Yojoho - Health Cultivation
As part of their daily practice at the monastery, our trainees learn Korinji Yojoho: a curriculum of 27 self-massage, movement, and breathing exercises for cultivating health. Attendees at Korinji retreats and other events also have the opportunity to learn these traditional practices.
Korinji Yojoho has two sections:
The first is Baramon-ho, “Brahmanical Methods”: a series of eighteen self-massage and movement exercises preserved in Japan’s 10th-century medical text Ishinpo. The older Chinese source presents them as Indian or Brahmanical in origin. These gentle and accessible exercises are practiced as a way to loosen the body, encourage circulation, dispel stiffness, and support daily training. Ishinpo says, "If even an elderly person can, each day, follow this method three times, then it supplements and benefits, lengthens years and continues life; the hundred illnesses are all removed; one is able to eat; the eyes are bright; the body is light and healthy; and one no longer becomes fatigued.”
The second section is Kokyuho, “Breathing Methods”: a series of standing forms that coordinate deep breathing with movement. These exercises support relaxed posture, fuller breathing, release of unnecessary tension, and the unity of body, breath, and mind. The forms draw on movements from martial training and Buddhist-related practices such as deep prostrations. Some are more vigorous than others, but the curriculum includes forms suitable for a range of physical conditions.
Korinji Yojoho is practiced daily at the monastery, at Zen Dai-sesshin, and during many other events. Periodic events instructing Yojoho in full are also offered. Please see the calendar for learning opportunities.