Om Namah Sivaya, Blessed Selves.
In early June we started two Yoga 1 courses. An Ayurveda workshop, Reiki workshop, Basic Postures and Senior Citizens workshops were taught by our senior teachers, and attended by students as well as teachers. Details of the inauguration were discussed during the Saturday Karma Yogis Meetings. A new gentle Yoga class was started. Noriko-Narayani was training the staff. Also an Ayurveda workshop, by Kalyani, was introduced along with 12 basic posture workshop by Kuni. The Sunday Free Trial Class was attended by 17 students. We were happy to welcome Hozumi after her staff time in Neyyar Dam. Inauguration fliers were distributed by few Karma Yogis. Visit our website at www.sivananda.jp OM.
A Special Report of the Inauguration of the new Tokyo Centre -
Om Namah Sivaya,
Sunday, June 26 2011 was the official inauguration of Tokyo Sivananda Centre. For this event we were blessed with the presence of Swami Mahadevananda, Prahlada and Gopala from the Organization Headquarters at the Yoga Camp.
The Tokyo Centre is situated in the heart of the city, in the Koenji district. Koenji is an alternative type area with lots of artsy shops, Indian restaurants, and local stores. It has a relax atmosphere which welcomes the yogic way of living in a metropolis like Tokyo. Koenji district is very close to Shinjuku Station, which is the busiest station in Tokyo, making the Centre accessible to a large crowd of commuters. The Centre comprises of a 3-story building with 2 floors for asana. The building is only five years old, so quite new. The only renovation done was new flooring, nice large pine wood planks, giving a very sattvic feeling to the place. The Centre is run by Mani Chaitanya (Asia director), Narayan-Noriko and Mahadeva Mario (local directors), Chandrika-Hiromi and RamaPriya-Kazue are residential staff, together creating a wonderful team of karma yogis. The Tokyo weather was happy to oblige for the official inauguration day. We were gifted with a cool cloudy day, which was very welcome change from hot and humid.
On Opening Day Prahlada led three asana classes in the morning, all with jet lag of 12 hours from the previous day. Each class was full capacity, with 28 people per class. The essence of keeping the tradition and Swamiji's purity of teachings explained and well received by students, showing their eagerness for classical Hatha Yoga and appreciation for the classes.
A welcoming slideshow was offered, as well as a charity collection for disaster victims in North Japan. A flea market was also set in the morning, all for for greeting the local residents. In the afternoon an authentic Ganapati Puja was directed by Panda-ji, a well know Orissa Brahmin in Tokyo. Swami Mahadevanandaji and Prahlada did an offering in the name of Swami Vishnudevananda. The official ribbon cut ceremony was next, with the cutting made by Swami Mahadevananda, Prahlada and Swami Medhasananda of Ramakrishna Organization in Japan. Following this was a series of talks by Swami Mahadevananda, Swami Medhasananda, Mr. Cetana, a scholar and a disciple of Swami Dayananda Saraswati and Mr. Naruse Aroud, a Japanese author who has translated some of Swami Sivanandandaji's books into Japanese. Around 110 persons attended the deep, light hearted talks of humor and true knowledge. Every one stayed in the room - no one wanted to move. Without any break people stayed on to a beautiful Satsang, given by Swami Mahadevanandaji where he delivered a beautiful speech on how happy Swami Vishnudevananda would be to open a Centre in Japan. The ambiance was electrifying with huge prana from the Gurus. Everyone of the 120 guests enjoyed the event. It seemed Master and guru's pictures were smiling and content. They were pleased and very happy.
We finalized the night with a Indian Classical Music Concert with santoor, played by Jimmy Miyashita and tabla, by Yuko. We were excited that many of the local neighbors arrived for the concert which felt like a taste of grace at the end of the day.
The next morning a staff satsang was led by Prahlada, joined by Swami Mahadevanandaji for a staff meeting, where the future of the Centre was discussed giving clear official instructions on the protocol of a Sivananda Centre and the motivation for keeping Swamiji's teachings alive. He was able to thank the core staff for their efforts in bringing the Tokyo Centre to life. An amazing team as built showing a strong tie to the spirit of Sivananda message of Serve, Love, Give, Purify, Meditate, Realize. Narayan-Noriko, Mahadeva-Mario and Ishan will be acting as the local directors, living next door to the Centre in a rented condominium. They have already put their heart and soul into the opening ceremonies making it a beautiful event. Other staff members, Chandrika and Ramapriya, worked very hard to make sure that everything went smoothly. All their work was selfless and inspiring to others. Sivakami, who ran the previous temporary Tokyo Centre in the heart of Shinjyuku for 3 years, was very helpful in every step of the transition to new location. She was an instrumental person in arranging inauguration and logistics. Gopala has now joined the team from YogaCamp/Denver, USA, to help with the teachings and the running the Centre. His talents for creating short films for youtube has been a valuable tool for the Centre.
Next, Swami Mahadevananda, Narayani-Noriko, Ishan and Mahadeva-Mario took the Shinkansen (rapid train) to Osaka were they led a workshop and satsang. This event was organized by Sivaram-Takeshi and his wife Nana Chizuru with the direction of Narayani-Noriko. 90 people attended, it was again a huge success thinking that we could get this amount of people in less then 30 days. The following day another seminar was conducted in Kyoto. Lakshimi Miyuki organized this on the direction of Narayani Noriko. About 40 people attended. Lakshimi surprised the crowd with her Bhakti presence while singing two magnificent bhajans. The following day Swami Mahadevananda visited a few temples and shrines before heading back to Tokyo. The visits were short and sweet. Everyone enjoyed it.
To see this huge response from the people of Japan really shows us the necessity of yoga in this society. Now we can feel the urge of spiritual yoga. The amazing work of everyone involved and the spirit of Swami Sivananda and Vishnudevananda will rise in Japan like never before. The message of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda will come to fill a huge hole in the needs of this society. The people are receptive and attentive to the words of the teachings and practice of yoga. They like it and will ask for more.
Om Shanti from all at the Tokyo Centre.
info@sivananda.jp
A slideshow of the Tokyo Centre Open House - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKUEB9hlCo
A 14:34min movie of the Tokyo Centre Open House with Sw. Vishnudevananda archives to begin - http://youtu.be/S5R8ZG17gKc