Life in Kyoto’s Countryside | Farm Work, Hidden Shrines, Peaceful Days 🎐

I am back in one of the places I love the most. A place not many visit and many don't know of. A very different side of Japan that I feel very fortunate to experience. If you're new here, I am on my way to a rice farm I worked on for a little while last year. The farmer Misuta-san became a dear friend of mine, so I became lucky enough to be able to visit here from time to time. I went on many adventures once again, from Ghibli-like bike tours to exploring forgotten shrines. But before we start, I want to introduce everyone to you. We start our days on the fields. This time I'm accompanied by my good friend Katrin and a lovely family who have been doing some work and travel on this farm. Time here moves so much slower. When I reflect on my problems in the city, they seem so much less significant. If you're curious to see what we plant and harvest on this farm, I will come back to this a bit later in the video. Let me show you a bit more of this beautiful area first. I always dreamed about riding a bike in the countryside and today I will be able to fulfill this wish because we're gonna do a little bike tour. We are near Ayabe, a town in the north of Kyoto. Misuta-san told me that streets here once were flourishing, but now it transformed to a very quiet place with just some farmers remaining. My absolute dream. We're riding through the countryside, going to a wonderful shrine that Misuta-san recommended us to visit. Oh, it's going up. Hello everyone, we are on our way to go to the shrine. And yeah, it's quite going up a hill and inside the mountain. So let's hope we don't meet a bear. I'll talk to you when we arrived. It's not the right path because here it looks quiet. Okay, let's find out. I like to visit shrines wherever I visit in Japan. They always have their own unique mysterious energy. This one felt like it had been waiting rather than forgotten. According to a legend, special persimmon trees like this one used for offerings would bear fruit in unusual ways such as producing fruit at unexpected times or in remarkable forms. These persimmons were treated as sacred offerings to the gods. Whenever I visit such sacred grounds, I like to collect a blessing for my journey and here I received a very special one. As I mentioned before, I'm planning a YouTube series right now which I'm very excited about but I'm also honestly quite overwhelmed by it. Between my regular work and all the planning, I caught myself scrolling on social media a lot because my brain thinks that this will give me a break but this actually does quite the opposite and brings me into kind of like a brain rot state and afterwards I feel so much more drained. Being back in the Kyoto countryside really helped because it reminded me that it's okay to slow down but I'm very aware that I can't rely on change of scenery to fix my mental well-being. When I notice that I want to distract myself with my phone, I instead click on the Headspace app. Lately I've been doing a breathing exercise called Breathe with a Flower which really fits the scenery. It totally brings me out of that desire to distract myself and brings me back into the moment. As I mentioned in many videos, I really struggle with sleeping especially in these busy seasons. So what really helped me as well are their sleeping podcasts. They have these beautiful visualization exercises with calming ambient sounds that really help me unwind at night. My personal favorite is Harvest Inn so let's listen to it. Enjoying that feeling of having stopped, of having nothing left to do. Watching as the muscles in the body switch off for the night. Leaving the body feeling rested and leaving the mind more at ease. Five minutes of Headspace mindfulness exercises are proven to reduce stress so I really recommend giving Headspace a try to reset your mind. You can try Headspace for free for 60 days. Just use the link in my description or the QR code on screen. It's my first time to see sakura in the countryside. Misuta-san recommended us to go to the local elementary school since it's closed for the holidays. While I love seeing sakura in Kyoto city as well there's something very special about experiencing the season in the countryside. Gigantic sakura trees standing lonely and still. Inviting you to sit under and appreciate their beauty. It feels ridiculous to have it all to ourselves. But we did and so we enjoyed every second of it. Even though this is the middle of the Japanese countryside there are a few shops that provide amazing meals. In my last video about this place I visited this restaurant and ever since I've been dreaming about eating here again. Their homemade noodles are so chewy with a broth full of flavor that goes along perfectly with the fresh tempura. We are now at my favorite udon shop. But it's really really good. They have handmade noodles and it's very good dashi, very delicious. We have chikuwa, konnyaku, gobo, shiitake. It is early spring in the Japanese countryside. It is time for new beginnings. But before the rice can be planted in the water fields it has to grow its first delicate seedlings. Which doesn't mean we don't get to harvest anything yet. If you have seen my previous videos about my time here you might remember that we planted some negi that are now ready to be enjoyed. We also got to harvest some fresh shiitake mushrooms. They need to grow for around two years so harvesting and eating them felt very precious. What is interesting is that when we look back on our lives I think many of us remember the special moments. Moments where we felt good or bad emotions. When we experienced life deeply. I'm pretty sure you can't remember most of the days you spend in front of the laptop. They just meld together to an unconscious gray. Moments like this stand out in vibrant colors and continue to do so when I look back in many years. This makes very clear to me what truly matters. It is often not about the complexity and grandness of a situation but how present we are. I think this is what we should practice and teach the next generation. So many of us are trying to create a meaningful life but what if it's not about the things we accomplish but how deep we live today. We started our day on the fields planting some little crops that's always so beautiful. And as you can tell there's no sound here other than the animals and the trees. I can only tell you what we are doing because honestly I have no words to describe how calm I feel and also how much I enjoy these moments and how precious they are to me. With this in mind I want to end today's video. If you want to reset and recharge check out Headspace with a link in my description or the QR code on screen. Thank you so much for watching. I hope to see you again. Goodbye.