Monday, October 29, 2018

An Afternoon of Yoga on Ojika Island



On the 27th of October, a yoga teacher came to Ojika! We were lucky enough to get a lesson from Natsuco Tagaki inside the Goen Inn, which is accommodation available right alongside the waterfront near the ferry port. You can follow Natsuco on Instagram at @NatsucoTagaki.

Natsuco had come to Ojika to teach a class at the local retirement home, and she was invited by Goen Inn's owner Taiyo to come along to teach a class here while she visited because he knew his wife Akari enjoys yoga!  I also joined the class along with Sarah, a visitor to Ojika from France, and Mirai, a member of Goen Inn's team.

Conveniently enough, I'm planning on going to India later this year to learn more about yoga and go towards my goal of becoming a teacher one day, so it was very interesting to be able to take a class here on Ojika. Plus, Sarah does yoga almost everyday! So, we were enthusiastic students.

After a morning of getting some work done at the inn, relaxed yoga was exactly what we needed to rest and stretch our our tired muscles.



Since my Japanese is not at the level of understanding to allow me to understand an entire yoga class, I was very happy to have my friend Sarah with me. She has studied Japanese for over 5 years and was able to translate some of the more specific instructions for me.

However, yoga is a wonderful thing to try in a new country even if the language barrier makes it a bit of an adventure. Since, if all else fails you can always just mirror what the teacher is showing you! We went through a few sun salutations, and Natsuco helped Sarah out with her headstands (which she has been practicing almost everyday in her time here on the island). It's always impressive to watch an experienced yoga teacher do a pose like the headstand, because it looks so effortless.


After taking a yoga class in Japanese, I'm feeling inspired to learn lots of yoga and うんど "undo" (exercise) related vocabulary, and I'm feeling excited about focusing more on yoga and eventually successfully achieving such a strong, yet relaxed, mind-body connection.



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