Morning in a 1000-Year-Old Onsen, Evening Watching a Monk Beatbox on Bikes

From Mountain Hot Springs to 43 Bikes Finding Enlightenment - My Wildest Day

October 14, 2025. Morning: I'm in Nozawa Onsen with my team, soaking in a 1000-year-old hot spring. Mountains. Silence. Steam rising. Pure peace.

Evening: I'm sitting on the floor of FEELCYCLE Azamino in Yokohama. 43 bikes. Purple lights. A beatboxing monk. About to witness something I still can't fully explain.

Same day. Complete opposite energy. Both totally necessary.

Let me back up.

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The Longest Beautiful Day

We wrapped our team retreat in Nozawa Onsen that morning. Everyone was still in that post-onsen glow - you know, when your whole body feels reset, your mind is clear, your nervous system is finally calm. We had breakfast at Nozawa lodge. Traditional Japanese style. Rice, miso soup, that perfect onsen tamago.

Then I checked my phone.

Messages from Yogetsu Akasaka: "Tonight's the night. You're still coming, right?"

Oh. Right. The FEELCYCLE collaboration. The one we'd been planning for months. The beatboxing Zen priest meets mindfulness cycling. 7:30 PM in Yokohama.

Three hours on trains. Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo, then local train to Yokohama. The whole way, I'm processing. Morning was pure stillness - sitting in hot water, doing nothing, just being. Tonight was going to be pure intensity - fitness people, loud music, movement, energy.

Both meditation. Completely different approaches. Same destination maybe?

I made it to FEELCYCLE Azamino at 5:30 PM.

Quick Backstory on This Collab

I met Yogetsu in 2020 during an MIT online meditation class. Lockdown times. Someone posted a video in our Slack: "Tateki, do you know this guy?" Japanese Zen Buddhist priest doing beatbox. I said no.

That "no" started everything. Five years later, I'm helping manage his projects, and we're always pushing this idea that traditional Japanese spirituality doesn't have to be quiet and still in temples. It's alive. It moves. It evolves.

FEELCYCLE reached out a few months ago. They have this program called DEEP - mindfulness cycling in dark rooms with immersive experiences. "Can Yogetsu do something with us?"

Can he? This guy beatboxes the Heart Sutra. This was PERFECT.

43 spots available. Hundreds of people applied. Lottery system. The chosen ones had no idea what they were about to experience.

Neither did I, honestly.

From Onsen Calm to Cycling Storm

7:30 PM. The room is dark except for this purple-blue glow. I'm sitting on the floor behind Yogetsu. In front of us, 43 bikes. 43 lottery winners. Instructors Sota and Kanna at the front, ready.

My body is still relaxed from the morning onsen. My mind is clear from the mountain air and hot springs. But now I'm about to experience the opposite end of the meditation spectrum.

Lights go lower. Sota and Kanna step up. These instructors are PROS - the way they command the room immediately.

Yogetsu steps to the front. He starts with a warm-up chant. Not beatbox yet. Traditional Buddhist chanting. Deep. Resonant.

And the room... exhales. All 43 people at once.

When Ancient Meets Intensity

I wanted to jump on a bike SO BAD. But I'm manager mode tonight. Make sure everything works. Sound check. Water ready. Don't disturb the flow.

So I sit. And I watch. And honestly? This restraint made everything hit harder.

About 15 minutes in, tempo changes. Sota's voice: "Okay, we're going UP. Trust yourself. GO!"

Bikes EXPLODE. People pedaling harder, faster.

Then Yogetsu drops the beatbox.

Ancient Buddhist scripture. Modern sound. Percussion and melody and breath. All at once.

The room became ONE THING. One organism. 43 bikes, two instructors calling out, one monk channeling 1,500 years of wisdom through his voice.

And me, sitting there, trying not to move, but inside I'm SCREAMING.

This morning I found peace in stillness. Tonight I'm watching people find peace in motion. Both valid. Both powerful. Both meditation.

The Peak Moment

Maybe 35 minutes in. The beat is MASSIVE. Kanna's voice cutting through: "You got this! Keep going!" Yogetsu's beatbox filling every space. 43 people absolutely SENDING IT.

I'm thinking about this morning. In the hot spring, my heart rate was probably 60 BPM. Calm. Parasympathetic nervous system fully activated.

Right now? These riders' heart rates are probably 160-180 BPM. Maximum effort. Sympathetic nervous system firing. But their MINDS? Just as clear. Just as present. Maybe more.

This event was on fire. Here is tweets on X

One rider posted later on X: "雑念が消えて感覚だけ…ZONE状態でした" (All distracting thoughts disappeared, only sensation remained... I was in the ZONE)

Another: "皆の漕ぐ力が私に返ってくる…最高!" (Everyone's pedaling energy came back to me... the best!)

This is 動く瞑想 (moving meditation). Finding that same mental clarity while your body works at maximum capacity.

After years in MMA, after all my biohacking research, I know both paths work. The hot spring path. The cycling path. The sitting meditation. The moving meditation.

Today I got both. What a gift.

After

I helped him pack up. People coming to thank him. Hugs. Bows. One woman just held his hand, said nothing. Didn't need words.

Walking out of FEELCYCLE, taking the train back to Tokyo, I'm processing this whole day. Started in 1000-year-old hot springs with my exhausted team. Ended watching 43 strangers find enlightenment on bikes.

Both experiences teaching the same lesson: There's no one way to find peace. No one way to meditate. No one way to reset.

Morning was yin. Evening was yang. Both necessary. Both beautiful.

The social media exploded after - 100+ posts, literally ZERO negative comments. People begging for this to become regular. Viewers at home "air-cycling" on their couches because they couldn't NOT move.

The archive is now on youtube if you want to feel it.