Great time in Yoyogi Park!

Refresh your spirit. Touch the earth. Connect with nature.

Barefoot Walking Experience at Shinyuri Art Parks

Barefoot walking, breathing, enjoying fresh air and a lovely grassy field.

Great time barefoot walking with Mombo in the cool misty rain.

We met Mark and had a nice chat!

Gently caressed by micro-sprinkly rain, we basked in the grass to watch the overcast sky.

Hiro commented that she got lost in the sky, not knowing if it was near or far away.

Thanks to Andy for suggesting we visit Ikuta Ryokuchi Park; there are myriad hidden gems I had never previously seen! He and Miku even showed us a shortcut from the station to the park, whereby we have a quieter walk and bypass a traffic signal.

After storing bags and wallets in free coin lockers at Taro Museum, we walked to the grassy hill behind the big protective sculpture.

So glad that everyone enjoyed themselves, including the rain!

After walking over a hill, we enjoyed the carpet-like grass near a rice field.

Thanks to a man walking by who took these photos of all of us.

On the way back, we saw several cats, including Jennie’s Doppelganger:

From the top of a 3 story tower, which itself was on top of a hill, we noted some brown trees.

For Susan, a photo of a manhole cover:

I burst into tears while listening to Frederick narrate the forward of his new book Rites of Passage: Everyday Rituals of Healing And Transformation.

The passage was in the Foreword:

... if I share some of what I know, and do it in a good way, recognizing my teachers,
calling out their names as I stand wobbly on their shoulders to sing to the horizon
they have opened for me, I will fulfill some of what my own life has called me to do.
Maybe it is incumbent on me. These are the things I have to teach.

His words spoke to a deeply known, carefully hidden part of myself, a part of me who feels afraid to teach what I know!

Here is one thing I know. Humans are part of the natural world. Computers and email are in a different layer, removed from the natural world by the concrete jungle.

When was the last time you physically contacted the earth? Today? This week? This month?

If you are in the concrete jungle called Tokyo, join me to physically connect with the natural world this coming Saturday for a walking meditation in Ikuta Ryokuchi Park. (500 yen)

While writing this email, I went out into the rain to Lin’s garden plot. It’s summer but I felt comfortably cool, protected from the sun by clouds. The earth felt soft and welcomed my footprints. Grasshoppers, however, jumped away as I approached. I could feel rain drops on my back as I cut grass (with hedge shears). Picking up handfuls of cut grass, I felt smaller pieces adhere to my skin via rain…

With all my heart, I encourage you to go out and connect with the natural world. Take your shoes off and feel the grass as best you can. If there’s no grass, be creative! Hug a tree; caress leaves; smell flowers.

If you actually do it, please write me back to let me know how it went. With your permission, the best replies will appear in my future Tinyletter emails.

blessings always
- Rob

Morita and I joined Hiro at the top of our local hill for walking meditation today.

Morita said he is a rain man, and sure enough, the rain started about 20 minutes after the event started.

To my delight, we all played in the rain!

Join us next month in Ikuta Ryokuji Park near Mukogaokayuen Station.

Thank you Anna for encouraging me to do more walking events!

Next event will be in a week so I need to get my point cards ready! I sent them off to the printer today! 50 cards for just 2400 yen. Exciting!

The front of the card is from our June event in Yoyogi Park

Often times when we think about the warrior archetype, there’s a sense of it being connected to war and fighting. A soldier might be a quintessential visual example of a warrior.

But today we’re going to talk about the concept of a warrior as someone who gets things done. Who works toward the vision of the goal, and makes sure the steps happen to create that reality.

In what ways or parts of your life do you have warrior energy?

Today, we’re going to help support the warrior. By focusing on systems, as opposed to simply goals.

A goal is a target, and the system is the way that we get there.

So, having a system allows the warrior energy to repeatedly do a process that systematically and automatically moves us toward the goal.

As an example, the goal for a gymnast might be to win a competition. The system is to practice every day.

Another example is a goal of making money for a business. The system is to track inventory, make purchases, sell products.

Having the focus of a system allows the daily activity to create motion toward the goal, even if it’s not visible on a day to day basis. In total, the motion is there, simply by having a system in place.

In David Allen’s Getting Things Done system, the goal is to get things done, and the system is to have an inbox that we put tasks in, and access every day.

What are some goals that you have and what are the systems you have in place to bring them into reality?

One effective way to achieve your goal is to focus now on who you want to be.

What is the daily life of a person who has achieved your goal?

What are the ways you can do to act in the same manner?

Building up these daily habits moves you automatically toward your goal to daily habits become your system.

In groups, share a goal that you have and brainstorm simple daily steps that can help lead systematically toward the goal.

About Weekly Alignments

Weekly Alignments offer tools to get you present with your Self in the now.

Weekly Alignments include a lot of channeled material coming from Source as I receive it in realtime, depending on questions and comments from the attendees present.

Great fun today in Manpukuji Park for our walking meditation.
Y’all shoulda been there because we found wonderfully cool water and fun squishy mud.. and forgot to take pics!

All cleaned up with a faucet afterward and Lin remembered to take a picture.

Join us next month in Ikuta Ryokuji Park near Mukogaokayuen Station.