Attaining Inner Revolution Through Ayurveda Yoga With Mariko Hirakawa

Attaining Inner Revolution Through Ayurveda Yoga With Mariko Hirakawa

Our next guest is Mariko Hirakawa. From her journey, she shared that if you follow your inner voice, you will be rewarded with wonders and joy where life can take you. Mariko is the number one international bestselling author of Yoga Of Personal Development: Enlightened Lessons On Peak Performance And Living A Life Of No Regrets. She is an internationally known Yoga-Ayurveda expert and Founder of Visionary Yoga. Proficient in Hindi and Sanskrit, she is one of the very few in the West to have completed the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery degree as a fellowship scholar at one of the top Ayurvedic university in India. A former professional ballet dancer and an Ayurvedic physician, Mariko is dedicated to position yoga as something far beyond fitness, the ultimate technology for human conscious evolution.

Welcome, Mariko. Please share with us your story, where you are from, at what age you came to America, and what was your life like before you moved to America?

It’s so great to be here, Kimchi. I was born in Japan and I came to this country at nine and a half years of age. First, when I was about nine months old, my father was working in a pretty prestigious telephone company as a bilingual operator. In those days, they had telephone operators and he was good in English so he was an operator there. When I was born, he felt like, “I’m going to settle down and no more adventures.” He saw the writing on the wall. When I was born, he saw this movie that changed his life. He saw this movie called The Apu Trilogy, which is an art film by an Indian filmmaker named Satyajit Ray. This movie takes place in Benares, India, a sacred city in India. Somehow when he saw that film, he was so touched that he felt a call for the soul to go see India. He discussed with his beautiful wife, my mother, and they decided to go to India.

It was unheard of in those days. This was the 70s. It was unheard of to give up a good corporate job and take off to India with a little baby and a wife. It was a crazy idea. Somehow, his longing to see the world and explore beyond Japan was so strong, he packed up his bag and with nothing more than cash, a plane ticket, me and his wife, he took off to India. When he landed in Calcutta, there were all these refugees from Bangladesh and everything. We ended up being in India for an entire year. He explored India, North India, Afghanistan, which was quite a beautiful country that you could freely go to in those days, also Nepal. After over a year of roaming in this exotic land, in those days they didn’t have Lonely Planet or anything, this was such an adventure for them. They made some friends they met in India and then they came back and tried to fit back into Japan society. It was very difficult for my father. He tried, and still, the memory of this freedom of living in India was so strong. His soul had been awakened to this life of freedom and it was difficult, but they tried.

I lived in Japan until I was nine and a half. In that time, I loved dancing and my parents thought this girl must study dancing. Otherwise, she’ll be kicking her legs up in inappropriate places. They put me in a dance school at the age of three. That’s something that I continued to do throughout, even when we moved to United States when I was nine and a half. We moved to United States because my father decided to go for this scholarship to study teaching English as a second language in SUNY Albany. He received this full scholarship grant. He came to a small town called Schenectady, upstate New York.

Towards the end of it, he realized he has to go back to Japan. Somehow, his soul expanded when he left the constriction of Japan and he felt he wanted to pursue the greater freedom of what this country had to offer. He again had a discussion with his wife. My mother had also been to India and experienced trying to fit into Japan society. They both decided to move to United States. This is a very atypical way that a Japanese family moves to United States. Mostly, Japanese families move because the corporation that the father is working for assigns him to a branch in the United States. They have a set time to spend in United States and then they go back when that time is up. This was completely different. This was answering to the soul’s call from my parents wanting a freer life and the ability to create their life the way they want to and taking a big risk because there was no company sponsoring that move. That’s the story of my childhood and how I came to this country.

What was your life like after you moved here? When you were nine and a half years old? 

It was quite a transition. We came in April; I still remember the date, April 19th. That was the beginning of Japan’s school year but it was towards the end of America’s school year. Since I spoke no word of English, I was demoted. I was supposed to go into fourth grade and I was demoted to second grade. The difference between a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old is huge. I was a mature nine-year-old too. It felt like I was with total babies or something. That was tough not being able to speak the language, struggling with that, and being different. I remember sitting in a math class and looking at the textbook and thinking, “I can’t believe how this is like kindergarten,” but then of course, I couldn’t speak English. I worked hard for the first two years, we took ESL classes.

I have to be thankful for my teachers who treated my sister and I with so much love and gave us so much attention that we learned the language quickly. We were made to feel special instead of feeling ostracized. We were in a waspy neighborhood where there weren’t many ethnic people in the town at all and we stood out. Luckily, the community, instead of treating us like we were outsiders, were so loving towards us. I guess it helps that at seven years old and nine years old, we were cute. We were embraced and made to feel special. That also helped to accelerate our learning of the language. At the same time, we were trying to keep up with Japan school curriculums so we could keep the language. It was a lot of work for a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old. The summer vacation we spent a lot of time on the ESL classes, pronunciations, and all of that.

I would say it took me probably about four years to feel confident with the language because I was very shy. I did get some bullying, especially when we had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning in the school. I was faking it because I didn’t understand many of the words in the beginning. There were some kids in the class who would make fun and they’d be like, “You don’t know the Pledge of Allegiance, Mariko.” There were some bullying kids like that. I remember feeling hurt. I would say, on the whole, I was lucky that we were treated with so much love by the community and by our teachers and encouraged and supported. Also, having dance as an outlet helped because dance doesn’t require verbal language; it’s a physical language of movement. I learned to embrace dance as a medium of expression when my verbal skills weren’t 100%. I think that dance helped me during that transitional period.

You say during that time you are still learning Japanese as well as English?

I was trying to keep up with a curriculum of Japanese school because we were doing remote correspondence lessons. With that and ESL, it felt double, triple the work.

Who was your role model growing up?

I looked up to a lot of the beautiful top ballet dancers of that time. My role model definitely changed when I became more mature. In those times, Suzanne Farrell and people at the top of American ballet theater, Gelsey Kirkland, those people. Later on, I came to realize how much imbalance there is in that ballet world and how much darkness there is too. I admire them for their amazing dancing and their grace on stage. In Japanese, we have this word akogare which means you dream of attaining that level of mastery. That was more what I had, not so much like a life role model, but being a dancer, I admired their technical abilities and their grace. It seemed to me superhuman.

Ayurveda Yoga Practice: You just arrive after seeking fulfillment in many directions.

Who is your role model now?

I have many. Definitely Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, who is my spiritual teacher, I greatly admire. To live in that state of heightened spiritual awareness in this modern-day world is no small feat. She’s with the times and that’s something I truly admire in a yogi who is able to communicate with her people in a way that’s relevant to this digital age. Of course, I admire people like Oprah. She is a spiritual mentor to many. In this stage of her life, what she’s committed to being is to deepen her spiritual life as well as to share her journey with the rest of the world. That’s a very inspiring example. As far as entrepreneurs too, I greatly admire many people in the entrepreneurial space. Entrepreneurs by nature, we have to work on ourselves. We come to spirituality as a necessity to grow our businesses. People who have successful businesses have definitely that spiritual side. People like Lisa Sasevich or Sage Lavine or people who have grown their business exponentially. They had to make big leaps of faith and that’s a wonderful thing. I admire those people too, for sure.

Looking at your bio, you are moving from being a ballet dancer to become a yoga teacher. What’s that journey like? How did you make that decision to change? 

I don’t see myself as a yoga teacher. It’s more of a mentor position that I’m in. The journey has been so rich. I don’t feel there has been any wasted effort anywhere. It seems like it’s not a straight line, but I see how each thing led to the next. From the world of ballet, that’s a very intensive, rarefied, and closed world; and I’m very grateful that it was because it taught me so much about work ethics. As a ballet dancer, you have to spend up to eight hours to ten hours in the studio and that’s a sacred space. I’m so grateful we didn’t have cell phones then because there was none of that distraction. We just worked on our craft. We would do our bar exercise, our class, and then rehearse. It’s a path of seeking aesthetic perfection and seeking to be the perfect instrument for the choreographer. I am grateful for that training I had looking back.

I got into a professional dance company at the age of eighteen and nineteen. I loved that life of a dancer. At a certain point, I started to experience this hunger. A new hunger came and that was the question, “What’s the purpose of my life?” As a dancer, I realized that it seemed like the combination of everything where it was just these few moments of applause from this darkened audience and I came to question, “Is my whole life about those few moments of applause? Am I living my life for that? Am I pouring my sweat and blood for that few moments of applause? What is the greater meaning of my life? What is my life beyond dance?” That question started me on a whole new journey and I went through this dark night of the soul where I could not face the mirror because I felt like I was lost. I didn’t know what the purpose of my life was even though I had fulfilled the dream of becoming a professional dancer.

One day, I skipped my dance class because it was too painful. It got too painful to face myself in the mirror doing these ballet exercises. I thought, “I can’t do it today.” Instead of going to the dance class, I wandered aimlessly walking past that studio and I stumbled upon this yoga studio. I liked the fact there were no mirrors in the yoga studio and I decided to take this class and see what this yoga thing is all about. I enjoy the introspection of the practice. I enjoyed moving with my breath, closing my eyes, and not worrying how the pose looked from the outside. It was a completely internal experience. At the end of that class, I experienced my body is not just a physical body. I experienced that my body is a body of light and energy. I had never experienced that in almost the twenty years that I had been doing dance intensively. Even though I was using energy, I never experienced my body as truly made of energy and light.

At the end of the class, there was a huge, violet, brilliant blue light that was pulsating in the center of my forehead. It seemed to be beckoning me deeper. It was almost intoxicating. I wanted to stay in that relaxation pose forever. I came out and I asked the teacher, “What just happened to me?” She pointed to a photo on the altar and she said, “We are connected with an enlightened master and we think that you receive this energy from her.” I said, “What?” It sounded all crazy and it sounded woo-woo. I was very skeptical, but something about that photograph grabbed me. There was a look in her eye of this woman in the photograph that made me feel she knows something deeper and she has the key to the mystery of what I was seeking: what is my purpose? When I found out she lived two hours outside of New York City where I was living, I decided I must go meet this person if she exists in the flesh.

That was the journey and that led me to meeting her face to face. I’ll never forget when I first met her because it was such an awakening. She was no taller than I was. She was physically quite petite, but her energy field was so vast. She carried a mountain of silence with her. When she looked into my eyes, I felt she knew me better than I ever knew myself. I felt naked in front of her like she could see everything about me, my past life, everything. After giving me a deep look in the eye, she said in her deep voice, “You just arrived.” That was a mantra to me; it still is, for many years. It’s like, “You just arrive after seeking fulfillment in many directions. You sought in dance. You sought it in excelling in academics. You sought it in finding friends and social life. You sought it in relationships. You sought it in sex. You sought it in food. You looked for it everywhere. Finally, you have arrived.” I felt it was that depth of asking. In that moment, indeed, I felt I exploded energetically and tears rolled down. That was a day I’ll never forget. That was the beginning of my journey of yoga for me. That led me to explore yoga deeper. It led me to embrace yoga as a profession.

When I was three or four years into teaching yoga full-time, I started to attract clients who are terminally ill with cancer, with Alzheimer’s, with Parkinson’s. It was heavy-duty terminal illnesses. I felt this burning desire to serve them on a deeper level than just the physical practice. It led me to another journey of seeking various healing modalities to serve my clients. I learned Reiki, I learned Shiatsu, I learned energy healing, and I came across Ayurvedic medicine, which is a holistic healing medicine from India. When I found this medicine, I thought, “This holistic medicine speaks the same language as yoga. It comes from the same tradition of the enlightened masters.” I was delighted that it fit like a glove, hand-in-hand with yoga. Often it is called the sister science to yoga. Hence, I embarked on the journey of studying Ayurvedic medicine first in United States. I enrolled in a course of about a yearlong study.

At the end of that, I felt I had a good foundation; but they were telling me to go out and practice this medicine and I did not feel prepared to treat patients. I decided to embark on my own journey of seeking deeper knowledge. I contacted some of the doctors in India and I asked them to take me on as an apprentice. That was my first trip to India as an adult. That was 1999. At the same time, I met another great master named Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, who I am still connected to. He this amazing breathing technique called the healing breath. I thought, “This is also something that can help teaching my clients and it will help them with their cancer.” I decided to make my first journey to India about learning these two healing modalities, the healing breath with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Ayurvedic medicine.

My first trip was only about six weeks long, but so much happened in that six weeks. After I trained with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for a week, he was taking a bunch of people on a school bus down to the southern tip of India on his tour. I ended up going along with him on this tour, which was completely spontaneous. I had planned something different in my own agenda just to go see some touristic sites in India, but a series of coincidences led me to stay with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and take this tour of spiritual India. That was also an incredible experience of meeting these unknown masters and being taken to these rural, very uncommercial ashrams. They welcomed us with so much love. That was my first trip to India.

Eventually, it ended up that I got a fellowship grant to study in a university in India, in the medical school that teaches Ayurveda as a medicine. That is called the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery. It’s a five-and-a-half-year medical course. I got accepted as a fellowship scholar and I ended up living in India full-time from 2003 to 2010 as a scholar. It ended up being seven years in India studying Ayurvedic medicine and yoga. It’s been quite a journey.

Coming back to New York after that, it’s been teaching people about yoga and Ayurveda. I am adding one more piece which is Yoga-Ayurveda and living your purpose. When I was consulting with people, giving them Ayurvedic consultations, I realized that many people did not have this clarity of purpose about their life. My whole journey began with this inquiry into what is my purpose. I felt I could help people with that. When that purpose piece clicked for them, everything came together beautifully. There was this joy of waking up every day and embracing your purpose. Health is something that should help you move higher, but health is not a goal by itself. It is something that will propel you deeper and higher into living your spiritual purpose on this planet. My work is visionary yoga and taking Yoga-Ayurveda and helping people to live that purposeful life.

The Yoga of Personal Development: Enlightened Lessons on Peak Performance, Leadership and Living A Life of No Regrets

You wrote that in the recent book?

Yes. My book, The Yoga Of Personal Development, is about that journey. I do share some of my adventures in India because it was out of the world when you meet these enlightened beings and I wanted to share that. The main message of that book is that yoga is so much more than the stretching. What we typically see as yoga today is it seems it’s confined to this physical practice. I wanted to share the message that yoga is the oldest personal development system on the planet. Yoga has truly the capacity to transform a human being completely. The full title of the book is Yoga Of Personal Development: Enlightened Lessons On Peak Performance, Leadership And Living A Life Of No Regrets. It was an adventure writing this book. I got to relive a lot of these memories and share as an entrepreneur also what are the practical things from the inner teachings of yoga that can help you live a more unlimited life because we all tend to be our own obstacle. The biggest obstacle is the inner obstacle and I wanted to help people overcome that, make their dreams come true, and live their vision. That’s what entrepreneurs do: live a bigger and bigger life.

Let me ask you, what does the word power mean to you?

It’s a very loaded word, isn’t it? The context matters but to me, it requires quite a lot of responsibility, self-awareness and self-knowledge to use power in the most constructive way and in the way it was originally meant to. I feel along with power needs to be purity. Why all the negative connotations around the word power? It’s because of the abuse of power. We see people in politics or people of high power, how they have abused it. That tends to get a lot of the press. We have sometimes a negative connotation with the word power. Truly in Sanskrit, in the language of yoga, the word power is Shakti.

Shakti is a feminine word. We’re living in this age of awakening of the feminine power. That is beautiful because feminine power has inherent within it this purity. There’s this nurturing, there is this motherliness, there’s this compassion along with power that keeps power in check and makes sure that power is used for positive and used not just for self-aggrandizement but also for the upliftment of the world. For me, that’s the empowered use of power. It’s important for us to get to know and face ourselves deeply in order to fully utilize our power. We have to know ourselves and what our strengths are. Along with power needs to be purity, intelligence, awareness, and all of these things; I feel yoga, as that deeper and larger discipline beyond us and the practice, has so much to offer us as far as how to go about that self-inquiry, knowing yourself deeper, and how to channel that power towards creating something that is uplifting in the world.

The way that you describe it is so powerful and insightful.

This word Shakti, which is the word for power in Sanskrit, often it’s the word used for goddesses. We are living in this awakening. You see it everywhere. Sometimes, it does come out in twisted ways so I think women also need to be aware of how we’re using power. Are we using it just for our own self-benefit and for only ourselves? There’s a lot of blame also out there. We need to watch that because words do also have power. To come from that place, it takes a lot of self-inquiry. Why am I doing what I’m doing? How am I putting out what I’m putting out? What’s the rippling effect? We have to understand what the ripple effect of what we do is. That is part of the responsibility of a person with power. Women have so much more power than ever before, especially women in the West. As Dalai Lama said, “The western woman will change the world,” and I really see that happening.

The next president would be a woman? Hopefully, yes.

Perhaps, we never know. That’s definitely a possibility.

What will you not compromise or tolerate in your life?

I will not compromise my integrity. That is everything. When you make your spiritual work your work, it’s a challenge because of integrity and honesty. You have to keep catching yourself. I believe that’s why I chose my work in this yoga and I chose to go deep into yoga. I won’t tolerate belittling of the sacred path of yoga. When I’m searching for keywords on the internet, for example, and I see words associated with yoga that are degrading and that have to do with sexual connotations, it saddens me because it’s totally a wrong approach or it’s a degradation of this path and it’s a degradation of women too. That gives a bad name to yoga as a path. It belittles it and it makes it trite, when it is such a profound path.

I feel having spent ten years plus living in India, I feel I have the responsibility to stand up for what we call yoga to be sacred and to be honored as this powerful, divine gift. Not just this exercise and not just for the yoga butt. When we bring it down to the physical practice, that’s what it comes down to. There’s nothing wrong with having a sexy body, but when that’s used to advertise yoga, I get a little peeved about that. There’s nothing wrong with sexuality but if it’s done in a distasteful way, I get very peeved about that so I won’t tolerate that.

What things have you done that you are proud of? 

I’m very proud that I get to wake up and help other people’s lives become better. It’s truly amazing what this practice can do. I’ve helped people entrenched in drug addiction not just come out of it but empower themselves to live a life of their design. I’ve helped people heal a lot of their physical imbalances. I helped one woman conceive a baby, which, because of her severe physical imbalance, she was unable to have a baby. I helped her with her diet, with herbs, and creating a more balanced state. She was able to not just conceive a baby, but also have the confidence to move into a whole new phase of her career. That was something I am proud to be a part of. I don’t want to take credit for it because she did it; but it’s my joy too.

It’s my pride to be the partner in believing for my clients. When you’re going for your dreams, there’s inevitably going to be times when you doubt yourself. It’s human nature, having fears and doubts. It’s my joy to be able to stand by a person and take that bold and inspired action that they’re scared to death of. They may not have taken if they didn’t have that support. I am proud to be the person to see that big picture vision for my clients when they themselves feel they can’t and help them pull through and to be able to create balance in their life which helps the entire family. Also, to help them feel so much better about themselves as a human being and to increase that level of belief and of having in themselves. All of this is inner work that we don’t think of as the work of yoga, but it truly is. Yoga is honoring your true self-worth. Your birthright as a human being on this planet is to realize yourself, to live your purpose and live your Dharma. I’m very proud of that.

What makes you feel happy?

What makes me feel happy is to be part of that change for people. I’m an ambassador for this charity called Yoga Gives Back. Several times, I had the chance to go to India and serve these orphaned kids. I’ve done several charity works. As part of another charity called PRASAD, I was able to go to these impoverished towns and go around all these villages serving milk to these children. The smile on their faces and their happiness; just a glass of warm milk, it makes them happy. To be able to be a part of that truly brought tears to my eyes.

Ayurveda Yoga Practice: Your birthright as a human being on this planet is to realize yourself, to live your purpose and live your Dharma.

As ambassador of Yoga Gives Back, this organization which supports women in need with microloans and truly helps them to gain independence by starting their own business, we give them the seed money and they’re able to start their own businesses. It’s like teaching them how to fish. This organization also supports orphan children with their educational funds. $5 can do so much. It can literally save a child’s life. Seeing these kids thrive, it opens my heart and it makes me realize this is the power of giving back. That makes me happy to be able to make such a difference, to save a human life, to educate a child, and to save them from life of poverty, child labor and all of that. It’s tremendous. That really makes me happy. Of course, other things make me happy. I love going to concerts, seeing great works of art and seeing dance. I love to see dance, of course. I love to travel the world and share my message. I feel really lucky. I love what I do so much, there’s almost no difference between vacation and work. I feel lucky that way.

If every day is just like vacation, that’s a wonderful life. 

I get to move, be creative, touch people’s lives and spread my message. I would even do it for no money, but it’s what I get to do as part of my entrepreneurial journey. I feel it’s like a God-given gift.

What is next for you? 

I have a lot of big things planned. I’m going to go on a tour with my book throughout ten cities in United States. I will be also launching a web TV show about the deeper dimensions of yoga and Ayurveda. It will be a variety of topics. It will culminate all with my event called Visionary Yoga Live. I’m super excited for that because I’ll be unveiling my passion project, which I call the Visionary Yoga Rave. It’s an out-of-the-box experience of the inner dimension of yoga. It’s a movement meditation in this room full of video projections that take people on a virtual pilgrimage to all the sacred sites of the world done to amazing sound collage. It’s going to be a very artistic journey. It’s going to be a movement meditation. It’s like an interactive art installation and it’s going to end up in a rave, a total let-your-hair-down movement meditation. It’s far beyond a yoga class. I want to take this notion that I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible. I want this to be an event that everybody can do in darkness so you can be anonymous and let the intelligence of the body move you. There’s going to be the kicker off for the event. We’ll have two and a half days of rich content unfolding the inner dimensions of yoga and how that can be used to transform your life and your business and take it to the next level and realizing your vision for what your life is.

I’ll be doing a few book launch things in New York City where I’m based. The book is available on Amazon. If anybody wants to take a peek, it’s The Yoga Of Personal Development and we’ll be starting that tour and will be culminating with the event on the West Coast. Come to VisionaryYoga.com and that should be all there for you. I’m excited because the site is brand new and I have a beautiful video collage there that will give you the journey of what this whole event will be.

Yes, all your videos and poses are beautiful and relaxing. I watch you on Facebook live or something like that. What are your top three advices for Asian women?

Number one is, as Asian women, we’re taught to be modest and not rock the boat. Do everything you can to strengthen your belief in yourself and take outer action that affirms that for you. Unless we put it out there in the world, we need that validation from the world to know this is real. A lot of us tend to be introspective, we tend to be perfectionists, we mull over things, we overanalyze and overthink things; and that can be a huge obstacle in getting things started. My advice is get it to the point of good enough. With great belief in yourself and trust in the universe, put it out there. Be bold. That’s number one.

Number two is, I always do a gratitude journaling of what am I grateful for today. Starting your day, the first thing you do should be something positive. The first thing you say to yourself should lift your vibrations. I have this practice before my feet hit the ground after I get out of bed, I open my arms to the sky and I say a huge thank you. Thank you for this amazing day, full of creativity, fulfilling relationships, whatever I want the day to be. The first thing out of bed I do that. That has been a huge thing for me every day. It raises your energy a few knots before you even go to the bathroom to brush your teeth. That’s a wonderful practice.

Number three is, we’re living in the age of collaboration instead of competition so devote some time to creating positive relationships. Nurture your relationships. That is something I’ve been working on, because in digital age, we can hide behind the computer and feel like we’re all alone. It’s in forging these relationships that we exponentially expand our power. I’m grateful to you, Kimchi, for reaching out to me because this is a collaboration of sorts. We’re combining our reach and reaching out. That’s my advice as well: create positive relationships. Do something every day to further your relationship and be willing to give first. Not always just asking, but also be willing to give first when you’re forging relationships. That’s always been received well. Those are my top three advices.

How do you want our listeners to go to if they want to reach out to you?

First, you can find me on VisionaryYoga.com for the latest happenings. I would love to offer a free gift. My main site is VisionaryYoga.com and my free gift is a five-day course on Visionary Yoga Challenge. Every day, you’ll receive a twelve to 30-minute, very content rich video practice. This comes from a course I sell. It’s a paid offering but I wanted to offer the first five videos as a gift. It’s a very beginner-friendly and themed course so each day you’ll do something different. You can find this course on VisionaryYogaChallenge.com.

Ayurveda Yoga Practice: Do everything you can to strengthen your belief in yourself and take outer action that affirms that for you.

First day is all about opening your back because a lot of us spend too long at the desk and we get hunchbacks or lower back and all of that. The second day is about opening your shoulders to shift your relationship to stress. The third day is empowering your core to boost your metabolism, to enhance your self-esteem, and to enhance your digestive power as well. Boosting your immunity, boosting your emotional well-being is all in the core areas. Day four is opening your hamstrings. Day five is all about twists and I connect that to evolving on the spiritual path. Each of these days is connected to a life theme or a spiritual theme of growth. In this way, we take that physical practice on the mat into a life theme of growth. My tribe loved it and your tribe will also love it. It’s very beginner-friendly and relaxing but also an invigorating series of videos. I hope you’ll enjoy. That’s at VisionaryYogaChallenge.com.

Thank you for being here. This interview is very insightful and it taught me a lot. It’s wonderful point of view from someone like you. 

Thank you. It’s a gift to be asked these questions because it made me think a little deeper about what I believe in, especially that question on power and what I won’t compromise on. That was a question I was not expecting and it made me think a little bit deeper about that. Thank you. It was a growth journey for me too.

Thank you. What a journey that Mariko had. What did you get out of this interview? What inspired you about Mariko’s story? Let me know your thoughts. Until then, live life loud.

Links Mentioned:

• Yoga Of Personal Development: Enlightened Lessons On Peak Performance And Living A Life Of No Regrets
• Visionary Yoga
• Suzanne Farrell
• Gelsey Kirkland
• Gurumayi Chidvilasananda
• Lisa Sasevich
• Sage Lavine
• Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
• Yoga Gives Back
• PRASAD
• Visionary Yoga Rave
• VisionaryYoga.com
• VisionaryYogaChallenge.com
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/visionaryyoga
  Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MarikoYoga/
  LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/visionaryyoga/
  Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/visionaryyoga/
  YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/marikohirakawa

Episode Quotes

"What’s the purpose of my life? Few moments of applause?”

“She knew me better than I knew myself.”

“When you’re going for your dreams, there’s inevitably going to be times when you doubt yourself. It’s human nature.”

“Be a part of change for people.”

About Mariko Hirakawa

Mariko is the #1 International Bestselling author of Yoga of Personal Development: Enlightened Lessons on Peak Performance, and Living A Life of No Regrets.
She’s an internationally known Yoga-Ayurveda expert and founder of Visionary Yoga, a personal development company dedicated to accelerating the growth of motivated individuals and companies through the sophisticated, and often hidden wisdom of Yoga.
Proficient in Hindi and Sanskrit, she is one of the very few in the West to have completed the rigorous 5 ½ year B.A.M.S. (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) degree as a fellowship scholar at one of the top Ayurvedic university in India.
She’s a teacher of teachers, presenting at Yoga Festivals and conferences around the world. She currently works with top business executives in New York City bringing Yoga as a powerful Peak Performance and personal development tool to step into their highest expression as leaders.
A former professional ballet dancer as well as an Ayurvedic physician trained in India, Mariko is dedicated to positioning Yoga as something far beyond fitness – the ultimate technology for human consciousness evolution.
Mariko Hirakawa B.A.M.S., E-RYT, Founder, Visionary Yoga
www.VisionaryYoga.com

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