Yoga Adapted to Cultural Context: Japan with Minami Takashima (#52)

Our guest today is our wonderful collaborator in Japan, Minami Takashima. Minami is a yogini and heart of Yôga teacher, teaching in the traditions of the hathayoga non dual Tantra. She has written the introduction to the Japanese second edition of Mark Whitwell’s Yôga Heart and teaches throughout Japan and the world. 

Born in Sapporo, Japan, she found that early life spiritual awakenings were not really helping with the pain of corporate life and socialization, but were rather making society’s misalignment with nature’s flow even more obvious and miserable. One day, she came across Mark’s book Yoga of Heart, and says “this changed my life completely.” “There’s no steps to be taken”. “Everything you are seeking to become, you already are.” “You are the power of the cosmos”— the book was a great statement of your life’s actual worth. 

Minami has had victory over the oppressive misogyny of society that restricts women, and men, and all of life. In this victory she understands the difficulties of the usual life, so can be extremely helpful to others going through what she has had to go through herself. In Yôga such a person is called the “Acharya”, one who can teach. 

Minami found that traditional heart of Yoga, Hathayoga practice bridges spirituality and tangible reality, allowing our masculine and feminine aspects to find their natural harmony. Knowing herself and her students to be Reality itself (“divine existence” itsel.) Minami teaches from the authority of her own experience and power. She lives in Japan and New Zealand with her yogi-musician husband Rey.  Teaching mainly one on one in an intimate, traditional way, Minami serves others to find their innate power, intelligence and beauty. 

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