R2 Day 18 - Yoga, ARX

I reckon if you asked any parent of grown children for one piece of advice about raising a child, they would probably say "Let them do what they want." One of my mum's friends said this once, and I asked her if she meant moment by moment, or more long term, like school or job-wise. She said both. I was reminded of this tonight when Will wanted to brush his teeth before dinner. I said "Wait until after dinner, Will. Will, after dinner, mate. Wait until after dinner. Don't brush your teeth now, wait until after dinner. Will. Will! Brush your teeth after dinner! Wait until after dinner!" like a fucking moron. So what does he do? He pays no attention to me and puts toothpaste on his brush and brushes his teeth. Just let him do what he wants to do. Who cares if he brushes his teeth before dinner? He can brush them after dinner,too.
I thought about this during yoga, which I loved. Gotta learn to go with the flow, let him do what he wants to do, let him be a child, let him be free. Stay relaxed in an uncomfortable position! That's what's so great about yoga. It literally forces you do this, and then helps you apply it to your life outside exercise.
Will and I went for a walk to Iga Hachimangu this morning, an old temple near my house which they have done up recently. It's more than five-hundred years old. If you didn't know, the city I live in, Okazaki, is the birthplace of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the greatest Shogun in Japanese history, whose family ruled Japan until Tom Cruise killed the last one. Rumour has it that on the night before a great battle, he had the team stay over at this temple, and paid some ninja to come and and move the big stone tori a few feet, which is the ornamental gate you see in most Japanese shrines and temples, so when the soldiers woke up in the morning they saw the tori had been moved and believed it was a sign that the gods were on their side. Will and I used to go there all the time, so the monks remembered us. Monks, priests, I dunno what they are. One monk said he remembered when they were re-thatching the roof of the main temple they invited Will and I to join a group of them climbing the scaffolding to have a close-up look. It was pretty cool. I think they do it every hundred years or so. I remember they took photos of everyone posing beside the roof, and I asked the guy to mail me the photos and gave him my e-mail address, and I remember it was like he couldn't believe I'd asked such a thing. He said he would, but we both knew he wouldn't. It was really confusing. I wanted to say, "You're Japanese, and you're a priest! That means you're supposed to do what you're told, plus be forgiving of other people"s improprieties!" This guy did neither.