Senaji Studio- Hachinohe, Japan

One of my challenges living here in Japan has been finding ways that I can complete my continuing yoga education. I am required to only do 30 hours every three years so it is not too overwhelming but since we will be in Japan for three years, I need to complete these hours while I am here. I looked all over for training in Japan and thought I was going to have to travel to Tokyo or Sapporo. There is a language barrier of course and if I had to travel, I wanted to complete all my training hours in one weekend.  Then I found a lovely little studio called Senaji Studio (http://www.senaji.com) in Hachinohe, Japan, just 45 min from me. Since the owner, Barry Grossman is an E-RYT (experienced yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance Certification), I can simply take classes from him to get my required hours.  Done and done!  One of my huge challenges as a teacher is finding the time to take classes. At Senaji Studio I can take class and complete my education at the same time.  Barry speaks English but has lived in Japan for 10 years so all of his classes are held in Japanese. He has a studio in his lovely Japanese home.  As I was enjoying the class and listening to yoga in Japanese, I had new empathy for my students.  Every time I teach on base, about half of the participants are Japanese and understand just a little English.  Barry was able to go back and forth between Japanese and English (amazing!) as he taught. I am not able to do that for my students.  I worry that I am not giving them instruction that they need because I cannot speak to them in their language.  They are wonderful people though and they keep coming back.  Yoga sanskrit is a universal language so that does help.