Akiko Miyahara

The representative director of Yoga Therapist Association in Japan which offers many high quality yoga teacher and therapist training programs as an approved and active Registered Yoga School of Yoga Alliance.

The career of teaching yoga is about 17 years and good at leading very safely with the acquired knowledge of anatomy and traditional yoga techniques, so I can share yoga from young children to senior people including those who have some physical troubles or diseases like using chair or lying down style.

I have been learning from  many yoga teachers all over the world beyond the style, but when I met the  Krishnamacharya style yoga, who is called the father of modern yoga from his grandson and also great teacher, Dr. Kausthub Desikachar in India, I felt I was leaded by some great power. Before then, I hadn't been able to understand English much, but almost only the words which Dr. Kausthub uttered I was able to hear and understand. It was like a miracle for me and even more surprising on yoga teacher training in the school, I got the star award as an excellent yogini, evaluated by some professors of yoga of all over India. I really appreciates receiving truly historical and reliable wisdom of viniyoga tradition. 

“Viniyoga” is the word in the fundamental yoga textbook, Yoga Sutras and it means the appropriate adaption of Yoga’s holistic wisdom such as Āsana-s, Prāṇāyāma, chanting, Mantra-s, and meditation to meet the needs of the individuals respecting differences in age, culture, religion, philosophy, occupation, physical, emotional and other health parameters that define each practitioner. 

I've known this is the exact mission of Acharya Krishnamacharya in his life and same as me, I believe.

Viniyoga always talks to us, what do we really need now? Not only our bodies, not only our energy, not only our emotions or minds, not only our beliefs but whole ourselves need what?

And for the question, based on the holistic understanding of human beings and also through the meditative reflection, we can choose the movement which we need, the sound we want, and the breathing which saves us.

I was also invited as reliable yogini to Rajah Ayurveda Hospital which has more than 25 doctors who have graduated grad schools in Kerala and the doctors there and I determined to collaborate to spread Ayurveda knowledge in Japan.