Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024

20240517: Hitotsubashi Yoga Class (TOSHI OGURA sensei) Special Guests
Exchange (Sumei HUANG & Yoh INOUE, University of Tsukuba-TAIIKU)
Let me start with a story: A Graduate Student, who has studied and practiced/taught asks - What is Yoga
for? What is it really for? and, What can we do with Yoga??? Answer = Do it, Share it, Experience it,
Learn it, Yoga is a lifestyle, not a one-day thing, not a yoga studio (no disrespect), not an event, much more
– a DAILY HABIT requiring CONTINOUS LEARNING – A LIFETIME. Are you ready to DDD = Do it,
Devote yourself to it, Develop it???? The answer lies in yourself, YOGA is a COMMUNICATION WITH
SELF and thereby OTHERS. And, does Yoga need a TEACHER????? Yes, it does, one teacher is self –one teacher is a ‘teacher’ who is worthy of being called a teacher – how do you find one, the ‘one’ who werun away from, or stay long enough to know who, and why the ‘one; is the teacher. It can be
anyone…anywhere, everywhere- one needs to open the eyes & ears of the mind and heart to find one,recognize one, learn from one. I acknowledge such a teacher and such an opportunity at University ofTsukuba (UT) at the Graduate General Education (https://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/academics/g-courseskyoutsuukamoku/) Courses (GGEC) initiative – to where we are today.
The on-going GGEC yoga courses (since 2015) for graduate students and the resulting ‘social innovation
projects’ (Society for the Advancement of Yoga Education Teaching Research Culture and Practice– Health, Traditional
Medicine, and Well-being–; 筑波みんなのヨーガ Tsukuba Yoga for All) / ‘extension program’ (UT;
https://extension.sec.tsukuba.ac.jp/) and the SHED initiative () at the Global Sport Innovation, TAIIKU(https://www.taiiku.tsukuba.ac.jp/en/) have been a nurturing (one key mission of the GEGC program) students
to develop self and contribute to a humane society have seen many students and participants come and go;some stay longer to develop themselves – continuous life-long learning.
And, cooperation and collaborations are KEY, as in research – with the right person, the appropriate
teacher & researcher; and, in this, we have one such colleague, teacher, and friend, Toshi Ogura sensei(teaching at Hitotsubashi University; https://www.hit-u.ac.jp/eng/about/outline.html), and who has been a part of our
Tsukuba campus Yoga classes for long, sharing and discussing together, enriching each. This report now
describes one such recent activity where Ogura sensei kindly invited our 2 graduate students (Sumei
Huang, International English-based Master’s program in Sport & Olympic Studies) and Yoh Inoue,
Doctoral program, TAIIKU) to join the YOGA class for undergraduate students. This is their impression.
TOSHI OGURA sensei:
Sensei mentions: “We had a good day with Sumei and Yoh. ‘Yoga and friendship’. It is nice to see how
Sumei is keep growing! - I think it works both ways to learn each other. Our yoga
classes have similar philosophies to your program even though we currently have only
undergraduate courses. We do more than asana, practice yoga as part of our lifestyle,have diverse students of different majors, domestic and international students, active
interactive class discussions, have dedicated teaching assistant (TA) students etc.”
Further, - Sumei Huang carefully taught us gentle, slow, flow yoga (asana) and breathing
methods, motivation, and interacted with diverse students of Hitotsubashi University.
Yoh Inoue (Yoh) san is a tennis player, learned about sports nutrition (and was responsible for schedulingand coordinating nutrition seminars, inviting registered dietitians to provide more specialized knowledge tostudents), and a club worker, and this is the story of how she organizes student-run international sports
tournaments at Tsukuba and other colleges and promotes interaction between old and new residents
through yoga in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture! I and the 2 TA students [(Inesa Bardakchyan,
Doctoral program in Social Sciences) and Haruka Sawada (Junior, Undergraduate program in Commerce1Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024

and Management), both of them studied yoga in my previous year’s classes] and students, took last
Friday's Sumei's and Yoh's visit very seriously as it was a great opportunity for our students to learn as wellas I get to know these two Tsukuba students, who are at very important stage of graduate school and life. I
and my students set up a series of clear respective objectives what each of three classes wanted to learn
from the two wonderful graduate students, and how best we can prepare for their visit and how to leverage
our regular classes and set it up so that both school of participants can learn for the future and foster
friendships. The results are successful, but a mixture of expected and unexpected.
In the first early morning class, Sumei instructed students with confidence in clear easy-to-understandpronunciation in English, sometimes adding Japanese keywords, such as “Onaka (belly), for about 60
minutes. In the 2nd class we asked a shorter practice and tips on breathing techniques, which our students
were interested in. In the last class we asked her to have fun to teach in Chinese: at first to get connectedwith those students and alumni who speak, or have some knowledge of Chinese. Secondly, to have a quasimulti-cultural yoga class experiences with the rests of students who do not understand Chinese at all inorder to test if they can still enjoy learning yoga each other as if they were attending in a yoga class during
a trip abroad.
In advance, I and my dedicated TA students, Inesa and Haruka, had discussed how to maximize the visitsof Sumei and Yoh. We asked Sumei and Yoh become active participations in our classes, instead of siting
and observing as external guests. We were looking forward to learning from Sumei’s different style ofyoga and cross-cultural experiences. We discussed pros and cons of having English and Chinese yoga
instructions by Sumei. We asked Yoh, not only to practice yoga with us, but share her community
development and other life experiences to our students, who have more valuable life experiences than our
undergraduate students.
During Sumei’s first instruction, I immediately recognized that she was developing her own unique yogastyle based on her experiences in University of Tsukuba, inspired by Genboku Sensei and others. Similar tohim she taught us some body awareness practices, but in flow yoga style, instead of his typical practicestyle of holding each posture for longer. Her teaching was smooth with much better skills than I had
expected, which made me comfortable enough to let her continue teaching two additional short sessions of
30 and 20 minutes respectively in the following late morning and afternoon classes. We learned that one of
the Sumei’s challenge was to deal with diverse students with who have different yoga requirements interms of lengths of practice time, level of physical strength and flexibility, interests and objectives in yoga
and life. A yoga class instructed in Chinese were not only fun and refreshing, but helped concentration of
students who do not understand Chinese language. At the late social lunch started at 4 pm after three yoga
classes, I was pleased to observe happy faces of two visiting students from University of Tsukuba and our
two TA students empowered, continue developing friendships and potential future collaboration ideas.
SUMEI HUANG:
Sumei mentions: The simplest and most impressive thing I want to share is: This visit makes me realizethat there is difference between yoga classes in the university and in other places. For example, they
(students) are at this age that most of them have just started their life alone and they have/wish to have agoal; they are easier to understand the deeper meaning of yoga like the breathing techniques; they are using
their brain to work a lot which shows a need, and that they need to have the ability to manage their life andtheir mind to contribute to their high efficient work; they are looking for a higher level of yoga whichmight be seeking depth in self. Each of these topics could require me a long time to dig deep and learn. I
am surprised that students were mostly interested in the breathing techniques I had just learned from Gen(Genboku) sensei last week <the relationship between breathing and motivation>. It makes me believe
more in that: yoga sometimes could be vague, but if I could share a knowledge as a practical way(technique, method, approach) in real life, it will give students a way to go, it gives a ‘First Step’ to get
access to (yoga). And also, I wish to keep learning one book deeply and share about <How to USE thisbook/this knowledge/wisdom>. And I truly appreciate that Gen sensei is a real book, and each of them
could go so deep. But still, I want to share them in a ‘daily practicing’ (i.e., to do it daily for the common
people, before developing myself as an expert to be able to teach deeply (as Gen sensei)) way,2

Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024‘onegaishimasu’! And I appreciate the chances I could experience. Because the output (experiential)
pushes me to learn and apply. This is also my motivation. Without this chance, I might not start seriously tolearn Gen sensei's book and utilize it, ‘osoreirimasu’. The above are the main things I want to share, thefollowings are more things I learn from this visit, from
Ogura sensei, from feedback and discussion with Yoh san.
 Why University students join the yoga class?
Some are sports students, they share that the
precise yoga body practice could benefit them tohave a better performance for their own sports
and prevent from injuries. Some students sharedthat they want to deal with their stress/chaos intheir mind through this class.
 Did I confirm what's my class goal, which part ofyoga I want to share using proper and exact
guiding words? I divided the yoga class into
three main goal: FIRST, the breath-bodyawareness (for this type, teachers focus on eachdetail of how students breathe, the speed, thelength, the places of the breath; and thepreciseness of the asana, the direction of their muscle, to put the muscle and bone and joints into
original places). SECOND, to prepare for the meditation (for this type, we do asana, to prepare forbetter focus on/get into meditation and self-conversation and guiding self to the ancient wisdom).
THIRD, the spiritual experience (for this type, each self has the true self and spiritual self, by deep
connecting to self, body and mind, each student will ultimately find their own spiritual feelingwhile others could not tell).
 While I did not expect the students' beginners level of yoga, I am actually surprised. Because this"beginner" is way more than a "beginner" than I experienced before. I think they are beginning in
moving level, ‘osoreirimasu’. I actually adjusted to their level in the class which I thought it isenough, however, they shared that it is still difficult for them. So I think, I still need to grow myability to ADJUST and OBSERVE the students. And this brings me to further think that on what
type of students join the yoga class in the university?
 And as mentioned above, there are different yoga goals in one class, because we cannot take ineverything. Then what do I want to share the most, I asked? What I could share now at this age
and at this level?
 While having great passion on yoga is good for building own strong trunk and skills. But also, I
think, yes, yoga attracts Sumei very much, But what about the other part of Sumei? What about
seeing yoga out of yoga? What is the yoga world? What is the other world?
 What is the most special and strong point of yoga compared to other mind-only techniques andbody-only techniques? Like the mantra could be singing, self-conversation could be philosophy,
spirituality could be art.
 EXPERIENCE and DISSCUSION with people is truly nice!!! I could learn so much out of mynarrow box!!!!!
 In the end, I want to revise the ‘lunch-time’ (SHED-GSI, UT) yoga class again and again, put all
the learning and experiences in work.
Thank you Sensei and Yoh san and Gen sensei!! We wish to have more opportunities to learn and grow!!,‘yoroshikuonegaishimasu’.
YOH INOUE:
Yoh mentions: First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me such a valuable opportunity. I learned alot. I also wanted to teach a yoga classes at the university. I feel that it is very effective for both general
students and student athletes to take care of their minds and bodies. My reflection is a bit long, but there
are three main things I would like to look back on. Firstly, I was very surprised that there were three yoga
classes in one day. At the same time, I felt that it was effective for university students to make theircommunity and good their habits for their healthy mind and body and that the other universities should3Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024

offer more yoga classes. When I was studying sports nutrition in my master's program, I wanted to support
the mental and nutritional needs of students who were dedicated to competing at the university, so I
worked on team management. From the references I read at that time, I learned that college is a time when
one's identity is being established, and that the lifestyle habits and activities during college are important
for the rest of life. Unfortunately, however, university students tend to neglect their eating habits. When
students who lived in dormitories or at their parents' homes until high school start living alone in college,
the quality of their meals deteriorates because they eat alone, they are unable to find the community theyseek, and many students become mentally ill (stressed). Among the students who came to class, there werestudents who had experienced depression, and another one was a student who did not go to other classes
because he was lethargic, but only came to the yoga classes. There were a variety of students, including
those who were involved in music and those who belonged to a sports team, but it was interesting to seethat many students were impressed with breathing techniques. Students are looking for yoga! more than I
expected. Secondly, taking Sumei's yoga class made me realize so many things that helped me clarify myyoga I wanted to try. I was able to focus on the feeling of connecting my mind and body. However, theexplanation may sometimes be difficult for beginners to yoga. I felt it would be a good idea to explain alittle more about precautions regarding movements that could potentially lead to injury. For example,
where to place your feet in the ‘tree pose’. It might be a good idea to add a comment to avoid putting yourfeet next to each other's knees, as doing so puts stress on your knees and pushes them against each other,which can be dangerous. Another thing I was concerned about was hydration. After all, when teaching
beginners, I felt that it would be better to take too much care of their hydration. This is because beginners
do not/might not understand their own bodies that well, so they cannot stop moving unless the instructor
gives them instructions. They push too much. So, if you are doing an hour of yoga in a first-period classearly in the morning, and the target audience is yoga beginners, I think it is okay to stop the whole session
and take a break to rehydrate, etc. Finally, this was my first time at a university that I had never been to,
and I was not sure what kind of students there would be or what they were looking for, so I shared myexperiences with tennis and yoga, and my efforts to revitalize the community through yoga. It was a great
learning experience for me to organize and output what I wanted to convey. I have been a tennis coach andhave been taking yoga classes for about a year and a half, but I am not really good at speaking in front oflarge groups; especially if I do not know the person very well. If I do not know what the audience needs, I
will not know which stories to focus on. But I think it is all just a matter of getting used to it. I believe thatby continuing to have these experiences and looking back (reflecting) on them, my confidence will growlittle by little, and I will be able to convey what I want to convey more clearly and in an interesting way. It
was also interesting to be able to experience yoga in various languages such as English, Chinese, andJapanese, and it gave me a good stimulus to further improve my language skills and broaden my horizons.
I want to speak English as much as I speak Japanese. I am always impressed by the eagerness ofinternational students, including Sumei, to learn something. I learned things that I would not have noticed
if I was in a Japanese-only community, and it was stimulating. I think I will try my best too. If you have an
opportunity like this, please let us participate again. Thank you very much.
AFTERWORD – Genboku Takahashi sensei felt the experiences of SUMEI HUANG’s (as Sensei has
been teaching and interacting with her since past 1 year) as follows – “Thank you, for your serious report.
Until now, you have only seen yourself. This time, for the first time, you may have had the opportunity to
see someone as a mirror of yourself. What I mean by that is that you were able to empathize with otherpeople’s worries and anguish by overlapping them with your own. That’s what I was able to read from thisreport. If my reading is correct, I think this is a very valuable experience for you.” In addition, I would liketo convey one tip to deepen your experience: “I think you put on your makeup in the morning. At that time,look at your eyes in the mirror and do breathing exercises for about 1 to 3 minutes. At that time, ask youreyes in the mirror, “What do you (eyes) want to say to yourself right now?” “Listen to what your eyes say.”
It may seem like a contradictory expression, but it is a Zen-like expression. I believe that just 1-3 minutes adayoflistening
to
your
eyes
can
greatlychangeyourlife.”(自分の経験を深めていくためのコツを1つ書いておきます。あなたは、朝メイクすると思います。その時、鏡に写った自分の目を見ながら呼吸法を1－3分ぐらいします。その時、鏡の中の目に向かって「あなたは今、自分に何をいいたいの?」と、聴いてみてください。「眼が語る言葉を聞く」。矛盾しているような表現ですが禅的表現です。一日たった、1－3分、「眼に聞く」それだけで人生を大きく変えていくと思います。)

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Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024

In YOH INOUE san’s text the need for hydration was mentioned, so I will comment on it. I do not know if
it is written in the general Yoga texts that are currently in circulation, but when I first started learning Yoga,
I was told to keep water nearby during Asana time and sip while doing it. It was said that drinking water
was mandatory to facilitate the cleansing of the body through Asana. I completely forgot about this since
the GGEC Yoga Course classes went online. In the past, classes sometimes took place over the summer,
and there was a sports teacher there, so I reminded students about hydration. I never forgot that there was asign in the restroom of the University of Tsukuba Sports Building that said, “Please check the color of yoururine to check for signs of dehydration.” Hydration is important. (YOH INOUE
sanの文章の中で、水分補給の必要性が書かれていました。今流布している一般のヨーガテキストに書かれているのかどうかを知りま
せんが、私がヨーガを習い始めたときは、「アーサナタイムでは手元に水を置いて、ちびちびと飲みながらやりなさい」といわれていました。それは、アーサナによる体の浄化を促進するために水飲みが必須でした。GGECヨーガコースの授業がオンラインになってからこのことをすっかり忘れていました。以前は、授業が夏にかかることもあり、また、スポーツ系の先生がいらっしゃったので、水分補給について学生に注意喚起をしました。筑波大学体育棟のトイレに「おしっこの色を見て脱水症状を確認するようにしてください」という張り紙があったので、忘れることがありませんでした。水分補給は大事です。)

I, Randeep Rakwal (Sumei’s academic advisor and mentor) wrote to Sumei the following on getting afirst impression (post-class) as “Otsukaresama deshita- take each step each reflection – as it is, and one (weall) learns each time and over the years it (the meaning of the experience and the doing that led to it in the5Institute of Health and Sport Sciences (TAIIKU) & Tsukuba International Academy
for Sport Studies (TIAS2.0), UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

2024

first place) becomes more clear to self before one can answer to others – i.e., time is great teacher and so is
experience and that in turn creates a teacher who is indeed a teacher, calm and composed, criticallythinking without bias and prejudice, providing answers to questions, the solutions (to whatever problems
they may be small or big), the paths (‘michi’ and ‘do’_ one has to find oneself. And, remember deeper thelearning process (like research discipline, so I say to develop the basic knowledge and techniques is key
for any graduate student; in Yoga as Sumei mentions, students showed a deep interest in breathing
techniques…) and broader the experience (like a teacher) greater the path in front, which is simple notcomplex…if we want it to be. Further, the more one sees from other experiences (and, here one must havethe ability to distinguish between the good and bad experiences; both provide a learning, it is how one is
influenced by it and one’s ability to seek the truth in each; i.e., this is not right and this is right, both aretrue). So, I believe Sumei has to experience (other than what she has learnt in China, and from Gen sensei)– get exposure and awareness (like with Ogura sensei’s class, and know each individual style, which isalso the basis of communication) – and reflect by writing (critical analysis as in research) and analysis anddiscussion; i.e., then only a revision is possible. Then, she (Sumei) is on the ‘path’ of the YOGI it can besaid; and, then only can she be able to ‘see and say’ what is Yoga and what is outside of Yoga. In all, Sumei
is growing, by doing, and having the patience to do and listen, and that serves the purpose of doing YOGA
itself – to be one with self.
For Yoh, I can say that she has had an experience and exposure to another way of Yoga by visiting the
Yoga classes run by Ogura sensei. And, the importance of both nutrition (we often neglect it in theuniversity, I have to acknowledge it…) and hydration. So, I believe other than her expertise, Yoh has tocontinue learning – listening – observing from not only a ‘good’ teacher, but also other good teachers andyoga practices, and refine her own way of Yoga as her own path.
Thank you ALL, TOSHI OGURA sensei and all STUDENTS, SUMEI HUANG – YOH INOUE, andGENBOKU TAKAHAHSI sensei, we continue the journey…with the students; together we learn andmake a ‘change’.
Thank you.
Sincerely Yours

Randeep RAKWAL, Ph.D.
Professor,
Institute of Health and Sport Sciences,
Tsukuba International Academy for Sport Studies (TIAS 2.0),
Global Sport Innovation Bldg., Room 403, UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA,
1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8574, Japan
Email - plantproteomics@gmail.com - rakwal.randeep.fu@u.tsukuba.ac.jp (office)
Mobile – (+81) 090-1853-7875 / Office phone – (+81)029-853-2681
Websites: https://tias.tsukuba.ac.jp/ & https://trios.tsukuba.ac.jp/researcher/0000003045

PROJECTS:tYMC/TYfA-筑波みんなのヨーガ Tsukuba Yoga for All: https://www.facebook.com/tsukuba.yogaforall
SHED: https://www.facebook.com/groups/shed.ut
AKUA BADMINTON アクア バドミントン - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2213775982286770
TIAS 2.0 x Japan Cricket Association (JCA) Research - Talent Identification - https://www.facebook.com/groups/2052650814908370&

Additional Edits by – Sensei Toshi Ogura, Hitotsubashi University

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