There is an interesting picture developing about temple yoga in Japan. Have a read of this short 6-min article I just published. 

Here are some thoughts of mine on moving to Japan, yoga and tourism that I just published on Medium (14 min read).

In late March, there is going to be a yoga festival amongst the cherry blossoms in Nishinomaru garden at Osaka Castle Park that surround the Osaka Castle. The event is run by a larger event management company (BOOST) that organises many types of sporting and cultural events. Here is the link to the website about the event, which is an all-women event. It is the first year it will be held, and the organisers tell me that they hope to get at least 500 people, but have a capacity of 1000. 

How do any of the yoga poses in this article burn fat?


http://www.timesnownews.com/amp/health/article/weight-loss-five-best-yoga-poses-to-slim-down-your-thighs-and-tummy-how-to-to-these-asanas/199012


I wonder what we do here? We have the Indian media putting out unsupported health claims about the potential benefits of Bhujangasana, etc as ways to burn fat. This is not based on any science.

Is this just the anti-national leftist media making post truth claims? Is it the right wing media creating some imagined narrative? Is it the fault of western values and media that has polluted values around the idea of traditional yoga as a body focused regime, which is a commercial and cultural imposition from the new-colonial powers?

I guess the question goes beyond blaming someone.

Instead, we should be focusing on how to change this absurd narrative.

Today, we got to meet Yoshiaki Takemuta, prof of cultural anthropology and yoga teacher. We met him at his office at Minpaku, which is the national museum of ethnology. After a lengthy chat about all the things, we ended taking the chat to a cozy bar, where the conversation about yoga, India, Japan, Cambodia, Australia, and the anthropology and politics of everything in between, could have gone on into the wee hours. However, the 60 min train trip back to kyoto cut short our nomikai. Look forward to next time.

You might like to consider signing up to this free online yoga course that is happening this weekend - 

Join 12 Celebrated Scholars & Teachers in 3 Days of Workshops
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http://embodiedphilosophy.courses/yogareconsidered or https://www.facebook.com/events/672248729830660/

The other day, I was fumbling my way through the hallway of an unfamiliar building at Kyodai, a kind man stopped to ask me where I was trying to go. We had a quick chat, exchanged meishi, and decided to stay in contact. I was just looking on Iseda san's website, and found this article - "Japanese society and a religious cult -- the case of the poison gas attack in Tokyo subways" Oct. 1996. - It is about religion and cults in Japan - this is interesting, because the aum shrinrikyo cult members who were found guilty of the 1995 sarin Tokyo attack, are about to start being executed - https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/21/national/crime-legal/aum-trials-asahara-accomplices-can-finally-hanged/#.Wn1InpP1VTY - this apparently had a big impact on the nation's acceptance and perception of yoga, and there was a 'new age of yoga' around 2005, according to some of the yoga teachers I've spoken with recently.