Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

Hi, this is AJ, one of the teachers of Learn Real English. And let me talk to you today about this Shikoku
conversation. Of course, in the conversation I was talking about my experience during my pilgrimage, my
one-month pilgrimage, my one-month journey in Japan, on the island of Shikoku, Japan. So this was a
really powerful experience for me. And I think you maybe heard in the conversation, you got some ideas
of some of the different ways that it was powerful.

I mean it was powerful in the sense that I feel like it gave me a lot of creativity and opened up my
creativity again. A lot of new ideas came to me. It was powerful in the sense that it boosted and
benefitted my health and fitness. And that was a trend that was an improvement that has continued and
has grown since the trip. I mean really, on so many different levels, it helped my relationship with Tomoe.
It’s hard for me to really just identify one thing or one main idea that…or one main benefit…that came
from that because there were so many things on so many different levels. And see that is the power of a
pilgrimage.

Now, traditionally, a pilgrimage was a religious kind of trip. So, for example, in Islam still today there is
the tradition of making the pilgrimage to Mecca. And most people are familiar with this… that you are
supposed to, as a good Muslim, if possible, if you can do it, sometime in your lifetime, to make the trip to
Mecca. And this is a spiritual or religious journey, right? And it’s not just tourism ideally. There’s a
deeper meaning to that trip. It’s not just go and see some sights like a normal tourist and then go home
and take some pictures, right? There’s a deeper purpose to that trip, to that journey.

Well, most religions through history have had some kind of pilgrimage. There’s some famous, very
famous, very old stories by Chaucer that were about the pilgrimage in England back in the middle ages.
People would go…it’s called Canterbury Tales…and there was a tradition where, of course, they were
Christians at that point, that would have to make the pilgrimage, the journey. And, of course, they were
on foot walking to various religious sites in England. I’m not sure exactly, I think they went to
Westminster Abbey, but I’m not sure, to be honest.

But there was still that tradition. There’s still, in Spain, there is a very famous pilgrimage. It’s a Christian
pilgrimage. And thousands and thousands of people do it every year. Again, traditionally done on foot,
starting usually somewhere in France and then walking into Spain and across Spain. Buddhism, of
course, has these. Hinduism has these. So that’s the traditional meaning of the word pilgrimage, a
religious or spiritual journey. However nowadays it really has a more even general meaning. It doesn’t
have to be specific to a religion.

Like sometime you might hear someone talk about, for example, a writer’s pilgrimage. What would that
be? That would be a journey that a writer would take, someone who’s a writer. Maybe, maybe visiting
the famous sites of their famous writers, for example, a lot of American writers would make a pilgrimage
to Paris, especially maybe 50 years ago or more. Hemingway did this. Jack Kerouac did this. A lot of

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Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

famous American writers, Fitzgerald did this, where they went to Paris and they lived in Paris for a while
and they just wrote. And they really developed themselves as writers.

And so the more very general meaning of this word, pilgrimage, now is really a journey, a trip, a journey
with a deep purpose. It might be a deep artistic purpose. It might be a deep spiritual purpose, a deep
emotional purpose. But the idea is that this trip is going to transform you somehow. It’s going to change
you internally somehow. You’re going to grow as a result of this trip. You’re going to learn. You’re going
to become a better human being in some way. That’s the idea of a pilgrimage.

And so in this coaching video I want to encourage you to make some kind of pilgrimage, to plan and
make a pilgrimage. Now, your pilgrimage does not have to be one month long if that’s not possible
because of your job or family or whatever. It could be a weekend. I often will imagine this idea of a
pilgrimage. And when I need a break, when I feel like I’m not feeling very creative, my energy’s kind of
low. I’ve been really stressed. Or I’m in a rut, in a rut just means doing the same thing every day, again
and again and again.

When I feel like I really need to grow, I’m not really growing enough, I will often take a trip. But not just a
sightseeing tourist trip but a trip with a deeper purpose. The Shikoku one was a very big one. It was,
y’know, over 30 days. The whole trip in Japan was two months. And, of course, it did have a spiritual
kind of religious component with Buddhism. There were a lot of deep things with that.

But I’ve also done writer’s pilgrimages, for example. When I wanted to just write and think, for just,
y’know, a weekend or a week, where I will pick a location and I’ll drive there. And the whole purpose of
that trip is just for me to write and think and slow down, think about my life, write about my life. I’ll bring a
big journal. And then each day I’ll wake up in a new place, a new city, a new town. And I’ll just write and
write and write, whatever comes in my head. I’ll do that for a few days, a week, however much time I
have. And that also can be a very powerful experience.

So that’s the idea of a pilgrimage and that’s what I want you to do. We all need this. We all get in a rut
where we’re just doing the same thing. Go to work, come home, y’know, go to work, come home, go to
work, come home, go to work, come home. And it’s just the same every day. And then our creativity
drops. Our energy drops. Our motivation drops. Our inspiration drops. We all need to break that
pattern. And this is one powerful way to do it.

So this is your coaching assignment for this month, which is to plan a pilgrimage. And I want you to do it
in a specific way. So, of course, number one I want you to think of a place to go. And along with that, a
purpose, so a place and a purpose is what you need. Now it might be one location. It might be a series
of locations. But there needs to be a reason, so I recommend starting simple. Now if you’re a religious
person, then you might choose a religious site, a religious location and a religious purpose, that’s fine.

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Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

If you’re not religious at all, let’s say you’re a scientist. Well you could make a scientific pilgrimage.
Perhaps you would, if you’re an astronomer, maybe you would go and visit some famous locations, some
famous telescopes. I don’t know. Maybe you would visit the hometowns of famous past astronomers.
Whatever, you get the idea. The location should be symbolic of something. It should be a symbol of
something. The location should have some meaning. Its not just go to the beach and lay around on the
beach.

If you love one specific writer, for example, or one specific musician, if they’re dead you might go visit
their grave. Go to the location where they’re buried, visit their grave. That’s a possibility. Or you might
visit a certain city that is famous for something. If you love jazz, right, you might go to Chicago or you
might go to New Orleans. If you love blues you might go to Mississippi and visit little small places in
Mississippi, or someplace in your own country.

So you get the idea. I don’t know. It should be something that is important to you, something that you
are passionate about. So that’s the purpose and the location. So choose something you’re passionate
about. And then choose a location that is connected to that purpose, connected to that passion.

Step two is you’re going to determine how long the trip will be. How much time do you have…just a
weekend, a full week, two full weeks, a month? How much time you have will determine, y’know, how
many places you can go and what you might do.

And number three, I want you to think about what you’re gong to do during this pilgrimage. And I want
you to think of activities that will awaken your creativity; that will connect you to that purpose that you
chose, the deeper purpose. If you’re a musician and you’re going to…and the purpose of your pilgrimage
is focused on music, well then you should bring your instrument. And maybe you will go and visit a
famous location for music. And then you’re going to practice music, for example.

If you’re an artist and you love, I don’t know, Van Gogh, and you want to go to the birthplace of Van
Gogh. Great! Well bring a sketchbook at least. And when you’re in that town then you could be
sketching every day. Just sketching buildings, sketching people, whatever, even if you’re just starting and
you’re a terrible artist. It doesn’t matter. The point is you want to choose activities that connect you to
that purpose. You’re not just going to, y’know, visit the famous sites and take pictures.

So obviously, when I went to Shikoku this was a Buddhist pilgrimage, and so I visited Buddhist temples. I
mean it’s a…it was a standard pilgrimage, a famous pilgrimage. There were 88 specific temples that
these pilgrims always visited and so I visited the same 88 temples. For me it was something that was
historical, spiritual, creative, a lot of things altogether. It all had deeper meaning, deeper purpose.

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Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

Next, number four, and this is vital no matter where you go, no matter what the purpose, no matter what
you do, you must, must, must bring a journal. A journal is just a notebook. It could be a cheap notebook.
It could be something really nice, you decide. But it needs to be just a bunch of blank pages. And you’re
going to have your journal and your pen. And every day on this journey I want you to just be writing.
Write about all the thoughts that come into your head. Write about what you’re seeing and experiencing.
Write about your purpose, about why you are at that place, why you are on that journey.

And, y’know, don’t try to structure it too much. Just let whatever comes out, let it come out. You can go
to little cafes and write, write, write. You can do it in your hotel room at night, write, write, write. You can
get up in the morning, write, write, write. This is part of the process of opening up your creativity. It’s part
of the process of opening to inspiration. So it’s really important to do this so bring a journal. And start
writing immediately while you’re on the bus or train or car on the way to your location, start writing. Write
about your feelings. What are you thinking about? What are you anticipating?

When you get there write about it. You might write about what’s happening in your life. You might write
about what you want to happen in your life. So I did all of these things and wrote about all of these topics
during my Shikoku trip. And it helped me to get a lot of realizations. It helped me to grow and to think of
a lot of new things.

And then, of course, at the end you also need to do something symbolic. And I guess this is the last step.
Do something symbolic as a way of expressing gratitude for the trip, expressing gratitude for whatever
you learned, or just expressing gratitude for the opportunity to think about your life, to think about this
purpose. And I like to do this by giving a symbolic little token gift. A token means something is just, it’s
just symbolic, it’s not really expensive. It’s not real. So, for example, if I gave someone a small little
picture or postcard, that’s a token gift. If I give them $5,000, that’s a great gift. That’s a big gift. But a
token gift is just something that’s just a symbol; it’s just a small little thing.

But what I like to do is on my journey, it could be in the middle or at the end, or even several times during
the journey, I like to give a token gift or little symbolic token gifts. So, for example, when I was in Shikoku
every time we went to a temple I donated, I put in one yen. Now one yen is about one cent in American
money, it’s basically nothing. But it was just a token. And I would just kind of, y’know, say a little, y’know,
thought in my mind, y’know, thank you for the opportunity to be on this trip, y’know. And I hope I continue
to learn a lot or I hope I continue to grow. And I hope everybody’s happy. I don’t know. It was different
each time.

But I would just give a little token gift and I would say some kind of gratitude. Maybe just say it in my
head or write it sometimes. And it’s important because it gets you to focus on gratitude. This is a very
important part of any pilgrimage. It doesn’t matter if it’s religious or non-religious or whatever, that you
want to stay focused on the positive. You might be realizing some negative things happening in your life

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Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

that you want to change. But you always want to end by focusing on gratitude. Being grateful for what
you have. Being grateful for being alive, being grateful for the opportunity to be on the trip. Being grateful
for all that you’re learning.

So let’s say if you were doing this as a musical, y’know, you’re visiting your famous musician. You might
go their grave and you might leave a flower. And say, y’know, thanks for inspiring me with your music
and leave a little flower. You might do this, if it was focused on writing, you would do the same thing for a
writer. Maybe it would be a family member, a past family member that you’ve lost, that’s no longer with
you, that has died. You might visit their grave and do something like that.

There are many, many, many, countless ways you could do this. If you want to just focus on nature, we
could go out into nature. Go out and go up and climb to the top of some big mountain. And you could
leave a little thing there. It might even just be a little stone that you found. And you could write your
name on it or something and leave it up there, say a little gratitude thing.

So again, this does not have to be religious, or it could be religious. It’s up to you. It doesn’t matter. The
whole point of this then, going back to the beginning to review all of this, is that a pilgrimage is a journey
with a deeper purpose. And the deepest purpose is to transform yourself, to initiate powerful growth
within yourself. There’s a really great book on this topic, by the way, by a man named Joseph Campbell.
And it’s called “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph
Campbell. And it’s all about this process, this idea of the journey, the pilgrimage. And how this idea is in
every single culture and has been historically, in every single culture, native peoples, indigenous peoples,
organized religions, non-organized religions, non-religious societies, it doesn’t matter. Every single
culture or society has some kind of idea of the journey and the return. The journey that changes you and
then you return back changed in order to help other people. And that’s the full circle.

So you go on this journey and it’s a little bit difficult. It’s challenging in some way. And it has a deeper
purpose. And then during this journey, y’know, your creativity opens. You learn things. You realize
things. And you change in some way. And then after you have been changed in some way, small or
large, you return back home and then you share this change with the people in your lives. And you use it
to help other people, to be a better person, to be a better friend, a better husband, wife, boyfriend,
girlfriend, coworker, whatever. And maybe to teach other people, maybe not. Maybe it’s just by who you
are.

So that’s what a pilgrimage is. And really, it’s so powerful, and I do this a lot. Y’know, all of my travels
aren’t pilgrimages. Sometimes I’m just a tourist and relaxing on vacation. But I like to do this at least
once a year, sometimes more.

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Shikoku – Coaching Lesson

And so that is your final homework, again. Just review all those steps so your homework is, again,
choose a pilgrimage for this year, sometime this year. And you’re going to choose where you’re going
and why, a deeper purpose, something symbolic. And you’re going to plan it out. You’ll decide what
you’re going to do. You’re going to bring your journal and write during the whole time. And then you’re
going to have some kind of symbolic gift of gratitude, and maybe several, while you’re on the journey.

That’s it. I look forward to hearing about your experiences when you actually do this. It’s very, very, very
powerful. There’s something very powerful about leaving everything you know, leaving your home, going
on a journey, not just a vacation but something with a meaning, specifically with the focus of growing and
learning, and then returning home. Just try it. I think you’ll find that it’s a very powerful process and will
have strong, powerful, positive effects on your life.

Okay? So have a great day. Have a great month. And I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye-bye.

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 “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.

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