The Workshop · 3 seats · Chatswood, Sydney

There is a moment before the reaction.

Your first reaction may be automatic. What you do next doesn’t have to be. The workshop is one room, three people and one hour with Harrison — learning to notice the moment in between: what you are feeling, what set it off, and what you would rather do next. The first practice of Return to Self, before you commit to any of it.

Apply for a seat What happens in the room

Two rooms: Saturday 3 or Sunday 4 October · 1–2 pm

Harrison Saito kneeling in seiza on the dojo mats in his gi, eyes closed, hands folded in his lap

Who the workshop is for

For people who know how to keep going.

You may recognise yourself here. Each one names the part of the session that answers it.

You understand your patterns, and you still repeat them.

ShareMovement 01

You want greater clarity around what actually matters to you.

ShareMovement 01

You find it difficult to switch off, and being told to relax has never worked.

BreatheMovement 02

You know how to push through, and every difficult feeling gets treated like another obstacle.

BreatheMovement 02

You are always thinking about what comes next, and rarely here for what is happening now.

SitMovement 03

You are not looking for another motivational speech. You are looking for a practice.

Take homeMovement 04

None of this asks you to become someone else. It asks for one session, and three people willing to notice what is already there.

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What people noticed afterwards

Awareness creates choice.

These are the changes people who trained with Harrison say they noticed — as written to him, or said on camera. The workshop hands you the first practice behind them.

  • John, filmed giving his testimony

    JohnConsultant, 55

  • Andrew, filmed giving his testimony

    AndrewDrummer

  • James, filmed giving his testimony

    JamesConstruction

  • Jake, filmed giving his testimony

    JakeMusician

Filmed giving their testimonies, September 2026

  • Took the mask off
  • Calmer under pressure
  • Present in the room
  • Less reactive
  • More decisive
  • Deliberate with my energy
  • Confidence in myself
  • Happier, day to day
  • Able to live it fully
  • Steady when it does not go my way
  • Courage for hard conversations

What happens in the room

Four movements, in an order that matters.

That moment can be very small. With practice you begin to notice it — and when you can notice it, you can choose something different. One session, four movements, in the order that makes each one land. No experience needed.

  1. 01 Share

    Say what you are carrying.

    It begins with the three of you and Harrison, and a simple question: what are you navigating right now, and what would you like to understand better? Say as much as you want. Nobody performs, and nobody is watched.

  2. 02 Breathe

    Notice what the body does first.

    Breath and stance, taught the way the dojo teaches them: used deliberately to change what the nervous system is doing — the part of you that decides whether to brace or settle, which does not take instructions in English.

    “The biggest tool that helps me is regulation. I’ve got to regulate my state.”

    Harrison, on tape, 26 Aug 2026

  3. 03 Sit

    Then the sitting.

    A guided meditation drawn from the Japanese and Shingon Buddhist practice Harrison was ordained into in 2014. Not about removing difficulty — the pressure still exists. Practice changes the way you meet it: you learn to notice what you feel, then decide what deserves your attention, and what does not.

  4. 04 Take home

    Leave with one practice.

    The room closes with release and gratitude, and you leave with one practice for the week after — not a folder. If the twelve weeks are yours, this was week one in miniature. If they are not, you still have the practice.

  • 3 seats a room
  • Saturday 3 or Sunday 4 October · 1–2 pm
  • In person · Chatswood, Sydney
  • Bring comfortable clothing, water and an open mind

Not therapy, and not about becoming endlessly calm. Practice — so that what you feel does not automatically make your decisions for you.

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Harrison Saito standing in his gi and black belt in front of a shoji screen

Who is holding the room

Discipline taught me how to push. Presence taught me when not to.

  • Harrison Saito. 2nd Dan black belt and Shido-In at Shinbukan Karate — the school his father, Kazuo Saito, 10th Dan, founded in 1978. More than seventeen years of discipline, repetition, patience and practice.
  • Ordained in 2014 at Koyasan Seizanji. Buddhism here is attention training, not belief — there is nothing you will be asked to sign up to.
  • A practising high-school teacher, featured on SBS World News for his work with young people.
SBS3 generationsSince age 11

“My dad’s 81. I only really started talking to him three years ago.”

Harrison, on tape, 26 Aug 2026

The conversation he asks people to have is one he had first.

In their words

What people took with them.

“people outside of my karate environment have noticed that difference of me being a lot more calmer as a person”

JohnConsultant, 55 · filmed

“how I use that in my day to day, makes me happier, makes me calmer, I think it makes me a better person”

AndrewDrummer · filmed

“Harrison helped me remove the mask, calm the mind, and move with intention rather than just speed, power, and grit.”

Matt HalpinCoaching · Return to Self

Quoted as written to Harrison, or as said on camera, under the name of the person it came from.

Straight answers

Before you apply.

Why apply, rather than just book?

Because three seats have to be the right three. Harrison reads every application himself and calls you first — a short conversation, so the room works for everyone in it. Nothing to prepare.

Is this a sales pitch for the twelve weeks?

No. You will hear what Return to Self is, because people ask. You will not be pitched. If you want the twelve weeks afterwards, you ask; if you do not, the workshop was the workshop.

Do I have to share?

You are never required to disclose more than you choose, or to prove yourself through an exercise. The first movement is a conversation; how much of it is yours to say is yours to decide.

Is this therapy?

No. This is coaching — a training framework for the inner world, built on martial arts, Buddhism and honest self-inquiry. It is not therapy, diagnosis or emergency care, and it is not a replacement for any of them. If you are in crisis, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

What does it cost?

Ask and Harrison will answer directly — nothing on this page is a pitch, and applying costs nothing. Nothing is charged until you have a confirmed seat.

Do I need to have trained before?

No. Karate is used as a method for working with the nervous system, attention and pressure. Plenty of people arrive having never trained. The physical practice is adapted to the person in front of me.

What if the three seats are taken?

You are first for the next room. Rooms run as three people apply for them, so an application is never wasted.

Three seats

Take the first step.

Pick a session and leave your details, and your spot is under review. Harrison reaches out directly — you choose the window for his call. Three seats a room; if yours is full, you are first for the next.

Two rooms: Saturday 3 or Sunday 4 October · 1–2 pm

Apply — under a minute

Which session?

A phone number so Harrison can call, rather than trade emails for a week.