Click here for today’s photo slideshow from Japan.
Angel Gibson writes:
We start again in the present. It is a new day. Even I have gotten into the present with my updates – haikus are finding their way to me from the group. I share them with you as we go along.
Today is a day of beauty and meeting of old friends. We travel a long way by cab to this morning’s destination. We do our Spiritual Exercises (SE’s) in Ten Reji dojo. John reminds us to let go, let go and keep our eyes on the Lord.
“Scales have fallen from my eyes.
Textures awaken.
My fingers, my heart, my Soul”
-by Jeanne Litt
SE’s are done in a blink and we are outside again. School children and others flow around us. Time to board vans – these are vans like no others. Clean with lace covers on seats. Another long drive – now we’re near the mountains.
Breathtaking garden. We sit to view the garden from kneeling position. Traveler stands watching.
“The space between the breath holds us
in moments of perfect manifestation
we find the center.”
-by Jacquelyn Meilen
We meet another old friend of Steve’s – his Waraku Sensai. We climb the ancient site of castle; the warrior conquered. Once at the dojo we learn. We practice the warmup. We arch, we focus on our breath, we hold the positions. Some of our backs ache yet it’s a good ache. We’re building strength.
“Sensei, sensei, look
I am a child with these ways
You challenge me; I grow”
-by Angel Gibson
After the dojo time we train home to a new home – the Pincess Hotel. Tired and weary yet another full day. The shower bestows me with a second wind of energy. Awesome, and more to come soon!
John tells us it’s an early night and we need the sleep. We sacrifice the sharing to be with God.
Paul Kaye shares this quote from John-Roger:
To know what is spiritual in a situation, you have to get above it, not run any of your own stuff on it, and move to a place of observation. If you would just enter into observation, you would be able to perceive so much more clearly. You observe the action of life in much the same way as you observe a stream of water flowing down a mountainside. You just sit there and watch it. You don’t try to grab the last bit of water that went by.
You are observing.
-John-Roger
