Meditating daily as part of his morning routine, Jiro is pairing his passion for adventure with the historically proven benefits of mindfulness.
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Ocean surfing and snowboarding led Jiro Taylor on a journey that eventually took him to a monastery in Japan. There he discovered a new way to reach peak performance that was worlds away from the ocean and mountain adventures he had been pursuing.
Based in Australia, Jiro spent his childhood outside, being active and embracing nature. Immediately after graduating high school, he headed for the mountains of France where he spent every day discovering the mountains on his snowboard. Since then, he’s lived in eight different countries, embracing a life of peak performance filled with surfing, camping, adventure, and exploring.
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Japan was his home base for a two-year stint where he immersed himself in the Japanese culture, teaching English by day and discovering new ways to explore this unknown world during his free time.
At the end of his road, was a monastery that intrigued Jiro, until one day, while on a stroll, he curiously wandered inside. The Japanese Monk, who ran the temple, invited him in to meditate. Jiro’s first meditation session was a two and a half hour marathon, sitting side by side with Zen monks. Little did he know, this meditation experience would transform his life to one where he would pair his hunger for peak performance with the desire to live in the moment, be mindful and meditate daily.
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Right now Jiro is surfing in Hawaii, about to experience one of the world’s most famous surfing contests, the Eddie. Named after Hawaiian surfing hero, Eddie Aikau, this contest has an unusual twist. It only takes place when the waves become huge, 30 to 40 feet high. It has happened eight times since the 1980’s because the waves only reach this lofty height occasionally. The last Eddie took place in 2009.
A life changing event for the participants, Jiro will experience the contest differently from most, through mindfulness. Meditating daily as part of his morning routine, Jiro is pairing his passion for adventure with the historically proven benefits of mindfulness.
Hear Jiro tell his story in this episode of Mindfulness Mode
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Photo: Flickr/ travis y