Walking home we crossed over a river and of course, since it is Kyoto there are beautiful cranes in the water.

We are loving the green tea lattes and green tea. Much better than in the US where it is all full of sugar. After the 1,000 Buddhas — no photos allowed but you should check it out on line, very powerful and awesome — we went to the Kyoto Museum. It was closed but it’s coffee shop was open.

Mitsuo Yamada thought we might want to meet up with Duncan Wong, who now lives in Kyoto. Duncan was nice to email us but he is out of town. He said we should make sure to take a walk and count how many birds we see. On our way from the Higashi Temple to Sannju Sangen-do, where the 1,000 Buddhas lived (we LOVED seeing that!), we happened to see a sign for a yoga studio and David wanted to go in. So in we went and I don’t know why but I feel very shy in these situations. But Dave is not shy and he immediately outed me.

[caption id="attachment_434" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="And this is the back wall of the studio with a beautiful calligraphy done by...Duncan Wong!"][/caption]

After the graduation party, we jumped on the bullet train to Kyoto. Fortunately both Yo and Miyo from the training were also going that way. Miyo got off the train and took us all the way to the front desk of our hotel. That is how they do things here. So kind.

We had a great first day visiting Kyoto. No photos allowed in the sacred sites or the castle, but here are some pictures of other things or the outside.

[caption id="attachment_427" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Nudgie and friend in the courtyard."][/caption]

Of course, a party was in order so here we are!

[caption id="attachment_393" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Even before we finished our final afternoon, we had a fun lunch club!"][/caption][caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I even got everybody at lunch to make funny faces. Yoko tried really hard to touch her tongue to her nose."][/caption][caption id="attachment_397" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Everybody brought amazing goodies, including Yukiko who made rice balls and Chigusa who made rice wrapped in seaweed. Beautiful!"][/caption]

The first half of the very first ever OM yoga teacher training in Japan has been completed. Successfully! Very successfully! I am so thrilled and deeply moved. Even though we don’t speak the same verbal language, there was no barrier to deep and true communication this week. I am amazed by how much they learned, how hard they worked, how smart they are and how big their hearts were each and every day. On the last day David came to watch them teach and it was just totally thrilling to see them teaching the OM yoga method! I am so proud of this work and how it holds up worldwide, truly bringing good benefits to so many. Wow.

[caption id="attachment_386" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Practicing adjusting backbends."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_375" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mitoo still wears his backstage pass from the Spinal Tap gig we got him into at the Beacon Theater."][/caption][caption id="attachment_377" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lotus root -- oishi! *that means delicious"][/caption][caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="and so was the sake. Oishi!!!"][/caption]

David taught meditation on Sunday and Monday so after I finished teaching asana class from 9-10:45 I had the day off until my evening restorative classes on each of those nights. These guys came from the teacher training.

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Then we went to a chinese restaurant."][/caption]

Prasarita Padottanasana.
#1 — Helping the student lift the sitting bones and further the tilt the pelvis. Unless!!! — they are already very long in the hamstrings, in which case, you would do the opposite — draw the outer hip creases back and the sitting bones toward each other.
#2 — Always move from the root of the limb. I am not putting any weight on Chama’s arms. My arm is just lightly lying on his and is helping him let go in the shoulders.

[caption id="attachment_356" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="adjustment #2 (of many possibilities, depending on what the student needs that day.)"][/caption]