Goa.... again

This is yet another year, a season of transition.

Leaving behind a brand new nest in London, I am shifting once again to a less luxurious one, but in a warmer climate for sure. The commodities of a power shower, running hot water and a quick-boil kettle are far away, but I'm happy to actually have clean running water, a kettle that works -slowly- and a cosy little Portuguese-Goan house to my own. There is even a lady living in the garden (kind of) and a cleaning lady who makes it all look pretty and neat once a week.
So I may have rats nesting in my roof (i noticed droppings and pitter patter on the tiles now and then) but then my office in London hosted a whole family of rodents too (again, droppings on computer desks, nibbled fruit bars and dead mice on the floor were clues).

I like Goa. It's not India and yet it's in the same continent. Goa is a bit of a sub-culture, a social experiment and strange mix of lost souls (mostly foreign), long term hippies (who haven't changed clothes since the 60s... fashion doesn't change that much anyway), yoga fanatics, soul searchers, therapy seekers, beach lovers, Russian tourists on a trip of a lifetime and Indian tourists on their Ibiza style vacation. It's also motorbike heaven, fashion heaven, party heaven and it just feels like a place where people meet and reinvent themselves. Until the season ends again, monsoon breaks and it becomes time to move on again.

Right now, things are still fresh, the last of the monsoon rains seem to have stopped, and houses, clothes, shops are finally drying out. The gardens are still lush and green but will soon require daily watering to survive. This is life under the tropics - seasonal, unpredictable and yet loveable.

Oh and yes, I am here for a few more months, working, teaching, practicing, writing and organising - things I tend to do well.

There will be more updates soon, but for now I need to put my mosquito net up, eat some papaya fruit and consider a refreshing cold shower.

Tokyo Yoga

Tradition and modernity

What is it like to practice in one of the most modern, expensive and cutting-edge city in the world? Tokyo has for years been a trend-setting, buzzing capital, a hub for business, technology and consumer culture, attracting foreigners, tourists and the masses to its belly like a vortex running on adrenaline. Coffee can vending machines appear on virtually every street corner, station platform and parking lot, providing a quick fix solution to a demanding and hectic lifestyle.

Shibuya, Ginza and Ueno – epic, buzzing districts, always seem to appear in visitors’ snapshots of Japan, in the same way as London is famed for Piccadilly Circus and Big Ben. Media reports only really reinforce this post-modern, stereotyped view of Japanese culture, so when I told friends I was off to investigate the yoga ‘scene’ in Tokyo, I was greeted with some quizzical looks. Japan is certainly famous for its aesthetics, zen temples and spiritual roots, but yoga is a far more recent import.

Although as a practice, yoga has been around for many years, the big boom started in 2004, when yoga became trendy in most parts of East Asia – following a global trend partly set by people like Madonna or Sting, to name but a few. But that boom only lasted for a couple of years in Japan – by 2006, the few large yoga centers like Bikram Yoga had to close or downsize to adjust to falling numbers of students. The smaller, independent studios remained active and even grew with a smaller but more dedicated student base, some of which having traveled or studied abroad, wanting to take their practice to another level. The current student base still remains fairly young, with a typical class consisting of a majority of 25-35 year old women, but there has recently been an increase in Japanese men joining classes.
The fact that Yoga Journal just launched its quarterly edition in Japanese, should indicate that interest for yoga is here to stay, with a shift towards integrating yoga lifestyle into a modern environment.

To the difference of many East Asian cities, all the studios I visited in Tokyo were small (one room, holding up to 20 people on average), due to sky high rents and lack of space, but not surprisingly, all were extremely clean – students diligently spraying their mats after class wiping off every speck of dust or drop of sweat, tidying props and bolsters, in a typically respectful and dutiful manner.

Mindfulness in Japan’s capital

So my quest for places to practice yoga in Tokyo started in the West side of the city, in Ebisu, a quiet yet trendy and up market area. It is also home to YogaJaya, one of Tokyo’s leading independent studios. Opened by Patrick Oancia in 2004, and neatly tucked away in a residential back street, YogaJaya is a peaceful abode to all things yoga. A small reception on the ground floor acts the shop, information desk and meeting point.

I was greeted with a smile as I registered for Patrick’s busy Friday evening dynamic class. We all started by quietly sitting, while Patrick slipped in and led an extended breathing sequence. Core strength and arm balances happened to be the theme of the day, so we went straight into a playful, sweaty and hard session, but Patrick gave each student help and attention as if in a workshop.
Browsing the schedule after class, I felt reassured to see handstand practice wasn’t a Japanese studio specialty, but rather a one-off special: YogaJaya offers much more variety. Patrick pointed out that although dynamic styles are very popular, classes and workshops do range from gentler styles to meditation and pranayama with renowned practioners.

But, as I ask Patrick after the class, is the yoga approach here, typically Japanese? How are students’ general attitude to life reflected in their practice? (Tricky question to answer when the class is a mix of men, women, foreigners and teacher training students).
Japanese culture, he tells me, is on a very broad level, clearly regimented, structured and competitive. This is why at the start, dynamic practices like Astanga really kicked off. As a discipline, Astanga is systematic, organized and structured, which fits well with an ordered and controlled Japanese way of life. Students are generally dedicated and disciplined –often to the extreme, which is why they love this system.

But aspects of a culture that can sometimes be extremely dogmatic never came across in my yoga tour of Tokyo – and I saw rather less yoga fanatics than in London.

Yoga Jaya has always shifted more towards other forms of yoga – they offer less Astanga classes to balance the schedule with other styles like Hatha Vinyasa, Yoga Focus classes and special courses. Class dynamics vary, taught with an emphasis on alignment, breath awareness and mindfulness.

Patrick is a thinker and an activist. His dedicated yoga practice goes far beyond setting up and running one of Tokyo’s leading yoga studios – he has a vision for Yoga in Japan. (highlighted in a recent video: http://www.yogajaya.com/films/yogajaya_vision_small.mov).

The Teacher Training courses, workshops and classes held at YogaJaya reflect this vision whilst seek to provide an environment for people to explore their own practice; speaking eloquently and with passion, he encourages students to develop awareness and find their own way, by “working with different metaphors to find their potential in real life and become unified to the active life.“ A rather deep insight for a Friday night but I liked his style, the approach and most importantly, the space.

More Shibuya-yoga

Next stop, Hiroo station. Still in the heart of Shibuya, is Tokyo’s latest arrival, Yoga Tree studio. Running up 4 flights of stairs (I found out there was a lift on my way out!) after a somewhat confusing train journey through Tokyo, it felt like entering a sleek, intimate, yoga haven. I was late so missed the start of Michael Glenn’s Vinyasa Flow class, but was greeted with a smile as I quietly lay my mat down at the back. Michael, who opened the studio in 2009 (thanks to a slump in the property market, making spaces like these more affordable in central Tokyo), teaches in a calm and gentle manner, focusing on alignment, breath and body awareness. Students in this (English) class were mostly foreign but Yoga Tree attracts people from a mix of backgrounds, age, gender and levels.

Yoga Tree’s variety of classes and styles maintains the ‘belief that yoga is a big umbrella that offers something to everyone’. The schedule reflects this view: from traditional Hatha to Astanga, Vinyasa Flow, Yoga for Runners and Restorative – taught in both Japanese and English- there is definitely something here for everyone.

Having worked for years in advertising, Michael believes in letting the studio find its own space in the capital: he remains reluctant to overly promote his studio, new classes and workshops. He believes in letting the space “grow organically”, develop in its own terms – and this is exactly how Yoga Tree feels like – a peaceful, calm and open space with what it seems, a steady, harmonious future ahead.

Other places
Tokyo does offer a variety of other places to practice- Sun Moon Yoga, Lotus8 and Prana Power to name but a few. Each has its place in the capital, and each of them seems to offer a selection of Dynamic, Hatha and Restorative classes in both English and Japanese. Iyengar fans can pay -the officially certified BKS Iyengar teacher- Rajay Mahtani a visit in one of her central Tokyo classes (http://www.rajay.org/yoga/tyc.html).

The website Hello Yoga gives an honest overview of the main studios and practical information on each place (maps, websites, prices etc).

So yoga shopping in the capital of Japan could be an activity in itself, but this time, my tour stops here.

Costs
Tokyo is a notoriously expensive place to be and yoga classes reflect this costly lifestyle. Drop-ins vary between 2,500-3,000 yen (about GBP 20 on average per class), but cheaper options are available for residents or long-term stayers. Some studios like YogaJaya for instance, offer introductory discounts (half price for the first class). They also run daily open practice between 8.30-10 am for space-deprived Tokyo-ites wanting to roll out their mat and practice freely in a dedicated yoga place – a good concept for busy cities.

Closing thoughts

Has Yoga in Japan now evolved in a way of its own, taking some typically Japanese traits?

Yoga in one of the world’s most hectic, cutting-edge cities definitely has a place, rooted for many years but only fairly recently emerging into people’s daily lives. However, if yoga practice nevertheless remains a fairly new phenomenon, it leaving space for it to grow deeper roots and open up to new realms. Training teachers locally is one first step, a task that YogaJaya is deeply committed to.

Tokyo may in fact not be a number one destination for spiritual quests, but on a next visit to Japan’s capital, you can definitely feel safe in the knowledge you can roll out your mat, practice, breathe and find a welcoming yoga community, no matter which path you choose to take.

Useful Information:

Hello Yoga – run by yoga teacher Dylan Robertson, this is the website for Tokyo’s English speaking community, providing information on classes, workshops, teachers, and articles relating to yoga in Tokyo. (I liked the recent ‘Avoiding burnout in Tokyo’.)
http://www.helloyoga.com/

Yoga Jaya
1-25-11-2Fl.
Ebisu-Nishi, Shibuya Ku
Tokyo, 150-0021
Ph: +81-(0)3-5784-3622
http://www.yogajaya.com

Yoga Tree
Tanaka Building 4F, 5-5-1 Hiroo,
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo 150-0012
http://www.yogatree.jp/

Eco Nikko – a retreat centre in the heart of Unesco World heritage site of Nikko, 2 hours north of Tokyo. They run some classes and retreats in a stunningly peaceful and buddhist temple setting.
http://econikko.com/

New Year's letting go

Letting go, doing less and learning to switch off....

So another year has past by faster than expected, and here we are in January 2010, making resolutions, intentions and plans yet again. Well a lot of us do anyway. Partly fueled by the media, press, TV and radio shows, cunningly planning a year for us: from what we should read, wear, eat, think and do, we have little space to stop, think and make our own mind up. Trends, patterns and lifestyle directions are already set before we can even pause to consider our options.

Not that any of us really need to, but switching off from all that external decision making may just give us a little more time/space to be creative and think. Of course, we are bathed in a pool of information -I like to call it ‘stuff’- inhaling it and numbing our senses with stimuli, data etc, saturating our nervous system with junk. Research has shown that this saturation of the senses is one of the causes of stress in the modern world.

Residing in India for nearly 3 winters in a row does somewhat help when it comes to switching off – externally at least. Simply because high speed internet, cable television, foreign newspapers and magazines are still a bit of a luxury around here. However, even without all this outside stimulation (which to me only seems to fill this gap for deeper knowledge and understanding – a void that I will too easily fill up with all this ‘stuff’), it is incredibly hard to make space and clear out the superfluous junk that inevitably surrounds us. As much as we may have less to do in a place like Goa, the distractions always remain present and we will always find ways to fill up gaps in time and thought.

Why is that? The Chinese say that the mind is like a monkey – it jumps around- craves new stimulation and constant ‘filling up’, so as to stay away from more significant issues/questions like life, death, why we are, who we are. These questions can prove worrying to many. Making space to sit and think –or even attempt to answer- any of these questions is not a pre-requisite in life, but it’s good to try at least. A majority of people will happily sail through life without stopping, resting, questioning anything, and yet appear content, satisfied and in harmony.

However, I choose to pause. Simply because it is so hard. I’ve noted recurrent patterns in my own attitude, which I am aware of and want to work on. Living in a different continent, with different people, working different shifts, reading less press, being less informed and distracted should in theory lead to greater space and time to explore other areas of life. Even the simple act of sitting and reading quietly can be a struggle. Wherever one goes there are people, things to look at and do – general distractions of daily life. The issue is not all of this external stuff, but rather what to do with it. Saying no and actually switching off are just small things to focus on.

Some ways (to try) to be still –er.

* Switch off – and actually do it!
Turn the mobile phone off, unplug the TV and internet cable and see how long you last before getting fidgety. Remember, none of these things are really that important (unless you work in the ER unit and need to be on call!) and contribute to distractions.
* Take more time – between actions, and try not to constantly check your phone or emails.
* Do less – and learn to say ‘no’ more often.
* Prioritise – do you really need to do all this? Or are you also partly filling up time?
* Sit quietly
* Breathe- focus on your breath and notice what is happening.

And with all this in mind, without meditating or sitting each day, try simply cutting down on ‘stuff’, from shopping, to texting, to superfluous meetings which all fill up our agenda.

So Happy New Year from Goa! Do less, breathe more and do more yoga! ;-)

I will be back with a lighter update soon….