Tokyo Meditation Meetup

The Five Elements Pilgrimage Retreat in Yamanashi

Fri, Aug 28 · 7:30 AM JST

Shinjuku, Tokyo, JP

Waterfall meditation, sacred mountain hiking, temple stay, and digital detox August 28–30

Join us for a 2-night, 3-day retreat in the mountains of Minobu, Yamanashi, a journey through meditation, waterfall practice, hiking, temple stay, and pilgrimage. This retreat is an invitation to step away from constant doing and reconnect with nature, yourself, and each other.

Over three days, we’ll stay at the beautiful temple lodging of Kakurinbo, practice meditation together, visit a mountain waterfall for cleansing and contemplation, and hike up sacred Mount Shichimen, 1,989 meters, to spend the night at a temple high in the mountains.

We’ll use the Five Elements, Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Space, as a loose framework for exploring presence in the body, heart, mind, and natural world. Expect a full crash course in mindfulness, guided meditation, silence, journaling, time in nature, and plenty of space to let go.

The hike up Mount Shichimen is challenging, around 5–6 hours uphill, so this retreat is best for people with a decent level of fitness and some comfort with hiking.

🔍 Details:

• Location: Kakurinbo Temple, Yamanashi
• Date: Friday August 28th - Sunday August 30th
• Price: 64,000 yen early bird (round trip bus transportation included)
• To RSVP, please hit RSVP on Meetup and fill out the screening form. For new retreat attendees, I ask for a short 15-minute call beforehand to make sure this is the right retreat for you. Message me directly to set this up.

🗓️ Brief Overview of Schedule:

1. Friday, August 28 We’ll leave Shinjuku by bus in the morning and arrive in Minobu around lunchtime. After lunch, we’ll begin with a crash course in mindfulness of the body, heart, and mind. In the evening, we’ll have dinner, onsen, and a candle meditation.
2. Saturday, August 29 We’ll wake up early for waterfall meditation, then begin the pilgrimage hike up sacred Mount Shichimen. The hike takes around 5–6 hours. We’ll spend the night at a temple high in the mountains.
3. Sunday, August 30 We’ll wake up for sunrise, hike back down the mountain, return to Kakurinbo, reflect, journal, close the retreat, enjoy the onsen, and take the bus back to Shinjuku at 3:30pm.

🧘‍♂️🥾 What’s Included:

• Guided meditations and mindfulness instruction
• Full mindfulness crash course
• Waterfall meditation
• Sacred Mount Shichimen pilgrimage hike
• 2 nights of temple lodging, Kakurinbo and the mountain temple
• Shared rooms, usually with 1–2 people of the same sex
• 4 vegetarian meals, including Saturday lunch bento
• Round-trip bus transportation from Shinjuku
• Onsen
• Meditation cushions
• Digital detox, we’ll collect phones on the first day
• Periods of silence during meditation practice

❌ Not Included:

• Friday lunch and Sunday lunch
• Extra food/drinks
• Travel insurance

💳 Price & How to RSVP:
72,000 yen

• Please RSVP on meetup
• Fill out this form
• Make your payment directly by bank transfer at this link here or by credit card here

Rooms are spacious and shared with 1-2 attendees of the same sex.
***For new retreat attendees, I ask for a short 15-minute call beforehand to make sure this is the right retreat for you. Message me directly to set this up.

Refund Policy:
Full refund up to 7 days before the retreat.
50% refund if you cancel 3–6 days before.
No refund with less than 3 days notice.

📍Getting there & back:
Meet at the Shinjuku Expressway Bus terminal at 7:20 am on Friday August 28th. Directions are here. Arrive on time – or early, to be safe!

We will take the Shinjuku expressway bus Shinjuku to Minobu-san at 745am on August 28th, arriving at 11:30am. It’s about a 3 hour 20 minute bus ride (there is a bathroom on board and we make one stop on the way).

We leave from Minobu san back to Shinjuku at 330pm on Sunday August 30th, arriving at Shinjuku around 730pm. I will get your roundtrip ticket once you confirm your RSVP and pay.

🧳 What to bring:

• Comfortable hiking shoes
• Warm layers, hoodie, sweater, etc.
• Comfortable clothes for meditation
• Hat or beanie
• Water bottle, at least 1 liter
• Flashlight or headlamp
• Small towel for waterfall practice
• Rain jacket or light waterproof layer
• Journal and pen
• An open heart, or at least a mildly curious one

📩 Questions?
Message Misha on Meetup directly or email at misha@tokyomindfulness.com

👤 About your teacher:
Misha Yurchenko is a Tokyo-based certified, trauma-informed meditation teacher with 10+ years of experience. He has spent time on retreat around the world and practiced a range of techniques. After experiencing extreme burnout from his venture-funded startup, he founded Tokyo Mindfulness and is dedicated to helping others break free from themselves. He takes an integrated and practical approach combining meditation, breathwork, and nervous system healing to help people let go of the ego, release old habit patterns and find inner freedom. He is the author of Beyond Calm and lives in Nerima with his family.

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The Art of Connection: A Five Session Course

Tue, Sep 1 · 6:30 PM JST

Location not specified yet

A five-session hybrid course in emotional fluidity, honest relating, and deeper connection. See the full description here and apply here.

***Deadline to Register is August 27th!***

The Art of Connection is a five-session highly experiential course designed to help you feel your emotions, connect with yourself and connect with others in a deep way. This is part in person and part online.

I'm really excited to share this with you. I've basically taken some of the most powerful healing and connection practices that I know and included them. What's special about it is that there's a lot of pair/group practice, and on top of it you'll also be talking to a buddy on a weekly basis, to practice and deepen connection. It's the first time I am hosting the course, so it's a bit of a "pilot," and would love for you to be part of it.

This is a closed cohort rather than a drop-in series. Please join only if you can make a sincere commitment to attending all five sessions.

📍 Course Details

• Dates: Five sessions total. September 1 (in person), 8, 17, 24, and 29 (in person), 2026.
• Length: Online session are 90 minutes and in person session are 2.5 hours.
• In-person location: YCC 代々木八幡コミュニティーセンター, Yoyogi-Hachiman
• Online location: Zoom
• Price: ¥46,000
• Group size: Limited to 15 participants
• Application: This event is by application only. Fill out this form here to start your application.

🌿 What We’ll Explore

We’ll learn through guided practices, partner work, small groups, reflection, and real conversation. The course draws from mindfulness, nervous-system awareness, somatic work, chair work, the Drama Triangle, Focusing, and Authentic Relating.

The aim is to develop emotional fluidity: the ability to feel what is here, understand what it may be asking for, and respond with greater compassion and choice.

• Session 1 — Welcome What Is
• Session 2 — Becoming Your Own Compassionate Witness
• Session 3 — The Stories and Roles That Run Us
• Session 4 — Truth With Care
• Session 5 — From Pattern to Presence

🤝 Between Sessions
You’ll be paired with another participant for a structured 30–45-minute buddy conversation between sessions.

You’ll also receive:

• One small weekly experiment to try in daily life
• An optional reading
• A short video, audio, or podcast

✨ This Course May Be for You If

• You understand yourself intellectually but still repeat familiar patterns
• You want more honest, meaningful, and boundaried relationships
• You’re interested in mindfulness, psychology, somatic awareness, parts work, or Authentic Relating
• You want direct experience and practice rather than another lecture-heavy course

You do not need previous experience with any of these approaches. You do need a willingness to participate honestly, respect your own limits, and engage in paired and small-group practices.

🚫 Who This Is Not For

It may not be the right fit if you do not want to participate in partner practices, are currently experiencing an acute mental-health crisis, or need a level of individualized therapeutic support that a group course cannot safely provide.

🙏 RSVP and Commitment

To apply for the course, please RSVP on meetup and then fill out this form. Once approved, I will send you a payment link to complete your RSVP.

Please be thoughtful about registering. The trust, depth, and continuity of the group depend on participants showing up consistently and contributing to the space we create together.

By joining, you are committing to:

• Attending all five sessions as fully as possible
• Participating respectfully in paired and group practices
• Approaching the course with a willingness to be open and appropriately vulnerable
• Respecting your own boundaries and the boundaries of others
• Maintaining confidentiality
• Completing the short buddy calls between sessions
• Letting the organizer know as early as possible if something changes

Vulnerability will never mean being pressured to share more than feels right. Every exercise is an invitation, and you may pause, modify, or pass at any time.

🌱 About Your Teacher

Misha Yurchenko is a Tokyo-based certified, trauma informed mindfulness teacher, an Aletheia-trained somatic coach, and the founder of Tokyo Mindfulness.

After experiencing burnout while running a venture-funded startup, he began exploring why meditation could create calm while leaving deeper emotional and relational patterns unchanged. That inquiry eventually led him to write Beyond Calm: Why Meditation Is Not Enough—and How to Heal the Patterns That Shape Your Inner World.

His approach is practical, warm, and experiential, combining mindfulness, nervous-system awareness, somatic work, attachment theory, parts work, Focusing, and relational practice. He lives in Nerima with his family.

💌 Stay Connected
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🌲 Hike & Meditate in Nature: Ome Trail

Sun, Sep 6 · 8:40 AM JST

Shinjuku Station, 3-chōme-38-1 Shinjuku, Shinjuku City, Tokyo, JP

We meet at 8:45am at Shinjuku station Sunday, Sep 6th!

Hey all 🌞 It’s a beautiful time to get together, hike, and meditate in nature. This time we’ll be on one of my favorite trails—the Ome Hills Hiking Course, just 1.5 hours from Shinjuku.

🌿 What we'll be doing:

Many of us have forgotten how to truly listen, feel, and sense the natural world—and why it’s vital to our humanity. Unlike being indoors, meditating in the wild lets you use all of your senses and the living environment itself as a support for presence.

I’ll guide:

• Short nature-based meditations
• Somatic practices (mindful movement, breath, body awareness)
• Group sharing to integrate the experience

This is an easy-to-moderate hike, about 3 hours total, with a stop for bento lunch and meditation. Optional onsen after 🛁

🚫 Digital Detox:

This is a phone-free experience. Please plan to be offline for a few hours. I’ll carry phones in a locked bag and take a few photos for everyone, so you can fully drop into presence.

🕑 The schedule:

• 8:45 am – Meet at Shinjuku Station, South Exit Gate (新宿駅南口). Look for the flower shop (Here's a picture) in front across from a small konbini—I’ll be wearing a black cowboy hat OR a white baseball cap, depending on how I'm feeling that day 🤠
• 9:07 am – Train departs
• 10:00 am – Arrive at Ome and begin hike
• 1:00 pm – Lunch (bring your own bento) + guided meditation & sharing
• ~3:00 pm – Finish hike
• 5:00–6:00 pm – Back in Tokyo
• Optional: Onsen at Kabe Station (2 stops away) before heading home

💴 Price: 3,000 yen. Please bring cash or paypay.

🎒What to bring:

• Comfortable walking shoes 👟
• Warm jacket 🧥
• Water bottle 💧
• Blanket (optional for sitting)
• Your own bento + snacks 🍱
• Hat / sunscreen 🧢
• Change of clothes (if joining onsen)
• A smile 🙂

📞 Contact
If you have any issues day-of, call me at 090-8013-7249. See you then!

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Connection Retreat — Half Day in Tokyo

Wed, Sep 23 · 1:00 PM JST

Nerima Lifetime Education Center, 6 Chome-8-1 Toyotamakita, Nerima City, Tokyo 176-0012, Tokyo, JP

If you’ve enjoyed our eye contact and mindfulness events, I’m excited to invite you to a half day of practices to connect at a deeper level on Sep 23rd (autumn equinox/national holiday)!

This is a chance to slow down, let go of fixing, practice being rather than doing, discover more about yourself, and connect with others in a more honest and meaningful way.

We’ll move through a variety of experiential practices, with some short explanations along the way. I’ll also provide a handout so you can take the ideas and practices into your relationships, friendships, work, and daily life.

No prior experience is required — just a willingness to be present, try something a little outside your comfort zone, and share honestly.

📍 Details:

• Location: Location: Nerima Life Center — large tatami room, second floor
• Time: 1:00–6:30 PM (please arrive at 1230pm for check in)
• Cost: ¥5,000 (cash or paypay on the day of)
• Max: 30 people

👁️ What we’ll do

• Eye contact
• Gratitude practice
• Compassion Chair exercise
• Mirroring practices
• Authentic conversation
• Mindfulness meditation
• And more

🫶 Agreements
Please read the group agreements beforehand. These help us create a space where everyone can participate at their own pace and feel respected.

🎒 What to bring

• A snack
• Water bottle
• Comfortable clothes
• Journal and pen, if you’d like to take notes

🌱 About your guide
Misha Yurchenko is a Tokyo-based certified, trauma-informed meditation teacher with 10+ years of experience. He has spent time on retreat around the world and practiced a range of techniques, including a 2-year training with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach.

After experiencing extreme burnout from his venture-funded startup, he founded Tokyo Mindfulness to help people slow down, reconnect with themselves, and work with the
deeper patterns beneath stress, striving, and self-judgment.

His approach is practical and integrated, combining meditation, breathwork, nervous system awareness, and inner healing work.. He is the author of Beyond Calm and lives in Nerima with his family.

💌 Stay Connected
Join our Substack community to get updated with new events, talk to other members and get access to exclusive content.