By SHEILA YONEMOTO, P.T.
I truly believe that you have to find happiness every day, maybe every hour, maybe every moment. What a treasure that would be! Could you even imagine what that would feel like?
I also believe that the little details in life matter. It keeps you in the moment, it shows you care, it sets you apart and it can make you happy.
I think about the lecture I heard at the Walt Disney Concert Hall from Frank Geary, who designed it. George and Sakaye Aratani, the founders of Mikasa Chinaware, helped to bring a gagaku troupe from Japan that had connections to the original gagaku troupe from a thousand years ago.
Gagaku is the oldest written music in the world, written by upper-echelon Japanese connected to the royal court. It was their idea of what you would hear in heaven.
Frank Geary learned about gagaku at UCLA when a grand master came to demonstrate this music. Geary was studying architecture at USC during that time, and much of the architecture he was studying was Japanese. When he walked into the class, he was given two mallets to hit a small gong with the instructions to “hit, breathe, hit, breathe…” He thought the music would be “sanitizing” but was surprised by the state that it put him in and claims that the experience changed his architecture forever.
The gagaku troupe also commented that the hall felt like home and that it was built specifically for them. There were over 20 of them and they wore brocaded outfits, looking like a display set up for Girls’ Day in Japan.
I will always remember how the music put me into an altered state and how the applause sounded like gentle rain falling.
Who can predict which moment or event will impact your life in a profound way? Perhaps it would be wise to be open to amazing possibilities that could happen at any moment.
Sheila Yonemoto, P.T., has been a physical therapist for more than 40 years, specializing in integrative manual therapy, utilizing a holistic approach. She can be reached at Yonemoto Physical Therapy, 55 S. Raymond Ave., Suite 100, Alhambra, CA 91801. She also offers a qigong “Chinese energy” exercise class. Your first class is free. Call (626) 576-0591 for more information or visit www.yonemoto.com. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.