Catrien Ross on Hitting Your Target at Full Gallop – Personal Growth Inspiration from Samurai Horse Archers at Mount Fuji

Saturday, May 1st, 2010 - 64 Comments

If hitting your target presents a constant challenge, how about aiming from horseback, at full gallop?


Almost 1,500 years ago, Japanese samurai began perfecting the form of horseback archery known as yabusame (yah-boo-sah-meh).

On this sun-after-rain afternoon, beneath a glistening, snow-capped Mount Fuji, I join the yabusame festival my rural community has celebrated for over nine centuries.

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Catrien Ross on Getting Unstuck By Gently Letting Go

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 - 56 Comments



When Gail Brenner at A Flourishing Life invited me to take part in her collaborative blog project I felt honored and thrilled to accept.

The result is four women bloggers – three in the US and myself in Japan – each sharing our thoughts today on “Getting Unstuck.”

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Catrien Ross on Finding 9 Powerful Meanings in Your Smile When You Don’t Feel Like Smiling

Saturday, April 10th, 2010 - 54 Comments

Have you encountered a rough period when smiling seems almost impossible?

I just did.

Something here in Japan knocked the smile out of my life for several days.

So engulfing was the personal trauma I found it hard to sense even the slightest hint of brightness.

I lost my smile.

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Catrien Ross on Reviving Your Passion and Purpose in Spring Vibrations from Japan

Monday, March 15th, 2010 - 55 Comments

I heard once that birdsong in spring stimulates tree buds to swell into opening.

How about you?

Are you alert to the vibrations reviving your passion and purpose?

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Catrien Ross on Blasting Mount Fuji to Bits – Does Live-Fire Artillery Count As a Spiritual Distraction?

Friday, March 5th, 2010 - 60 Comments

Dear Reader-Friends:

As I write this blog post, live-fire artillery is blasting Mount Fuji to bits.

Rocket bursts explode the calm of this early March morning.

Even at more than 30 kilometers distance, the earth here shudders.

Windows in my mountain minka rattle.

Blasts reverberate through its ancient beams.

The eyes of my dogs and cats reflect alarm, but they no longer express terror as they once did.

Like me, they have grown accustomed to this frequent disruption of country life rhythms.

For the fifteen years we have lived here, every year, several months a year, the cultural symbol of Japan, revered as Fuji-san, has been blasting to bits in our ears.

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