Tokyo Mindfulness Newsletter #18
What's New - Substack, The Podcast, Guided Meditations and More!
1. A New Way to Connect
The last few months I’ve felt that it’s been hard to capture all we’re doing at Tokyo Mindfulness — with events, retreats, podcasts, and more — so now we’re putting it all in one place!
I’m excited to share that we’re moving our content to Substack, a free newsletter platform.
There’s nothing extra you need to do, and you can read it from your email browser as usual. If the post is too long for gmail, you can open it up in the gmail or substack app.
You can also post/reply in the comments and share this more easily with friends.
My hope is this will make it easier to build the community — the sangha — and also do events both offline and online.
2. Speaking of which…
3. Upcoming Events
We have a few events coming up in October and November, including our 3-day retreat in Nagano. From November, we will have more Thursday sessions both in Daikanyama and also Nerima. Also look out for some sound healing and other events in late Nov/Dec.
Mindfulness Meditation Oct 31st at Brighton Studio with Marco
Our biweekly mindfulness session from 7-9pm. Come unwind and get re-centered with the sangha.
Meditation at a Cemetery - Nov 2nd at Aoyama Cemetery
We will do a guided meditation on death — and the importance of being true to yourself — and have some discussion. Optional dinner afterwards, there’s a pizza place nearby. Small group, max 12 people.
Eye Gazing at Yoyogi Park - Nov 3rd
Eye gazing is a type of meditation you find in tantric practices and kundalini yoga. It’s also something my 1-year old is very skilled at. In this event, you can expect to be a bit uncomfortable, but also discover something new about yourself and what it means to be human.
4. Nagano Autumn Retreat Nov 15-18th
We have a few spots left for our 3-day retreat in Azumino, Nagano. It will be a intimate group of about 10 people and include yoga, meditation, and shadow work. You can use the discount code FallRetreat2024 for 10% off. If money is an issue for you, please reach out and I’ll see what we can do.
I’m sharing some pictures from our last event a few months ago here, taken by one of the participants, Sen, who is very skilled with a camera.
The main hall - where we read, relax, meditate and sit by the fire place
The meditation room - where the ‘work’ happens
Our breakfast and lunch room. Delicious food cooked w/ ingredients from their local garden
Barefoot walking - our nature hike to the onsen
Crying at the end of the retreat while listening to Puchiko-san play the ichigoichie, a sort of banjo-ukulele hybrid
Smiles all around at the end. A bittersweet moment.
Sign up for our next retreat here.
5. New Podcast: 14 Years Barefoot in Tokyo!
When I met Rob Nugen for the first time I noticed something peculiar: he was barefoot. 🦶Amazingly, Rob has been walking barefoot in Tokyo for the last 14 years! And even longer around the world. I thought this was both odd and incredible at the same time. First, it seems dangerous to walk in a city with no shoes. Second, in Japan people take their shoes off indoors, so I wondered if he would even be allowed in to most places if they saw he was barefoot.
Thanks Rob Nugen for sharing your story! Watch the whole episode here.
6. Zen Wisdom from Yokota Roshi
I had a chance to attend the Zen 2.0 Conference last weekend and be part of a Q&A session with Zen master Nanrei Yokota Roshi. I share my biggest takeaways and thoughts in the below article.
7. Quotes I’m pondering
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” - Lao Tzu