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Mimi Horiuchi

Introducing Mimi Horiuchi

Mimi Horiuchi is from Kanagawa Prefecture and the representative of Yoga Shakti.

“It was great that I came across your yoga class, Mimi-sensei!”

Hearing comments such as this from students, Mimi came to firmly believe in the value of her classes.

With regret over her roommate’s accidental death as an impetus, Mimi strives to convey the importance of taking care of one’s own mind and body as well as enriching one’s life. That same year, she dealt with her aunt entering a vegetative state due to cerebral thrombosis, so intensified her study of consciousness and unconsciousness, as well as yoga therapy.

As an ANLP-accredited Master Practitioner holding an international license to liberate the mind with unusual effectiveness, Mimi is now a health professional whose approach focuses on relaxation of both mind and body. Beginning with “MEGUMI“, a celebrity in Japan, she has coached many well-known figures. Mimi currently teaches yoga mainly at her classes in Shibuya, Jiyugaoka, and the grounds of a Shinto shrine in Kawasaki City.

Using her foreign teaching experience in America and The Bahamas, Mimi strives to make use of her knowledge to spread a healthy lifestyle through yoga. Mimi has appeared on J-WAVE, an FM radio station.

Mimi’s Yoga Journey

In 2002 Mimi went to America to study. At Palomar Community College (California) she completed courses in Fashion Merchandising. In Hollywood, she worked as a style assistant at Marika (a yoga apparel store). In March 2007 Mimi completed training courses toward becoming an Indian government-certified Hatha Yoga instructor at the Sivananda Bahamas Yoga Retreat. She also supervised Beautiful Yoga 2007 in California and at YogaWell completed a 500 hour course toward becoming a Yoga Alliance-certified yoga therapist in 2008. In April 2009, she organized a “Cherry Blossoms, Meditation, Chanting Workshop” in support of the Tokyo Olympic Bid Committee.

Mimi studied yoga under Kathyee Lee. While attending Kathyee Lee’s Yoga Teacher Training Course in order to fulfill her dream, she learned that Kathyeewas suffering from Stage 4 colon cancer. Mimi was terribly shocked upon being told that, “due to Kathyee’s terminal-stage cancer, she can only teach when she feels well enough.” Kathyee had lost her hair as a side effect of her chemotherapy treatments; she looked just like a Buddhist priest with a shaven head.

Kathyee’s chemotherapy sessions were followed by radiation therapy, using strong chemicals to try to hinder the growth of the tumors. Kathyee’s heartwarming and enthusiastic guidance and zeal, even while battling her terminal-stage cancer, touched Mimi deeply. Kathyee’s clear, beautiful voice alone could heal people’s hearts, and always imparted lots of courage, hope, knowledge and love to Mimi.

Though Mimi was still struggling with English, Kathyee gave rave reviews of her Sivananda Yoga class, and Mimi was put in charge of the Yoga Instructor Course upon her recommendation. Fortunately, it was so popular that it was filled with students spilling out into the hallways. Despite her terminal-stage cancer, Kathyee herself took Mimi’s course. Every time Mimi did her yoga chants, they would be filled with prayers for the cancer to fade away from Kathyee’s body. And, as a result of Mimi’s yoga therapy, Kathyee’s hair started to grow back in soft chestnut-colored tufts!

Mimi has learned various other alternative therapies, utilizing a clinical-psychological approach. Her first client in America was a 35 year-old Japanese woman who suffered from sciatica due to a series of procedures for a gynecological disorder. There were days where she could not walk or drive due to the pain. As a result of continued training with yoga therapy over the course of a year, she recovered and became able to drive and walk again. And she brought forth a miracle – the woman somehow became pregnant. In April 2009, her baby was born, and a new life was brought into the world. Two other people undergoing infertility treatments also became pregnant without complications over the course of a year of yoga therapy.

Mimi Says:

Many bad conditions in the mind and body are due to a stagnation of the body’s energies. When these energies become stagnant, the body can experience conditions like stiff shoulders due to poor circulation, hip pain, sensitivity to cold, chapped skin, and so on, while mentally, one can experience uneasiness about the future, lack of motivation, nervousness and irritation.

Also, people these days are overworked and tend to experience disturbances in eating patterns; such irregular lifestyle patterns cause the body’s energies to stagnate. I think that everyone can already feel this for himself or herself.

Through techniques inspired by neuroscience, I can change these bad energies into positive ones in an instant, bringing you closer to your ideal life and your ideal future.

Everyone begs me, “I want that to happen right now!” Indeed, I want to be able to support those who seriously want to get in control of their own life, right now!

Hatha Yoga

In the word Hatha, “Ha” means sun, inhalation, and condensation. “Tha” means moon, exhalation, and revealing what is magnified. “Hatha” signifies when the differing properties of the sun and moon are tied together as one, like Yin and Yang. When these differing Yin and Yang properties become one, it is thought to produce a strong power. Through the use of yoga poses and pranayama (breath control), your inner Yin and Yang – the darkness and light within you – harmonizes, achieving Hatha Yoga’s goal of becoming able to control this process.

Yoga Therapy

Mimi’s yoga therapy, in accordance with its objectives and goals with respect to afflictions of the mind and body, involves a regimen of breath control exercises, asana (yoga poses), meditation, relaxation exercises, healing massage treatments and NLP. By opening up your mind and body at an easy, comfortable pace, Mimi’s classes transform you at an unconscious level. From students’ first session onward they experience a feeling of refreshment that is indescribable and which, by altering their real-life actions, they find quite powerful.

Qualifications

Indian government-certified Hatha Yoga Instructor
500-hour RYT Yoga Alliance-authorized Yoga Therapist
Completed course on Essentials of Massage & Bodywork
Completed course on Thai Massage
Completed course on Physiology & Pathology A
Completed 20-hour Sudarshan Kriya Learning Course, Part 1
ANLP-certified NLP Practitioner
ANLP-certified Master Practitioner (planned date of completion November 15, 2009)