I’m enjoying a few rainy days in Tokyo; it’s Typhoon season after all. The rainy days are quite refreshing and a little cooler than the normal late summer heat.
Until the last few days I had been mostly in t-shirts and trainers/sneakers (converse or vans) due to the heat. I prefer to walk around with shoes (brown brogues) and a shirt, so I am kind of happy with it being a little cooler. I can wear a shirt w/out immediatly soaking it in sweat!
Here is a grey sky over Shinjuku from yesterday.
And below a shot that was taken on the wee hours of Saturday morning at Nakano station (i.e. 1.15am).
It’s quite a common sight in Japan, some people are just so busy and then out partying to late that they either miss the last train home or run out of energy even after getting of the train and don’t quite make it back to their house.
In Europe there are people dozing around the station but not normally so smartly dressed and a mobile phone lying openly out on the ground would never stay there long, in Tokyo it’s perfectly safe.
Yoga / Meditation Update
I’ve started doing a super relaxing 30 minute meditation twice a day. I have been meditating for quite a while, but mostly simple breathing meditaiton.
I was looking for something more focused on rest and recovery. This connects to my recent posts about trying to get into a daily ashtanga practice. I am working on it, but I am battling tiredness and stiffness on a daily basis.
I’m using an app these days to help me with my yoga and meditation. For meditation I found this ‘pychic sleep’ practice by Sri Dharma Mittra:
https://www.alomoves.com/instructors/dharma
It is a little expensive compared to basic meditation apps, but I found the way he talks and the flow of the exercise; while very simple, to be very effective at getting my body into a super relaxed state. After a few days I have noticed a ‘refreshed’ and ‘reset’ state of mind coming about. I find myself not tempted as much to escape into tv, movies, chocolate etc.
It probably shouldn’t be a big surprise that this is working for me, I generally have always carried a lot of tension around in my body, wbich probably means a lot of my body struggles to get good quality rest and repair time in, especially given that I am susceptible to insomnia or weird sleeping patterns due to my overactive mind!
I did some of the free trial meditations on cody as well including some quite spiritual ones based around remembering people love you, you love people and also the things to be grateful for. Truthfuly I think these are also excellent for state of mind, it’s easy in the modern world where people are a bit disconnected to feel isolated.
I also did one of Kino McGregors free meditations. I am using Kino’s Ashtanga vidoes – she is a very advanced teacher. Her meditation was quite interesting as she specifically focuses on will and control. She mentioned my specific problem about feeling tired and stiff saying that it’s a mental problem not a physical one and I just need to build the mental fortitude to continue the physical practice which will then over time get easier (at least at a basic level).
hakkanotogame 