A JOURNEY FROM BULLYING TO YOGA EMPOWERMENT - Ryoko Kojima - Lance E. Lee Podcast - Episode #372

Intro, volleyball, tall genes he always told me like you have to learn from that mistake you [Music] did do mhm thank you for taking the time to be here this morning of course thank you for having me appreciate it when I saw you the other day when I saw you the other day teaching yoga class yes and you're tall for Japanese first of all tall you're very tall oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah because I used to play volleyball over there that's I got that right I thought I thought you I thought you were from Hokkaido why whyo because I remember seeing a volleyball team in Hokkaido and everybody was really tall ah I see yeah so I thought uhhuh maybe more Japanese grow tall and Hokkaido El yeah because there so nature so you sure and they get good food and everything so yes I agree but I'm from iig PR iig right yeah and then my parents are tall are how old are your parents um my dad is like almost 180 and then my mom is like 68 or n something okay so this is definitely the my like a generic and then also I played the volleball so I'm taller than my older sister your sister is how many years older than you two two years older yeah are you guys close close but like uh we have like different type of the personality so like we still close but like uh not that much yeah yeah yeah but still like contact with her and then yeah does she have family yeah yeah yeah she has the kids and then she almost four years or three years or something so so you're Auntie yes Auntie yo yes so Timmy when you were growing up in I what kind of girl were you in school were you more academic or were you more sport mind it um for first I'm Outdoorsy as a child, bullied in elementary school, volleyball in junior high - pride about my height when I like from mir's kids like I'm really like to do like something in the outside which which means like I'm like having a fun and a pray at the park or something and then like you know like since when I was born I I'm so tall or even from when you were small you were always the tallest yeah even in elmi school you were the tallest kid in class yes so how did that make you feel how did that make you feel uh for the first actually I didn't like that because like in Japan like Al cultur like they don't want to stand out you know like they wanted to be normal but like I'm kind of tall and then like people look at me so much right and then I didn't like that so I feel like I'm still okay about like how people think like me or something like before because like they're like looking at me so much and then I didn't like that and then so what did you do when you were how old were you when you started you started feeling that way how old were you uh like if you don't like that um I think when I'm at the junior high or something oh so in elementary school it didn't bother you h no Elementary School like Elementary School I didn't like me at a time like at all at all yeah because I'm tall and then I didn't do anything did anyone PE did anyone tease you did you get any bully or anything like that uh yeah kind of like like we all have the bullies or something yeah unfortunately you're the biggest there though yeah yeah yeah weren't you strong enough to handle everybody uh at a time I was still like you know kind of weak I don't want to you know start a fight or something so I don't I just uh keep quiet and I didn't say anything to the person who bullying to me what would they how would they bully tell me how they bullied you um like when you were in elementary ignore me or the girls would do that yeah yeah yeah yeah so like if they got in a group or something you'd come up there and they go away yeah they don't say like hey or something and I just feel like only the person in the crft moom yeah but like at a time like I couldn't say anything even my teacher or my parents you didn't tell your parents either nothing you just kept it inside yeah did you have any friend you could talk to oh yeah yeah yeah I have like some of the friend at a time but like I at a time like I didn't tell even my friends you just kept it inside yeah and pretend like it didn't matter MH and then pretend like I'm okay like having nothing progam or something so what happened in Junior High School junior high and then I started the volleyball and then like that volleyball club is like kind of strong so like I went to senior yeah senior went to the big competition so like and that was fun that was good experience for me so I thought like oh I really want to improve volleyball and then I think I can have like my you know my Heights more proud because I can use it to you know the sports that's right and people started saying oh yeah yeah yeah yeah and cuz you get a point yeah and they go cuz you were the tallest uh and then you decide to get strong right yeah so what did you do to exercise um did you exercise no actually Volleyball club - commitment and coach like the practice was so hard at so hard so you just kept on doing no matter what yeah so like at a time like we have just the three days of the day of during a year and then other other that like we have to to do the practice for the volleyball and only three days of the year you did not have it Shu ohu next next day of the show too and then one or two maybe have the day off but like just that's it and then like I keep practicing so you never missed you never miss never miss never miss sometimes like I have the sick like of the coughing or something but like um you know the coach is like call me like hey are you okay or something cuz you were the start were you one of the best players in your in your team uh yeah maybe yeah because the position was like left I was the left and the left is like you know like kind of the the best attacker so I was this position and then like that volleyball club is like little strict so like people just we have only maybe six or seven members so if I'm not here they cannot pray right so yeah but like I learned the r of the the bable club and then I'm still like appreciate my coach at the time I didn't like him but like right now like he taught me like so many things to be you know the strong yeah like what give me give me an idea like what did he tell you that you thought ah yeah budy that means something to you what did he say to you if I made a mistake but like he said like you cannot do the same mistake like so many times but like if you do like the mistake for the first time or second time you can learn from here and then like you need to like uh the this mistake use this mistake to the other step uh The Next Step so like if you do the mistake but the mistake leads to the The Next Step it's okay but don't do like so many like a mistakes all the time you have to learn it from here and then yeah I was like yeah that's good like so it's not bad to have a mistake as long as you learn yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh that's good he always told me like you have to learn from that mistake you did and then I was like yeah that's true and then I still keep doing that motivation to me do you still keep in contact with him uh actually no but but the funny thing is like my friends in my hometown she found out that he's still doing the coaches in my Hometown so I I think I'm gonna go to see him maybe he'll see this oh yeah I hope so yeah I think he changed a lot to me to yeah give me the power so that's and that was just Junior High School mhm what about what happened in high school Passion for English, Disney DVDs from father, CDs from mother - R&B,hip hop,and jazz, Australia - study abroad uh and then but what about okay now Sports you were strong you were strong in volleyball what about academics did you have anything you liked oh yeah uh but I have the passion about about like English when I was kids I start from the kids because like my dad used to live in London and then but I didn't know that and then and then you know like there's an like a Disney TV show and then I really like to watch the Disney movies and then I realized that when I was like get older but the the Deep DD or like a video tape was all English but I asked other friends and they told me like they're always listen in Japanese they changed it to the language right but like I originally like heard from the English so I think that like a princess or Prince speaks English is so natural for me but they listening to Japanese so and then I really wanted to know that like how they talk and then also I really love the music and then my mom like gives me like so many you know like rock music and then like all andb hip hop and then jazz or something yeah because my mom liked that and then my mom G the like a CD or something so many things like even when I was you know elementary school or something and then I really like that and then really like enjoyed the listen and you know like all hip hop or something with my mom so like I really wanted to know like how they talk and then in English you know not Japanese so I really have the passion about yeah I have I wanted to learn English and then someday I wanted to like uh leave other countries when did you find out your father spoke English or did your father went to London how old were you when that when you found out um I I think I went to the the Australia for study a year what what grade were you in ah I was no like I was I was working at the time already oh so you already finished school high school okay yeah and then started working and then get the money for the study abro and then I went to the aadia but I talked to my parents that I I wanted to I want to go to the Australia to study English and then my dad told me like oh it's I think it's okay because I used to how old were you then 20 no like 25 or 24 you didn't find out till you were 25 that he went to England yeah like he said it to me like before but I didn't know that the England and then and then what a coincidence but like I went to the Australia 245 and then he also went to the London for 24 or5 so he told me like you're my daughter that's beautiful beautiful that's beautiful so yeah so that's why I think so I think that's why he always gave us the the DVD for the English because he wanted to learn English after that so maybe does your sister speak English oh yeah yeah yeah she does too yeah she's like also have the passion about speak English what about your mother maybe a little bit a little bit Yeah does your father speak English now yes I think so oh that's beautiful that is so good okay so you so you went you just let me see you finished high school but what were the subjects that you liked academically what kind of subjects Music and languages in school, dental hygienist certification, Nagoya, yoga uh like after the high school or no no you had you were good in sports but what kind of subjects did you like English you like English you said that you had a passion for English that's right yeah and then like a music class what kind of music what did you play um I'm like I don't know but maybe maybe do the instrumental or like uh we do sometimes like I don't know how to say in English but like we do the instrumental in the class recorder yeah yeah yeah yeah something like that recorder okay I like the kind of the things and then also but you never played piano no you ever play um like saxophone or anything like that I really wanted to but maybe in the future and then also um I'm not sure but like I really I liked that the history of Japan and then maybe that's it I didn't like the math and then oh ah yeah yeah yeah languages languages you love languages yeah yeah yeah that's it that's it that was it that was it that's it it okay so when you finished high school did you go into college uh kind of the college but like about license about uh dental hygienist yeah we have nice teeth so that's good oh thank you so I used to work at the dental clinic as a dental hygienist for a long time and then so I went to the College of the okay so you went Technical College just became a hygienist how was that two years two years at a time but right now I I think you have to go there like three years but your license is still good right yeah okay right do you want to do that you don't want to do that so much uh in the future because the then the h job it's quite a good I lik that because we can talk to the patient and I can see you know observe that like the people getting better and then it's not even in the mouth you know like they changed their personality and then also you know their life and then their like the habit of the you know meals or something yeah because it's healthy from like it's not just the only you know the mouth like you needed to you know get healthy like all of your body and then your te getting good so like they changed it a lot if you're like talking so much to them yeah and then I really liked that so maybe in the future yeah did you have many foreigners come in or were they mostly just Japanese uh but like when I like work at the Nagoya oh you Nya when you yeah yeah yeah I have like the other countries people sometimes but I really wanted to use my English more be like uh because at a time I came back from the Australia and then I really wanted to use my English but and then I went to Nagoya but like there's not like so many you know other countries people out there so and then that's why I came to Tokyo to to find a good job to use English so what did you find and then for the first I worked at the dental clinic at same as before and then we have like the other countries people's patient but I feel like I needed there some change and then I think I can go back to you know the dental hygienist after that so and then I start to yoga and then I feel like oh yoga is like more help the people and then like oh I needed to Yoga teaching license, happy outlook and mindfulness think like not only in the mouth like I just wanted to support them like you know everything like about their mind and then they're healthy and then they're flexible especially in Tokyo there's so many like options right so like people always have to think about about so many things and then I really wanted to make stop one time for yoga so after you finished being a hygienist then you decided to go into yoga yeah as um you know as a student for the first at the first but you were still a hygienist yeah yeah yeah out of okay so you did that so then you got your license as a yoga instructor did you leave Japan to do it or did you get it in Japan oh in here you got in Japan yeah okay so how long have you been doing yoga now um maybe from when I started as a student maybe maybe five or four something five or four years okay so the thing is I met you because of that because you're here you're teaching here at the American Club and you're teaching yoga but you had such a bright personality and I like that oh thank you and that made me feel like hm I would like to have someone like you to be on here to tell people what you're doing and why you stay so bright why do you think you stay so happy I've only met you twice now yeah yeah yeah so would what do you think makes you have that feeling of being happy um I think the yoga helps me a lot because like yoga is like more like you can connect with inner yourself and then I don't know why but like somehow after the yoga I feel like inside of me and then out outside of me is connected I don't know why but like and then I can be honest to me and then like I can tell from my desire or like my passion or my personalities like like I can feel like from my inside so like I can be honest it to myself and then like yeah and then I can believe myself so there's so many like a problems of course like each every person but um I don't think like oh I think like it's going to be all right everything okay so for example when I saw you had you when I saw you the other day had you already had a yoga class uhuh or was that your first class uh that day no but no yeah okay then why were you so happy uh cuz you hadn't put yourself together yet you didn't have your outside your inside together you were just happy and you were excited and you were you have your posture was good you look like you could have been a Dancer too so I didn't know what you were doing but I knew that you felt good about you okay so what made you feel that way okay I think sometimes like I don't do yoga Inner peace, building self-confidence and overcoming obstacles at all but like yoga is like kind of my you know habit for the daily so like like not the this effect after only you know done yoga or like something so so like like I think that's the important things to keep doing it and then like you can keep you're in a happy and then also like in a peace because you like keep doing it like even sometimes they don't do like I don't do yoga for a week or something but like I still have the habits to do so I know that like I'm going to do the yoga maybe next week or something so that thing keeps me like more you know happy and then also feel like the mindful kind of the things so yeah I'm trying to do the yoga every day but what kind of things do you see in your head to yourself to make yourself feel good because when you're a little kid there's one thing I do know psychologically because of your M when you're from first grade to 12 years old MH you're you're your emotions are built then MH so from that for you you are being told that you're different and you are feeling bad about yourself yeah okay so it's hard to change that so now you still might feel that sometimes when you see someone like you're in the store cuz you work at Lululemon and you see someone and they go kind of like this do you ever get that feeling sometimes like you did when you were a little girl no never uhhuh why what do you think what changed in your mind I think right now I have my self-confidence by myself because I done so many things and I have so many experiences and then I think I passed by the mountain so many times like it was sometime it was so hard for me and then sometimes oh I cannot yeah you know past this mountain but like I did it and then that changed to my confidence and then you know when I went to the Australia that was hard than I thought and then actually what was what was one of the things that you thought wo when you went to Australia um for the first time like I couldn't speak English at all so like I can't contact with others so like I always like talk like like more you know I can do right now but like more you know like a Japanese way so like it's so hard to say something to others and then that was a struggling and then because I cannot speak English so I don't have any good job out there so like it's kind of hard point yeah but like I met a lot of friend out there and then still keep in touch and then also my English is getting improved and then oh I think I can speak English right now so I have the confidence about myself and then yeah there's so many things kind of like that and then I passed the so many mountains now I feel like I can believe myself if someone like says to me like the the things that negative but sometimes I feel like oh I don't want to hear that but like it's okay because it's it doesn't matter to me so like yeah I can keep my the inner more stronger than before yeah because I like I have so many experiences maybe yeah that's so good so good so where do you see yourself going from now to the Future to the Future plans - yoga classes at hospitals, world travel, Africa Future uh right now like I have the passion about doing the yoga with so many kind of the people you know like um one is like around here so many the customers like Japanese and then English speakers people which is good to me because I really wanted to connect to them yeah and then also I wanted to have the class in maybe the hospital or something in the future because I think they needed to do yoga because their mind is maybe getting weak like you know before the surgery or like like they have the you know like some like a problem they inside not the outside I think yoga helps that the program but you have to say something to them don't you is it what they saying to themselves or just the body movement alone will help them yeah but I think um having at the class is good for them to do yoga with other people like you can do right like at the room by alone online right now but like uh yeah I really I prefer to do the the yoga class with the people and then like have a connection like each of the customer and then they feel like oh I'm not the alone right so yeah I want to do it at the hospital in the future I want to go travel where do you where where's some of the place you want to travel uh Southern place where Southern place anywhere Southern place like South America oh yeah I really want Africa oh yeah yeah yeah I have like Italy yeah yeah something like like the woman place okay you like the coal no not at all I like sunny days so yeah and then oh I want I really want to go to Africa someday really yeah because we're in Africa cuz Africa is the largest content yeah yeah what you want to go before I had like I supported the one kids in Africa for the donation and then she was in Kenya and then sometimes we do you know uh the I wrote the letter to her and then she sent me back and then she told me like oh thank you for the D like a support of us and I want to be the nurse in the future or something and then that you know things makes like feel so warm and then I wanted to help the people so that was kind of my good experiences and then right now like she graduated that the system because her family is got a job and then getting good right now so she graduate and then right now I donate um Tanzania so one girl and then she is still growing so and I really wanted to see like how they're like how they live out there and then yeah sometimes I saw the picture but there're so smiling even you know like hard like a vacation and a hard situation but feels so more happier than here so like I really want to know like what the the source of the the happiness of the African people yeah so I really want to go to the Africa oh that is so beautiful that's so beautiful I like that I haven't been to Africa yet but that's a place that I want to go to cuz I've had many ambassadors that are from Africa that are my friends Yoko I want to say this before I end the podcast I always ask this question uhhuh if you could go back in time mhm and meet the younger Yoko yeah and give her advice based upon what you know now mhm how old would she be and what advice would you give Advice to Ryoko in elementary school - express yourself and seek help her it's hard a question I think right now it's like like a two period one is like when I was elementary school that I had bullying a little bit and then I want to talk to myself like uh you can say anything like you can express yourself more to others because someone help help you so like at a time I couldn't like ask the help and then that was a hard time for me I still remember so like like I wanted to say yeah you can just say anything to others and then get a help at a time and then the second period is when I was in Australia at a time like I feel like I did so many challenging things but I think I could do more yeah so I don't have any regrets but like I think I could do more so and then I might like could be stay longer to study English so I wanted to save myself like you can do more but it's okay right now yeah but I want to thank you so much thank you thank you that was fun I want to thank all of you for watching or listening to this podcast and never forget it's all unnown so continue to reach for the stars because you are too blessed to be stressed [Music]