In the upstairs meeting room of a camping lodge in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, two women and about 20 men walked slowly and intently in circles one rainy day last November. At the front of the room, a weathered and wiry Englishman intoned the sort of instructions a yoga aficionado would find familiar.
"Focus your attention on the soles of your feet. Is there tension there? Now focus on the tops of your feet, your ankles, your knees. ... Are you balanced, or are you managing a state of imbalance?"
The students, however, had not traveled to Nagano to practice yoga. Instead, the group of gardeners and forestry workers was spending the weekend learning rope-climbing techniques that have made treecare in Europe and the United States much safer than it once was, for both trees and workers.