Managed to get some yoga done this evening as I have a busy week coming up (as always!). It took me back to a three-month trip in 2017 where I spent a week at a Zen Buddhist temple on Kyushu island, Japan. It was no longer a working temple; I actually found it on AirBnB! The person I am standing next to is Jiho-san, a retired monk who hosts a small number of guests. When I visited there were five of us.
Out of all the places I’ve been to and things I’ve done, I think this is one of the places I’ve felt the most out of my comfort zone. Arriving there after the hustle and bustle of Tokyo/Kyoto, for the first day or two I felt quite anxious. I’m not sure why as it was a beautiful and tranquil place and the other people were friendly – maybe it was the remoteness of the location, the unfamiliar routines and intimacy of it that I found confronting.
We had to get up at 5.30am every morning for meditation for one and a half hours 😮 Jiho chanted for the first half an hour, then the next hour was silence broken by a bell being struck halfway through. I’m not sure I did very well at the meditation as my mind wanders very easily, although with it being so early (I am not a morning person) I did spend most of it half asleep! After that we had a cup of tea, no breakfast allowed, and some free time before we started ‘samu’ (work) around 9am. The work was usually weeding or some kind of labour to help with the upkeep the temple.
Lunch was around 12 noon and in the afternoons we could do our own thing, or Jiho would take us somewhere. We visited a couple of different Onsens (I was a bit put out when it was explained that we had to be totally naked – and some of them were outdoors!), a Samurai village, the Usuki stone Buddhas, carved into the rock over 1,000 years ago, and an amazing set of hot springs called the ‘Seven Hells of Beppu’. If you want to know more about these amazing phenomenon please book my Volcano talk!
The thing about being out of your comfort zone is that you have to go with the flow and live in the present. I had to believe I could get through it, and work through each minute, each hour and each day until I got my equilibrium back. Before I knew it the week was up and I had to continue on my journey. In the end I was really sad to leave and I hold Jiho and the place close to my heart. My message to you today is to be courageous, push yourself out of your comfort zone every now and then and you will be rewarded! Namaste 🙏
Elizabeth Mooney 