livin' the dream.....

one of my favourite things about travelling is arriving into an unfamiliar place and feeling as though i will never be able to orient myself. every landmark seems so far apart and there is a slight anxiety that i will be constantly in a state of 'lostness'. along with that though is the excitement of getting out on foot and start exploring.
after flying into tokyo sunday afternoon, i took a bus into shinjuku , by far one of the busiest areas of the nation. the pulsating neon is home to the 5-day anusara immersion with john friend that began yesterday. i was lucky enough to find a place to stay that was under $100 a night, a score in fact, as i would be sharing an apartment with a few others that included a kitchen and laundry. it is also only one subway stop away. big, big, score. i left the apartment 75 minutes before the class was to begin but finding the studio was a difficult task. alas, the universe guided me along the way and before i knew it, i was seated amongst the yogi's and john, trying to get my heart rate slowed down from my hike to the location, and writing down two reasons why i study, as per requested by john. he only gave a a 2 or 3 minutes and i wrote what came to mind quickly. before i was finished, i heard my name called and john asked me to read out my thoughts. yikes. 52 pairs of eyes turned to me, including one of the greatest yoga teachers in the world. i was terrified and my heart was rapidly coming up my throat. . i swallowed hard and began to speak much what i wrote about in the previous post; how yoga helped me shed my outside layers so that i could truly see my essence. whew. after i finished, there was a small round pf applause and john intricately wove my words into the lecture he was teaching throughout the rest of the morning. i couldn't stop myself frm beaming for the whole day. there i was, almost exactly one year after being introduced to anusara, practicing with the man himself, receiving his adjustments and compliments (he said i was lucky because i had good feet!!!). what a gift! what an honour! what joy!
day two was a little achey. my body was feeling fatigued with all the muscular energy we're putting out, not to mention the length of time we are staying in the poses to really get the proper alignment. i still had an amazing day as i got to know more of yogin's. there is mostly japanese students as to be expected, but there is also 10 of us 'foreigners', most being yoga teachers who work in hongkong, singapore or australia. there are also a couple of san fran guys who've flown in for the week, one of them who knows govinda. ahhhh, the world grows smaller. i was lucky enough to have lunch with today with a few well-travelled japanese women who took me to the most fabulous turkish restaurant. over hummous, baba ganoush and warm, garlicky pita, we exchanged many stories and much laughter. after returning home, i decided to take care of my aches by getting a thai massage just down the road from where i was staying. it was by far one of the best i have received and tomika, the masseus, was more than happy to work deeply and strongly at my throbbing hamstrings. she was wonderful and we even had a small yoga session after she finished with me.
before i left korea, i ran into a friend from sok'cho who is considering moving here in the next year. he asked me to write a post while i was here and share some impressions of tokyo. well, i can say so far that it seems as though everyone speaks some english here and there is every ethinic food you could possibly want. i feel welcome here, its easy to get around and everyone has been willing to help me find my way when i get inevitably lost. i really enjoy the japanese style and the general cleanliness that you don't find in korea although i would miss the easy accessibility to the korean mountains. the aroma of fresh nan from the indian restaurant down the street could possibly win out though :)