cause us to feel insecure, perfectionist, and push ourselves (or disengage) in ways that are often harming or sabotaging to our goals. IFS has helped me directly go in and heal past traumas, allowing these parts of myself to soften, melt and transform. A list of IFS therapists here.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) therapy: Most people have trauma and don’t even know it. If you have ever felt “triggered” by something someone said to you and couldn’t let it go, this could be a sign that there is trauma that hasn’t been released. SE works directly on a nervous system and mind-body level to clear and discharge past trauma. It has been critical in helping me through PTSD and after-effects of nervous system disregulation from the pandemic. Irene Lyon has some great YouTube videos to get you started:
Ayuahasca: Ayahuasca is a powerful traditional psychoactive brew originating from the Amazon rainforest. After I quit my corporate job, I flew to Costa Rica and did this 3x times. It was the first time I had experienced all of my past lives. This made a huge impact and felt like a lot of fear in life has evaporated. The following year was amazing and free — I wrote three books and traveled around Asia extensively. Not to be dabbled with lightly and do your research. The center I attended in Costa Rica.
Acting on Kindness Now
Most of us know the 2-minute rule of productivity: If it can be done in 2 minutes or less, just do it now. But what about acts of kindness? Meditation teacher Joseph Goldstein suggests that we do this whenever we have an impulse to do something kind, too. I’ve been following his advice. Whenever I feel like expressing my gratitude, calling a friend, giving to charity, or taking a chore off my wife’s plate…instead of thinking about it, I just do it.
It’s not about feeling guilty. It’s when I have a genuine feeling in my heart. It’s effortless and spontaneous. You know what I’m talking about. It’s easy to overthink – trying to get the perfect message to a friend or telling ourselves that our contribution doesn’t make a difference – which prevents us from taking action.
We all want to be “that type of person,” but somehow just never get around to it. And the more we put off doing something, the less likely it is to get done. Instead of trying to be perfect or waiting for the right moment, what if we just acted on it right in the moment we felt like it? Just give now. Just call now. Just share now.
These acts can feel seemingly small, yes. But those small, spontaneous acts of kindness ripple outward, changing not only the world around us but also the person we become in the process. :) Spread the word! 🫶
📜 Poems I enjoyed
The Shape of Love
What we see is not the most important.
Could dust rise
without the invisible
hand of the wind?
Could a fan turn without any current?
Could lungs breathe without breath?
Tell me
What is the shape of Love?
How much does Joy weigh
when held in the palm of your hand?
Can you catch the Spirit of Life in a jar?All things seen depend
upon the Unseen.
All sounds depend upon Silence.
All things felt depend
upon what is not felt.—by Adyashanti
Happy Holidays and Namaste. May your new year be filled with peace and presence!
Share this with a friend if you found it useful.💛😊
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