Goodbye Tokyo

I ended my trip in japan with a 10hr workshop....whoah. It was great fun. Most of the students have been taking my class over the past 3 years. It was great to see them as they came from all over...mostly outside of Tokyo. We kept the class small so we could go very deep. The course ran over Saturday and Sunday 5 hours each day in Shinjuku. After class I went out to dinner with the Yoga Generation Team, from left to right Ryu, Santoshima, Lily, Hiro, Me and Jessica. The place was amazing not totally vegan but mostly and I ate sooooo much I was still stuffed in the morning. The next day I had to get up and catch an 8am flight from Tokyo to Seoul....

Flow to the Arts

Flow Arts in the friggin house. Taught two classes at flow arts on thursday and friday. Its the shizzle. Every time I come to Tokyo the reception is so warm but this time was exceptional. People came from all over Japan as I did not teach in Nagoya this year or teach much in Kyoto or Osaka. Thirsday was fun as I got to see Jen Peter...a Jivamukti teacher...we did our training together and in fact we have not seen each other since then. Homegirl is so funny. We had lunch together with some now mutual friends, Padmini, her boyfriend Marc and Jessica. Marc is taking the picture and Jen is of the huge smile on the right. Padmini in the back is taking the Jivamukti TT this year. The pictures at flow arts came out so blurry because the room was so hot I did not want to post them. Friday evening a few students and I went out to dinner for some vegan Indian which is really the only reliable thing to be open after 10pm in Tokyo for veggy friendly food. This trip has been by far the easiest in terms of being vegan. So many people have been spoiling me by cooking and taking me out. Saturady and Sunday is when the 10 hour Jivamukti Immersion goes down and I heard Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie will be in the hood so will slide through fo sho. Perhaps see you there....

Kamakura

The second day at Kamakura was the shizzle. Kumiko Baba and her husband spoiled me. They had amazing fresh veggies that a student gave them from the area and the brown rice we had was grown by Kumiko's parents. Kumiko loves the grey organic Jivamukti t-shirt. She is wearing it every time I see her in fact she is in this months Yoga Journal Japan as one of the next top teachers and she is wearing it...awesome... The class was almost all locals from the Kamakura area which is in itself a huge feat. Kumiko and T-Baba her husband are trying very hard to forge a strong community of yogies. They hosted Master Wong about a week ago for a workshop. I am in Tokyo now and tomorrow begins the first day of classes at Flow Arts. See you there Ne?

Nagoyaka

I am not sure if thats how you spell it but its the name of a small veggy spot in Nagoya. The name means a good family feeling or something like that. Its tiny and the chef is also the owner and his wife usually does the service. The meals are always very fresh and Oishi...delicious. We arrived in the evening and pretty much we laid low at a friends house. The person nice enough to let me into their house was non other then Yoshiyasu Hirano...THE yoga man in Nagoya. He is coming to the Jivamukti Teacher Training this year. He is a big guy for Japn but super sweet and soft. He and another friend Reiko took us around to Nagoya Castle and then to have some amazing green tea. I am not a fan of tea and usually avoid all hot drinks except the occasional coffee but could not pass it up. The tea was served with Sakura Mochi...the bomb diggity. I am not a fan a sweets in general but mochi is pretty good, especially when you wrap a sakura leaf around it. Mochi consist of a sticky rice paste on the outside and sweet bean paste on the inside. It is then cooked on a grill or gently warmed. The sun was strong that day and I think I even got a little tan...oh snap reverse color mochi.

I am excited that Yoshi is taking the Jivamukti Teacher Training. Nagoya is ready and Yoshi is the man to make it happen. His studio MySoul 8 is beautiful and he is one of the most proactive people I know. Please check his website www.mysoul8.com

Peace
Jules

Kyoto/Osaka

After Fukouka I went straight to Osaka and taught a workshop at Studio Yoggy. I did not plan on teaching there this trip so the classes were small but fun. The studio is Anusara based so the students had a lot of fun with the vinyasa section of class. Afterwards we had dinner and I made my way back to Kyoto. I stayed at Duncan Wong`s house for the next few days commuting to Osaka in the morning........Uuuussssss(yogic arts speak). The next day I met a friend from London at Kyoto station who would be traveling with me for the next few days. The weather in Kyoto was freaking amazing. Since it is in a valley it gets pretty hot in the summer and cold in the winter. We were there just in time to see the Sakura in bloom...soooo beautiful. The following night Duncan came back from Tokyo with his younger sister who lives in Cali. I had not spent any time with Duncan in a long time so it was nice to catch up and learn what he is up to. Yogic Arts is going strong but he said he would be coming to NY to spend some time with Sharon and David in woodstock as he is interested in bringing more of the Jivamukti philosophy into his teaching. I am so happy that Dunks is doing this as we can begin to teach together and since he has such a commanding presence and strong following people really listen to him. The two days we spent together was so relaxing. Dunks has a bad boy reputation in some places but he was the most chill of all of us. He is also an amazing cook and host. Every morning he made a feast for the four of us. I also learned something new about him. He is a neat freeeeak. Oh my gosh he was vaccuuming at a rate that would make an OCD person jealous. Ha I could not believe it, very funny.

Anyway the scenery there is beautiful and I am going to post some pics later but I do not have my camera right now...of course.

Peace
Jules

Kamakura

I got into Kamakura yesterday and it was beautiful. I spent the day on the beach and walked around the town. There are two vegan friendly restaurants here and both were amazing. Magokoro was the first one I went to. Duncan Wong suggesteed it to me. Almost everything is made from Hemp...my kind of place. Kamakura is known for the big Daibutsu a statue of Lord Buddha a couple hundred years old and hollow. I was in Kamaura about 3 years ago and took a mini self tour and went inside the statue it was really cool. This trip I am trying to avoid the tourist spots. I am staying outside of Kamakura with the Founders of the Kamakura Yoga Society. Both worked for Patagonia for many years and are very hip. The town seems to revolve around surfing and wind surfing. Everyone is very laid back and chill. Kumiko one of the co-founders is working very hard to set up a strong yoga community in Kamakura. I took her Hatha Yoga class last night. She was a bit nervous to have me in there but she did great. The towns on the coast here are so small that there is an amazing opportunity to create a strong community. I am thinking of coming back to Japan in September and if I do I will definitely make a trip back to Kamakura for a satsang event and a larger scale workshop/Jivamukti weekend. Please check out their website here http://kamakurayoga.jugem.jp/?eid=91#sequel

Peace
Jules

Konnichiwa

What up what up. I have been terrible at writing on this blog so I thought I would try to post videos and pics only with minimal text...so lets see how it goes. If the videos pics are wack you have to tell me.