As mentioned in my last few blogs, I’ve been practicing Koto (a traditional Japanese instrument) for months. I know myself well enough to realize that once I start practicing, I can’t stop. I don’t know when to stop because it’s fun to play.

That’s when all the pressure of playing affects my arm. It’s like a pitcher in baseball. He uses only one arm and practices everyday. You can imagine how much pressure the arm has to deal with from one pitch, two pitches, ten pitches, a hundred pitches…. If you are too lazy to release the stress of the arm right away, it stays and becomes pain. Yup, that’s me. I could feel that the muscles of my arm were exhausted, and sometimes I couldn’t even lift my arm up. (more…)

When you first got involved in a yoga class, did you know how many types of yoga there are?

I’ll have to be honest – when I chose a studio, I did not consider what style of yoga to practice. Okay, thinking back, I knew about Bikram and decided that it would not be my first choice. I took a second to consider and realized that Bikram would be too intense for me due to the heat and the enormous amount of sweat required of it. I likened the idea to being in a sauna, but with physical exertion. So if I don’t like to sit in a very humid and hot room for more than five minutes, chances are I would not last a full Bikram routine. I hear they are about 90 minutes long. With that aside, I figured that most yoga studios would teach a beginner’s class in a setting where the temperature didn’t have to be maintained above 95 degrees.
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I hear a lot about how everyone has been so busy lately, and so have I. I don’t even feel like I’ve been sleeping enough. Why have I been so busy? Well, the list I’ve drawn up on things I have to do is too long to show you, but here is the partial stuff: regular work; acting class; assignment for the class; networking by attending film festivals; meeting with my fellow actors about possibly making films together; writing scripts; rehearsing the play I’ll be doing this month; and practicing Koto for more performances – and there’s still much more on my list!

The ultimate priority is that I have to find a place to stay during this busy schedule. Sigh… It’s all too much, but sometimes you just have to keep moving. (more…)

I’m kind of fascinated with how other people understand meditation.

I am able to see and imagine what each person may be feeling in a diverse yoga classroom when we end our last asana with a guided meditation. Some totally go to sleep. Others appear very peaceful. Still, a number of us have furrowed brows – probably how I look. I’ve never done yoga with Madoka, but she tells me that she has an awareness of her surroundings, but her mind goes blank. Again, I just imagine what a complete state of meditation might feel like, based on what I have heard about this practice.
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Last week, I went to yoga class on a different day, so I had a different instructor. Of course, there is always a feeling of unfamiliarity with a new instructor and new faces filling the class, but I’ve got to squeeze in yoga whenever possible.  The class was still the same level from the same yoga studio, so I thought to myself, “How different could it be?” (more…)

Stretch Your Body Not Your Budget
As previously mentioned, I’ve been doing a lot more yoga with my iPhone lately so I’ve decided to do a review of one of my favorite iPhone yoga apps.

“Yoga Trainer” by NexStudios has a great app that you can load onto your iPhone or iPod touch for only $0.99 – or you could try their ‘Lite’ version for free.

The only major difference between the two is that the Lite version has advertising. Aside from that, they both pack over 70+ poses and nine pre-defined yoga sequences, in addition to their quick introduction to yoga. (more…)

It’s been a long time since I posted my last blog, although it feels just like yesterday. I can’t seem to catch up with my daily life – it’s that fast how the days have been passing by.

Even though I have such a busy schedule, however, I sometimes play with Christina’s child. The other day he was in a “Yoga mood,” which started in the morning when he was teaching yoga to his baby-sitter. That evening, I decided to look for a yoga video on YouTube and started watching it with him. (more…)

The ten or 15 minutes of a guided meditation at the end of each yoga class is a contemplative thing for me. I think too much about the meditation itself, but I must admit that it’s time allotted for relaxation. So I take advantage of the fact that my time on a mat means a moment not to think about outside plans and tasks. However, I end up filling my mind with the words being spoken to me, telling me to imagine a light, or at other times think about “melting into the earth”.  I start wondering about the idea of a sparkling light traveling through different parts of my body and how that light is supposed to help a particular area.
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Last week, I went to a yoga class in the middle of the week. Normally, I wouldn’t have time to do that right after work, but I was able to squeeze in a session before dinner.
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In case anyone is wondering, I’m happy to report that I can now stand on one leg. I’ll have to get back to you on the walking on a wire part – just kidding. It actually is quite simple to do. Understanding what not to do is the best way to get off on the right foot (pun intended).
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