By Amanda
Tuesday, May 21

I woke up to the sound of heavy rain; the weather up to this point had been beautiful. I was already exhausted from the previous day exploring Tokyo, and I had the sense that today would be a challenging first day of organized lessons, and the weather wasn’t helping.

We began the day with a stop at the bamboo forest. At first, I was disappointed — I didn’t want to spend the day outside in the rain. When we arrived however, I realized how magical the rain made the forest feel. Because of the damp weather, the forest was deserted and we could really take in our surroundings without being drawn back to reality by the sight of other tourists.

The next part of the day was the most challenging part of the entire trip for me. This was my first meditation at a Buddhist temple, and I was nervous because of my lack of meditation experience. As I compared myself to everyone else in the room, I began feeling frustrated and discouraged with my practice; I felt like I was doing the worst of everyone in the group. After meditation, we were given two cookies and some tea, and were told to finish both cookies before drinking any of the tea. We were to place each item in a specific place in front of ourselves, and had to drink the tea in a certain way. This was difficult for me because I didn’t understand why these rules existed, and again I felt as though I was doing everything incorrectly. When the purpose of these rules was explained to us — that they are a tool to instill self-discipline — I began to feel better. 

After our group discussion about meditation, I realized everyone else was also feeling insecure about their meditation practice, and that I should work on not being so hard on myself. Despite my frustration, this was an amazing learning experience, and I am looking forward to incorporating these lessons and practices into my own life and my career. I want to use more holistic practices in public health and at home. I also want to consistently meditate so that I can better cope with stressors in my own life when they arise.