Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

Kristin: Hey, AJ, how’s it going?

AJ: Hey, going well, how are you?

Kristin: Pretty good. What’s up?

AJ: Oh not much…uh…

Kristin: Well, I’m calling you to ask you about your Shikoku trip. You never told me about it.

AJ: Oh yeah, yeah…it was…wow, it was an amazing experience. It’s hard to, y’know, to summarize the
whole thing but it was just incredible. So, y’know, for one month, of course, Tomoe and I were just
walking around the island of Shikoku. And, of course, you know it’s in Japan.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: And so, of course, it was a pilgrimage. So it’s an ancient pilgrimage route that is over 1,000 years
old. So for over 1,000 years Japanese people have been doing this pilgrimage route. And it, what it is, is
it’s 88 different temples.

Kristin: These are…didn’t you tell me before you went, it’s a Buddhist pilgrimage, right?

AJ: It is, it’s a Buddhist pilgrimage although, y’know, in Japan they love to combine religions or disregard
religion, so…

Kristin: Oh, okay.

AJ: …y’know, a lot of the people we met doing the pilgrimage, y’know, if you asked them are you
Buddhists? A lot of them weren’t even Buddhists. And there’s a lot of Shinto shrines that are like next to
the Buddhist temples. So everyone had their own reasons for doing it.

Kristin: Okay.

AJ: But basically, it’s, y’know, you…well, now in modern day a lot of the people, y’know, modern people
just take buses to visit all the 88 temples and they can do that in like 10 days. But the traditional way to
do it, and in my opinion the powerful way to do it is that you walk it. And that can take anywhere from 30
to 60 days.

Kristin: Oh, wow.

1
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

AJ: Yeah, it’s very long. You’re going up and down mountains. And you’re walking all around this…it
was a gigantic island, huge.

Kristin: Mm-hm, mm-hm.

AJ: It’s, it’s really, really powerful. And, y’know, traditionally all the pilgrims would wear white because, I
finally, I read and found out why, because white is the funeral color, the color of someone going to a
funeral or to be buried traditionally.

Kristin: Oh.

AJ: And the reason they did this is that long, long ago this was such a dangerous route that many of the
pilgrims died while doing it. And so by wearing white it’s kind of symbolic saying that I will, I will finish this
or die trying.

Kristin: Uh-huh. Oh interesting.

AJ: Yeah, very interesting.

Kristin: So did you guys wear white?

AJ: We did wear white and we didn’t die luckily, so… We did, we wore white and we walked most of it.
There were a couple of sections where we took buses because they were just long sections that were on
highways, walking next to roads and busy traffic. So we decided to skip some of those parts but for the
most part we did a lot of walking. We walked most of it.

Kristin: What was your favorite stretch would you say?

AJ: I would say that there wasn’t one particular stretch, but there tend to be three kinds of things we
would go through, so…there, there, it went through the four major cities of Shikoku.

Kristin: Mm-hm.

AJ: So there were kind of city sections.

Kristin: Uh-huh.

2
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

AJ: And then there were countryside sections, what I would call countrysides, which were mostly like rice
farms, orange orchards, things like that.

Kristin: Oh, nice.

AJ: Yeah, very nice. And then the other ones were the mountains and kind of almost wilderness
sections where you would go up into these mountains and bamboo groves. So definitely my favorite
parts were the mountains and the bamboo groves where you really got way out in nature and away from
most modern things. And it was pretty magical.

Kristin: Yeah, sounds like it.

AJ: Yeah, it was…it was fantastic. In fact, I’d say overall the whole trip was magical for a number of
reasons. One of the things was just the simplicity of it. I mean, all day long all you do is you wake up
really early, I mean we were getting up at like 6:00 in the morning or so. And then we would just walk and
walk and walk, hours and hours and hours, y’know. Then eat lunch, then walk some more. You walk all
day long basically.

Kristin: Like how many miles?

AJ: It would depend on the terrain, but, I don’t know, we did anywhere from 12 to 18 miles a day.

Kristin: Wow, that’s a lot.

AJ: Yeah, it was a lot…kilometers, I’m not sure what that would be. But basically we would be walking,
y’know, 8 or more hours a day.

Kristin: Uh-huh.

AJ: With little, y’know, with backpacks on. So it was amazing. And, too, the other thing about it is
there’s really a camaraderie, a connectedness between all the people who were doing this as walkers,
because you end up meeting the same people again. A lot of times you spend the night at the temple.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: And then you meet people that you passed on the road. And then you have dinner together at the
temple. And then you’ll see them the next day or see them at the next temple where you spend the night.

Kristin: Uh-huh.

3
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

AJ: So, y’know, and these are special people doing this, not the average person doesn’t just go and,
y’know, walk for 30 or 40 or 50 days, so really interesting people, really intelligent, thoughtful people that
we met.

Kristin: Yeah, it sounds like a, a trip that has a deeper purpose.

AJ: Yeah, exactly. It’s not…it’s not tourism, y’know, you’re not going to just go see a bunch of sights.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: It’s really about, in fact, I would say, y’know, the walking itself, the journey between the temples, was
really more important than the temples. I mean the temples were nice, y’know; that gives a kind of focus
to your day.

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: Okay, we’re going to this temple and then to this temple. But the real magical part of it was just
slowing down, having this simple life. Taking in the surrounding countryside and, y’know, meeting the
other pilgrims and also, too, there’s just a lot of great hospitality from people living in those areas.

Kristin: Oh, really?

AJ: Yeah, we met so many friendly people. People would just run up and give us, y’know, some food.
Give us some oranges or want to help us out, really it was fantastic, a lot of great hospitality from the
Japanese people and on that whole island.

Kristin: Uh-huh. Yeah, that sounds really inspiring.

AJ: It was, it was very inspiring. It really was a great, I would say pattern break, broke all my old habits
and patterns. And I just found myself just flooded with creativity during this thing. I just started getting all
these amazing ideas and really getting a lot of incredible insights about my life, and, y’know, what I
wanted to do with the rest of my life. So really a lot of inspiration, it was fantastic.

Kristin: Did you figure out the rest of your life, on that one trip?

AJ: I don’t know if I figured out the rest of my life but I did figure out kind of…got a clear, clear vision of
sort of the purpose and mission that I want for the rest of my life, or at least for the next, y’know, 5 to 10
years.

4
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

Kristin: Uh-huh.

AJ: A lot more clarity about that, a lot more power and motivation about that, really, really great. And
also, too, I’d just got in great shape physically…

Kristin: Yeah, I bet.

AJ: …I mean, you’re walking 8 to 10 hours a day, certainly you end up getting into fantastic physical
shape. I mean that’s…that was one of the big effects, actually of the whole trip, was that I got into such
top shape. And I just, it kind of gave me a ton of momentum. And from there I decided, one of the things
I decided after that trip, was I’m going to finally just raise my standard of excellence for health. And I’m
not going to settle for just having good health, that I’m going to demand, y’know, the best possible health
and fitness for myself, super health.

Kristin: Mm-hm.

AJ: Amazing energy, incredibly longevity hopefully, barring any accidents. So, and so that started that
process and now, y’know, my health just keeps getting better and better and better. I’ve got a ton of
momentum with that and really excited about it.

Kristin: Cool!

AJ: Yeah, so I hope to share all of that. I’m going to become a health nazi and…I already was one a bit,
now I’m a lot. And I’m going to start, y’know, sharing these things. Of course, I’ve already been sharing
them with you. But, y’know, with Joe, Tomoe is already doing it, and then, of course, with all of our
members, too. I just want to help. There’s so many people who are so unhealthy. Or people who think
that they are healthy but they just don’t realize, y’know? They think that they’re normal. Well normal
sucks now. Nowadays people who have normal health, that means that they’re kind of tired a little bit.
They’re really not so healthy. They just have learned to settle for an average feeling of energy. And you
don’t even realize it until you start getting true health that wow, before I really wasn’t feeling that great.

Kristin: Mm-hm, mm-hm.

AJ: So, anyway, that’s…that’s one of my new crusades.

Kristin: Do you think that you were physically up to the walk?

5
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

AJ: Y’know, yeah, I was, although I must say I trained for it. And still I found that the first week was
tough. Part of the problem was when I was training for this, these long walks, I wasn’t training with a big
heavy backpack.

Kristin: Right.

AJ: And so I, in fact, one of the first things that…one of the first adjustments I made was on the, on the
first day I had this backpack and I thought it was light and I thought I’d only packed a minimal amount of
stuff. Well after day one, I went through it all again and I got rid of about half of my stuff and mailed it
back to Tomoe’s parents because you quickly realize what you truly need when you have to carry
everything.

Kristin: Uh-huh.

AJ: We all become little packrats in modern day life. It’s so easy, we just keep gathering all this stuff and
we think we need it all. But when you do a trip like this and you actually have to carry everything,
suddenly you become kind of ruthless and mercenary about, okay, I don’t actually need that. And you cut
it, y’know, you cut it down to only the bare essentials.

Kristin: Right, right.

AJ: And that’s a great way to live. I like that simplicity. It just…it’s, and when you simplify your life you
just make everything easier in your life. And it’s actually a feeling of greater abundance. It’s a paradox
but it’s true.

Kristin: Mm-hm. Well, AJ, I would say that after, after listening to you talk about the whole pilgrimage,
it’s really inspired me to do something like that, the next trip I go on.

AJ: I highly recommend it, y’know, having a deeper purpose to any trip that you’re going to take.

Kristin: Yeah.

AJ: It doesn’t always have to be a pilgrimage, but, y’know, something. It really makes for a more
inspiring trip.

Kristin: Yeah, I think so, too.

AJ: Alrighty, well I need to get going so I guess I’ll… I’ll just talk to you later.

6
Shikoku – Conversation Lesson

Kristin: Okay, alright bye.

AJ: Okay, see ya. Bye.

7
 “You will speak ENGLISH powerfully
and fluently using my EFFORTLESS
ENGLISH system”
-AJ Hoge

..the author of “Effortless English: Learn To Speak Like A Native”

..host of “The Effortless English Show” with over 40 million downloads worldwide.
..trainer of corporate leaders, government officials, and most importantly people like you to speak English successfully.
..creator of the Effortless English teaching system and the highly successful Power English course.

Imagine the best new ideas and research from experts all
over the world used in a totally new kind of English
lesson. Wouldn’t that be exciting? You have never used
English lessons like these!

Learn Naturally and Playfully Like a Child

Never Study Grammar Rules
Learn With Your Ears, Not Your Eyes
Learn Spoken Grammar With Fun Stories
Learn Actively By Answering Simple Questions
Emotional Lessons That are Memorable
 “You will speak ENGLISH powerfully
and fluently using my EFFORTLESS
ENGLISH system”
-AJ Hoge

..the author of “Effortless English: Learn To Speak Like A Native”

..host of “The Effortless English Show” with over 40 million downloads worldwide.
..trainer of corporate leaders, government officials, and most importantly people like you to speak English successfully.
..creator of the Effortless English teaching system and the highly successful Power English course.

Imagine the best new ideas and research from experts all
over the world used in a totally new kind of English
lesson. Wouldn’t that be exciting? You have never used
English lessons like these!

Learn Naturally and Playfully Like a Child

Never Study Grammar Rules
Learn With Your Ears, Not Your Eyes
Learn Spoken Grammar With Fun Stories
Learn Actively By Answering Simple Questions
Emotional Lessons That are Memorable