megumi jp en

Megumi

Every day dealing with things like the kids and work, the balance can often become really off, and there are times when I just get overwhelmed. But when I come here and feel the changes in my body in this short period, that definitely connects to joy, so then it’s like “a little more, let me try it this way next time.”

I think breathing is the biggest difference. Here, there are almost no breathing instructions during class. It’s just your natural everyday breathing, and when you’re doing it yourself and you feel “oh, my breathing has gotten rough,” that becomes a barometer that you’re overdoing it. So I have to be careful and do it that way.

But in regular yoga, you breathe very deeply to go deeper into the poses, so that’s different, and after it’s over, pain often happens. With Baseworks there’s none of that at all.

Most teachers don’t touch the body much. They say “please do this part like this” in words. In regular yoga, I feel like each individual pose probably has a focus on one spot somewhere in the body. But here, while each form has a shape, you’re almost always doing movements that distribute the power of your whole body, your whole invisible body. So I really feel that the nerves toward the extremities become very sensitive.

When I’m coming to practice, I’m concentrating on those movements, so I’m really focused on that the whole time, but probably that, when I go home to regular life, somehow it’s there without me knowing. I feel that. Like just walking down the street normally.

That’s why, actually, people told me my posture got better. And from that too, when I started coming here. Before that I’d been doing yoga elsewhere for about three years. I couldn’t even sit up straight without bending my spine. And even when trying to deepen forward folds, I felt a real limit.

So it’s not simply about getting deep into the form. What’s important is what you learn here on the way to reaching that. For example, it’s small movements, but moving the spine little by little in a wavy way, or creating proper space between the bones. At first I was like “what does that mean?” I didn’t get it. I didn’t even know how to move it.

But the more you do it, the body naturally kind of understands. And then when I noticed, gradually the body was changing. Like at some point after a few months, I couldn’t sit up straight before but now I was sitting up straight, or forward folds were going much deeper. To gain this much in such a short period, I thought Baseworks must be really amazing.

Really the teachers, Baseworks has somewhat fixed sequences in several patterns, and I think the teachers teach the same thing every time. But within that, depending on the teacher’s personality, each teacher’s way of teaching, way of conveying, what they focus on, all that is completely different with each teacher’s personality. So as a student it becomes a new discovery, and for those who are teaching, even while in a teaching position, by going to other teachers’ classes, they can gain new discoveries.

Students too, but teachers can also grow together. That probably depends on what each person has at the moment, the degree of growth might differ, but I don’t think it’s zero. Even from there, they’re continuing to evolve even a little, so probably that’s me, and I feel like everyone is probably the same.

So when you talk about change, there’s mental change and physical change, and various places are changing.

The teachers here never say to push yourself. Because our physical condition and mental state change every day, they teach us to do what we can that day according to that day’s condition. In that sense, rather than just overdoing it, I think we’re already cultivating the power to control various parts of ourselves.

So even when I go home, with my private work too, not overdoing it, controlling myself, that balance. In child-rearing too, what I learned here is really applicable in those ways.

I really feel it at those times. Like wow, it’s okay not to overdo it. That ultimately isn’t for anyone else, and in the long span, it’s for yourself. Doing it without forcing, controlling various things about yourself, with balance, that’s really so important. And by doing that, I learned that sometimes you unexpectedly reach the destination faster than you thought.

Really simply, my reflexes have gotten so much better. Really, like for example when riding a bicycle and riding normally, when a car suddenly comes barreling toward me without noticing, there have been several times when I definitely would have crashed if I hadn’t been coming here. At those times I can dodge really quickly. Coming here, I really feel like, probably those reflexes have gotten so much better.

I feel it in those little daily moments, and I feel it on trains too. Without holding the strap or anything, even when it sways, I can withstand it. I hear this from other students too.

I was pretty hunched over, with shoulders kind of like this. I was a bit hunched, but people tell me my posture has gotten much better, so probably that body change is somewhat appearing in how I look. I feel that.

When there are changes in your body, that really becomes confidence, and that affects work and things.

Because there’s a lot of verbal assist here, like “please do this part more like this” in words, rather than just being touched silently, hearing with your ears “I need to do that part like that” makes awareness sprout in the body much more.

Rather than just being touched and silently pushed, being told “move your right knee a bit more forward, put this heel here” - “ah, that’s the center of gravity,” “ah, that’s what I need to be careful about.” When the teacher says that, even if it’s not said to you, it becomes a huge learning for those around too, “ah, that’s a place to be careful about.” That’s probably why everyone’s progress is fast.

I think everyone is coming with their own goals, though their goals probably differ, but it’s not like saying the same thing uniformly to everyone. The teachers change their words and teaching methods to match what each individual person has.

I feel that the teachers have tremendous ability to discern what the individual people who come need or what needs to be provided. Even while being taught I feel that, so depending on the teacher the way of conveying differs, and depending on the teacher, their depth of experience too, but there are teachers who have lots of vocabulary and many tools.

I really feel that those tools are necessary. To gain that, there are parts you can’t learn without your own practice, so in that sense practice is really important, and creating lots of tools that you can apply is also really important.

When I’m coming to practice, I practice thinking “I feel like this so I should do it this way,” but when teaching, sometimes saying what I felt in practice doesn’t get through. So first I really learned that everyone’s way of feeling is different, that there are as many ways of feeling as there are individual differences.

Then thinking about what method would work for those people, thinking about that, and while thinking about that, when I come to practice next time, “Last time I said it this way but it didn’t get through at all, so how could I say it to get through?” - feeling that while coming to practice, teaching that way, I feel like I’m learning so much too.

The biggest reward is seeing students’ evolution and progress up close. When I think “this was so challenging before” and then they come next time and can do it, it makes me happy.

After finishing, when they give feedback like “this way of teaching was really clear,” that’s really beneficial. Not everyone says it, but there are people who say things like that, and when they say that, thinking “that way of conveying was really good” makes me really happy. And to increase those moments, it becomes motivation to work even harder.

The teachers are tremendously dedicated, and I think everyone is still actively continuing to study. I really feel that. Every time I go, teachers often use ways of teaching I’m hearing for the first time. Those are words that wouldn’t come out of the teacher’s mouth if they weren’t learning themselves.

Probably when there’s leeway in predictions, teachers speak with somewhat fixed words. The guidance is almost the same. But the teachers here use different words every time. There are many discoveries. So in that sense I really feel the teachers are dedicated.

I feel like they’re always thinking about how to interact with students in a safe way without strain, but so students can progress. I feel that when I go as a student myself, and while listening to them talk to other students, I really feel it.

When we were doing teacher training here, we wrote things down but there was quite a lot we missed, and it was hard to review repeatedly afterward. But with it being online, one thing is you can watch repeatedly. And when I think “how was that part?” I can go back to the part focusing on teaching that, so that’s also really helpful for study.

We learn so many things that aren’t in the textbook. Like detailed explanations of how to engage consciousness while doing things like this, why we do this like this, detailed explanations for each thing. So because we can relearn many times, that’s really helpful.

While teaching normally, I’m forgetting things. Like various parts are missing. And every time, the number of students coming differs, so unpredictable things happen on the spot. So even though I prepare various things myself, it doesn’t necessarily mean I can use them in class.

So even though I understand in my head, whether that’s actually being reflected in class, sometimes it’s not. So at those times, having that online education that can be continued repeatedly, being able to go back to things I’m continuing but starting to forget, I thought that was really valuable.

For people who want to learn the essence. Here, honestly speaking, is very strict. From the position of learning, there’s a lot to do, it’s very strict. But because of that, what you gain also has that much depth.

Like with buildings too, if the foundation isn’t really solid, even if you put surfaces on top, if there’s a terrible base it’ll collapse right away. In that sense, here you can really learn that foundation part. So I really recommend it to people who want to properly learn those things. But if someone just wants to take training or just wants to get certified, honestly I think they don’t need to come here.

I sometimes feel like what’s needed in Foundation is in Strategy. At first I didn’t take Strategy classes much, but gradually more and more, and after starting to do Strategy, I felt that the quality of Foundation and Elements really improved. That’s what I felt. So I consulted about it and thought “ah, it’s really important to cycle through.”

Because when doing Foundation, it’s completely different in Strategy. The places it works on and the purposes are probably different for each. So probably by cycling through all of them, you can get what’s needed from each other from different things. I think it’s structured that way.

By cycling through, I feel it myself, so I tell everyone they should go to Strategy too. Coming here and practicing really builds confidence. By moving the body, that extends to the mental aspects too. There are parts where that really helps in my life right now.

Like coming here simply broadened my perspective, and what’s being cultivated is affecting my home and work. In a good way, what I’m receiving here probably is influencing work in a good way too.

When you do it, you can discover that the connection between mind and body is really intimate. Baseworks is moving the body, but within me the feeling is stronger that I’m moving consciousness.

There was a time when my shoulder really hurt and my right arm couldn’t go up at all. When I consulted about it, they said if it won’t go up, you don’t have to raise it, but it’s important to imagine that this hand is on this side, so don’t forget that awareness. When they said that, I really thought “that’s right.” At that moment it really clicked.

Feeling that it’s there like that, or imagining that there’s space between bones, or feeling like the whole body is stretching - by moving that consciousness, the body changes. So rather than deeply getting into the form and entering with that shape, the feeling that consciousness moves the body - in the part where it makes me feel that connection, it’s hugely different from others.

So rather than moving the body, I’d say I’m moving consciousness - it’s so much about consciousness that I think that’s what I should say in my interpretation.

When I come here, even if I have questions about the body or something, there are teachers who will properly answer that, so that’s really learning. I can properly learn that doing this is really good for here. The teachers will solidly provide the answers I’m seeking to my questions. There are many teachers like that, so I want to recommend it to people like that.

For instructors too, there’s no limit to learning, and for students too there’s no limit. Learning together in the same place and space, teachers and students, sharing time, ultimately there’s no “who’s superior.” That’s what I think. Because I’m also learning the same way, there are no barriers. Students learn from teachers, and teachers learn from students.

I’ve really never seen this anywhere else. I’ve never seen teachers participating in class. Teachers are teachers, students are students - that’s how it’s been most places. But the more you do it, the more it’s like “ah, I see.” And gradually I came to understand why that is.

“Ah, right.” Teachers are also continuing to learn with everyone. Sharing that is what this place is. When I really felt that, “ah, that flat place,” for me too, it’s like a place to return to. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from doesn’t matter - if you come here, everyone practices together.

That’s just so simple, you can really immerse yourself in practice, and weird things don’t come up. So simply, it’s like I want to practice, I want to move my body, so I go. Probably for everyone, feeling that way so simply is probably why they come.