5 Days Of New Year's Resolutions | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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On this episode of Try Living With Lucie, our host, Lucie Fink takes on 5 days of New Year's Resolutions. With travel being one of her goals for 2019, she tries this challenge while abroad in Japan. Press play to watch Lucie check off new goals overseas!  https://greenteasfromjapan.com/  In Partnership With Japanese Green Tea.   ABOUT SERIES Try Living With Lucie follows our favorite R29 millennial, Lucie Fink, as she dives headfirst into social experiments — five days at a time. From a week without sugar to full-blown street performing; there is nothing she won't try!   Here are all the places Lucie visited in the video:  Tokyo  Japanese Green Tea Ceremony, Chazen http://www.chazen-us.com  Sushi Making Class, Japan Cross Bridge http://japancrossbridge.com   Taiko Drumming, Taiko Center http://www.taiko-center.co.jp/english/   Golden Facial, Ci:z.Labo https://www.ci-z.com   Kyoto   Bamboo Forest https://www.insidekyoto.com/arashiyama-bamboo-grove   Shiatsu Massage, Hiyoshido http://hiyoshido.jp/e/   Matcha Desserts, Zen Kashoin http://zen-kashoin.com/store/   Meditation Session, Shunkoin Temple https://shunkoin.com/about  Kenninji Temple https://www.kenninji.jp/english/   ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/  RELATED CONTENT 5 Days Of A Capsule Wardrobe https://youtube.com/watch?v=Di9Bjf_OPj4 5 Days Of Meal Prep https://youtube.com/watch?v=DWaU47V3rMU&t=521s 5 Days Of Sleeping On The Floor https://youtube.com/watch?v=HsV_cwDY4l4  SEE MORE REFINERY29 VIDEOS http://refinery29.com/video  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29 For the latest trends and videos, visit: http://refinery29.com Like Refinery29 on Facebook: https://facebook.com/refinery29 Follow Refinery29 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/refinery29 Heart Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/  TALENT Follow Lucie Fink on Instagram: https://instagram.com/luciebfink/ Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/ Follow OnHerTurf on Instagram: https://instagram.com/onherturf/ Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/

Transcript

00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is 5 Days of New Year's Resolutions.

00:08Hey everyone! Happy New Year!

00:10Has everyone been saying that to you recently?

00:12Welcome back to Refinery29's YouTube channel.

00:14If this is your first time here, be sure to click on the little subscribe button down here in the

00:18corner.

00:19And give this video a thumbs up if you're excited to see some footage from my recent journey to Japan.

00:24I'm pretty big on New Year's resolutions. Always have been.

00:27And at the end of any year, I like to take a long moment to reflect and think about my

00:32big picture goals.

00:33And at the end of 2018, it was pretty clear to me that my biggest resolution was to travel more.

00:39So when one of the commenters suggested that I do 5 Days of New Year's Resolutions, I thought, why don't

00:44I do so while traveling?

00:46And at the end of last year, I took a journey across the world to Japan, a place that I've

00:51always wanted to go to but honestly never thought I'd make it to.

00:54I took the Try Living with Lucy crew along with me and I spent 5 days diving in to New

00:59Year's resolutions.

01:00So now let's rewind to the start of my trip and I'll show you what I did.

01:10After a long day of travel, including a 2-hour flight to Detroit, a layover, and then a 12-hour

01:16flight to Japan, I arrived in Tokyo and I went to my hotel room to unpack.

01:20I was staying in Shinjuku, which is one of the busiest entertainment, business, and shopping areas in all of Tokyo.

01:26It was almost like Times Square.

01:27The first New Year's resolution that I wanted to bring to life was my desire to have a lot more

01:32authentic cultural experiences.

01:34If you remember, last year during 5 Days of Mindful Habits, I went to the East Village downtown in New

01:39York City and I took part in a Japanese green tea ceremony.

01:43And ever since then, I've been dreaming of doing an authentic tea ceremony in Japan.

01:47When I first arrived at the space, I removed my shoes and I was led into a small tea house

01:52inside of a small room.

01:53Oh, hello.

01:55Nice to meet you.

01:56Nice to meet you too.

01:57Welcome to Tea Room Chazelle.

01:58Twin Dragon's house, Dragon's brings happiness.

02:03We climbed through a sliding door, and I assumed my position on the tatami mat.

02:08And I definitely remembered many of the aspects of the tea preparation and presentation from my previous tea ceremony.

02:14I was first presented with an assortment of Japanese confections.

02:18As I was told, eating the sweets beforehand would improve the taste of the matcha tea.

02:22The tea master went through all of the steps just as I remembered, cleaning the tools, preparing the matcha, whisking

02:29it up, all while moving slowly and deliberately.

02:32She ensured I was holding the tea bowl properly, left hand on the bottom, right hand holding the bowl, and

02:37also that I rotated it twice clockwise before taking the first sip.

02:41Once the ceremony was over, we bowed to one another, and then she even let me make my own bowl

02:46of matcha for her.

02:47The guest had become the host.

02:49Do you do this every day?

02:50Yes.

02:51I scooped in the matcha powder, added hot water, and whisked away in a W motion, only stirring in a

02:57circle at the very end.

03:01What do you think?

03:03Ah, very delicious.

03:04And then we bowed, saying arigato, or thank you to one another for sharing in this beautiful ceremony.

03:10Arigato gozaimasu!

03:12I love the taste of matcha, and while it was a similar process to the ceremony that I had participated

03:17in in New York, the experience was overall very different here.

03:22First of all, I got to grind my own leaves, this time using the matcha stone mill.

03:25And second of all, I was in Japan.

03:27I just kept seeing this vision of a map in my head and realizing that my pin was dropped all

03:33the way across the world from where I usually am.

03:35It's one thing to drink matcha at home, but to enjoy this in the country where it's grown, in a

03:41ceremony that's been celebrated for hundreds of years, now that was pretty special.

03:47The second New Year's resolution of the week that I wanted to explore was trying new foods, and particularly local

03:53foods.

03:54Now that I'm back home and my trip to Japan is over, I can say with certainty that on that

03:59trip, I expanded my palate.

04:01I tasted a bunch of things on that trip that I had never tried before, including fried eel, fish liver,

04:06udon noodles, and grilled fish thin.

04:09I also enjoyed a ton of local favorites, lots of fresh raw fish, bowls of ramen galore.

04:14I know just how much of an art form sushi making is, so on Tuesday, I wanted to explore that.

04:20I reached out to these twin sisters who worked together as Japanese cuisine chefs for three years in Geneva, Switzerland,

04:26and they offered me a private sushi making lesson at one of their homes, so we met at the nearest

04:31train station and walked over together.

04:33We first washed our hands, I removed all of my rings, and they handed me a Samway to wear, which

04:38is the traditional work clothing of Japanese Zen Buddhist monks.

04:42First, we sliced the fish.

04:43Sea bream and salmon.

04:45And I was taught how to fillet the fish at the proper angle, all in one smooth slice.

04:51And then you don't have to push hard, you can just keep moving the blade, because this is quite heavy,

04:56and then it just cuts well, yes.

04:57Very good.

04:59Nice.

04:59Yeah, see?

05:00Wow.

05:01Next, we moved on to the rolls.

05:03So we put down a piece of dried seaweed with the shiny side facing the sushi mat and the rough

05:08side face up.

05:09Wet your hands well, because you take the rice and it's quite sticky.

05:14You'll be surprised.

05:15Then we reached into the rice bowl and spread the rice on the seaweed from left to right.

05:19Now this is not just white rice, this is special sushi rice made using vinegar, sugar, and salt.

05:24And because it's so sticky, you need to make sure to keep your hands wet as you work so that

05:29it doesn't stick.

05:30We added some fish and veggies and then rolled it up with a bamboo sushi mat.

05:34The reveal.

05:36Wow.

05:37That's beautiful.

05:38We made a couple of rolls this way and then attempted an inside out roll.

05:42So for this type of roll, you add rice to the seaweed and then flip it over, pop the ingredients

05:46in, and then use saran wrap to roll it up so that the rice doesn't stick to the mat.

05:51Next, we worked on forming some nigiri.

05:53And this is where the real technique comes in, so I was first given some fish and rice made out

05:57of felt to practice with.

05:58And once I learned the steps, I was ready to give it a go with the real fish and the

06:02real rice.

06:03Rice ball on top of the fish and squeeze a little.

06:06Slide down.

06:07Very good.

06:08There's my sushi!

06:09Yeah!

06:10Very good!

06:11Look at that!

06:12These twins are incredibly talented.

06:14Making sushi with them on Tuesday actually felt a bit meditative.

06:18You get into such a flow once you know what you're doing and it can be incredibly calming and restorative.

06:23After working for hours on my sushi making skills, we finally sat down and enjoyed every last piece of sushi

06:29that we made.

06:31Good?

06:31Mmhmm.

06:33Amazing.

06:34And lastly, we wrapped up the class with a freshly brewed Japanese green tea, the perfect sushi pairing, and the

06:40perfect ending to a wonderful day with new friends.

06:46My third New Year's resolution of the week was actually sparked by my recent five-day challenge video where I

06:51tried five days of learning new skills.

06:53And this resolution is to become a student of the world.

06:57So what does that mean?

06:58Basically that I want to learn as much as I can in this life.

07:02So when I tried thinking of a new skill that's related to Japanese culture, a friend of mine who used

07:07to live in Japan suggested that I try taiko drumming.

07:10Taiko is an ancient Japanese form of percussion that uses a whole different range of drum sizes and includes loud,

07:16hard, and fast choreographed movements.

07:19It's not only a beautiful art form, but it's also an incredible upper body workout.

07:25I met with an expert drummer at Taiko Lab who offered to teach me the basics.

07:29I was given a haapi, which is a traditional Japanese coat often worn by taiko players.

07:34I love it.

07:35Ooh, it's so beautiful.

07:38Good!

07:39Pretty good!

07:39And I went into a practice studio space that was lined with taiko drums of various sizes.

07:44I first learned how to properly hold the sticks and where to hit the drum.

07:51Ok.

07:53Agema-su.

07:55So!

07:56Sorry!

07:59And then she went into teaching me various counts and words to chant alongside them.

08:36She taught me a whole routine and then once I was comfortable with it, we raised our hands

08:41and began playing in unison.

09:06The whole process was actually pretty aggressive and I found myself just screaming really loudly

09:11and flailing my arms all over the place, but truthfully, I was having the time of my life

09:16and I have not enjoyed an activity like that in a really long time.

09:19After a little while, I switched over to an even bigger drum, which means that I upgraded

09:23my stick size as well.

09:27By the end of the class, my ears were ringing and my arms were just completely worn out.

09:32The two of us wrapped up my private lesson with a relaxing cup of Japanese green tea.

09:37My second activity for the day actually had nothing to do with becoming a student of the

09:40world, but I just wanted to try something out that's been gaining a little bit of popularity

09:44in Japan.

09:45A golden facial.

09:47I went to a local spa, had my face steamed and cleaned, and then had a mixture poured on my

09:52face containing gold foil powder, caviar extract, and collagen powder.

09:59It was very cold and refreshing and way different from any facial I've ever had in America.

10:04Part of the reason that I wanted to end Wednesday with a facial is that I knew that on that

10:08same

10:09day, I was about to leave Tokyo, which is the largest city in Japan, and head to Kyoto,

10:14which is a way smaller city that's a lot quieter and slower paced than Tokyo.

10:18Tokyo was just filled with light and color and movement and noise, and in addition to

10:23what you already saw, I did so much there, including visiting Takeshi Jodori in Harajuku,

10:29going to an owl cafe, visiting the robot restaurant, checking out Shibuya Crossing, doing tons of shopping,

10:35and eating, and so much more.

10:37I took the bullet train to Kyoto on Wednesday afternoon, saw the beautiful Mount Fuji out

10:42the window, and by the time Thursday rolled around, I was ready for some relaxation.

10:46Fresh and reborn.

10:50That leads me to my next New Year's resolution, which is indulging in more relaxation and self-care.

10:56Something that I got really good at in 2018 was taking the time to listen to my mind and

11:01body.

11:01I know that this is often way easier said than done and can be very challenging for people

11:06who have school, full-time jobs, or even kids to take care of, but there are some major

11:10benefits if you can find a little bit of time every day or even just every week to focus

11:15on yourself.

11:16On Thursday morning, I woke up before the sun and I took a train to the western outskirts

11:21of Kyoto.

11:21I watched the sunrise from a beautiful bridge and then I immersed myself in the bamboo forest.

11:26Because I had arrived so early, I virtually had the place to myself.

11:30I also think coming on a weekday was smart because supposedly it gets packed with tourists

11:34on the weekends.

11:35There was one pathway through the grove and I honestly couldn't believe how beautiful

11:39this place was.

11:40It has got to be one of the most peaceful and serene places in the world.

11:45Considering that the New Year's resolution I was exploring on Thursday revolved around relaxation,

11:50this spot was the perfect fit.

11:52And it was also an amazing low-key follow-up to the previous fast-paced days I had spent

11:57in Tokyo.

11:57In the afternoon, I continued with my day of relaxation by treating myself to a shiatsu

12:02massage.

12:03A form of Japanese bodywork that literally translates to finger pressure.

12:07I was led into a private room, given some loose-fitting clothing, and then laid out on a heated tatami

12:13mat.

12:14While I was waiting for the massage to begin, I was given a cup of Japanese green tea to

12:18help calm my mind and find peace in the moment.

12:21We only filmed part of the experience because I really wanted to be in the moment and actually

12:25enjoy the massage.

12:26But of course, once the camera stopped rolling, that was when the treatment got really visual.

12:31My massage therapist was twisting me in all directions.

12:34She was lifting me up and flipping me around.

12:37She was really using her fingers to knead into my muscles.

12:40Thursday overall was a full day of relaxation and revitalization.

12:47My final resolution is to practice mindfulness in all situations.

12:51When I'm in New York, I'm constantly in my head and thinking about far-off places and

12:56what my life would be like if I lived somewhere totally different.

12:59Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love New York and I love my life here, but every

13:03now and then, it's easy to get caught up wishing you were somewhere else, maybe somewhere a little

13:08warmer.

13:09So in 2019, I want to become better about really living in the moment.

13:12Being grateful for exactly where I am and appreciating each and every minute.

13:16I started off Friday by indulging in some desserts, because why not?

13:20Kyoto is known for its matcha, so I visited a famous dessert shop and tried a selection

13:25of sweets in a 300-year-old traditional townhouse.

13:29I tried out some mindful eating, really enjoying every bite, and pulling out all of the rich

13:34matcha flavors.

13:35Next, I took the Kyoto city bus about 45 minutes out of the city center and visited a Zen Buddhist

13:41temple.

13:41I met up with a local Zen priest for a private meditation session.

13:45He's turned his life's work into educating others on the positive benefits of Zen and

13:50mindfulness, and he travels all over the world to do this.

13:53After taking off my shoes, I went inside the monastery and immediately felt like I was transported

13:59back in time.

14:00There were grand corridors inside and outside, and the whole area was silent and surrounded

14:06by Zen gardens.

14:07We went into a meditation space, and he first talked me through some of his thoughts on

14:11meditation.

14:12Many people just focus on the meditation for the relaxation or developing better focus,

14:18something like that way.

14:19Meditation is observation and experiment.

14:23Creating conditions to observe yourself.

14:26It's not just feeling, oh, I feel more peaceful and relaxed.

14:29Not like that.

14:36Unlike the meditation I'm used to, he told me to keep my eyes open, focusing softly on the ground about

14:42three feet in front of me.

14:43He burned some incense, the birds were chirping, I just focused on my breathing and let my mind

14:48go.

14:49He finished our session by saying something that has really stuck with me, which is that

14:53all lives are going to have positives and negatives, ups and downs, happy times and sad

14:57times.

14:58It's just like a good movie.

14:59But if your life looks like this, and it's just one straight line across, who's going to

15:04want to read your story?

15:05After this amazing mindful experience, I wanted to end the day somewhere where I could dive into

15:10the rich culture and history of Japan.

15:12So I went to the Kenenji Temple.

15:14It was built in 1202 and it's the oldest Zen temple in Kyoto.

15:18I walked around the grounds a little bit, sat down, took a moment of stillness.

15:22I wrote a little bit in my bullet journal, drank some more tea and just took it in.

15:27And before I knew it, I was flying home and landing at JFK Airport in New York City.

15:32And I'm ready to take these five major New Year's resolutions, enjoying cultural experiences,

15:37trying new and local foods, becoming a student of the world, relaxing more and practicing

15:42mindfulness in all situations and expand upon them back home.

15:46And once I returned, I immediately hopped online and ordered some green teas from Japan

15:50to give to some of my friends and family members.

15:52I just had to share in the daily mindfulness practice that I myself have been enjoying so

15:57much.

15:58I'd love to know your 2019 New Year's resolutions, so comment them below.

16:02And as always, let me know what you want to see me try next time on Try Living with Lucy.

16:06Bye!

16:07Hey YouTube, thanks for watching.

16:09Click here for another five-day challenge.

16:10Here to subscribe to Refinery29 and right here for my personal YouTube channel.

16:16Happy New Year!

5 Days Of New Year's Resolutions | Try Living With Lucie | Refinery29

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