Okinawa is a sub-tropical island located about 2.5 hours south of Tokyo. It’s generally warm and sunny, and in some respects reminded me of a Japanese version of Hawaii. Okinwans have a reputation for being friendly and relaxed, and I’m told that many Japanese people are moving there, looking for a better quality of life.
The workshops Richard and I flew there to teach this month filled immediately within 3 weeks of being announced, with about 10% of the participants travelling from other parts of Japan to take the course and the rest from the Okinawa area. There were 96 people in the group, all eager to learn about Clutter Clearing and Space Clearing.
We received a wonderful warm welcome, and the workshop venue was one of the best we’ve taught in outside of Bali for a long time, with lots of space, fresh air, good land energies, great views of Okinawa all the way to the ocean, and a lovely hotel nearby for us to stay in (the Costa Vista) that has excellent organic food.
The five days of workshops were a great success. Japanese people are very communicative with their feedback after an event like this, and I hear they’ve sent many emails to say how much they enjoyed it and got value from it.
The highpoint of the course was the last day when we did a mandala ceremony. I was impressed by how respectful and receptive the participants were and very touched to see that many of them were so moved by the experience that they openly wept tears of joy.
However, I did learn from this experience not to teach with a Japanese translator again. A bilingual friend who is very familiar with my teachings told me that a huge amount got lost in translation or was wrongly translated. So if I ever teach in Japan again, I have decided it will only be in English, with no translation. I realize this is not good news for all the Japanese who don’t speak English, but they will still be able to read my books, which quickly became national bestsellers after being published there.
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