On an ordinary day, a small gesture—a train horn in response to a child’s wave—becomes an unforgettable kizuki. In this tender reflection, Mae revisits a story her father once shared, and pairs it with a real-life letter from a Tokyo train driver. Through both perspectives, this episode explores the quiet power of small moments, unseen gratitude, and the profound connections we often overlook.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling MAE Y method™, a powerful tool for self-awareness and transformation. A pioneer in wellness and personal development, Mae was the first Japanese woman authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India in 2006. Her work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, shaped by profound life experiences—including the loss of her mother, the sudden passing of her husband, and her ongoing journey as a mother to two sons. Mae’s upcoming books share her path of healing and becoming, and her online community, MAE Y, continues to support a growing circle of those on their path of inner growth. She has served as a global ambassador for adidas since 2015.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

In this quiet yet piercing episode, Mae explores how our social selves, shaped by culture and conditioning, often lead us to adjust, strive, and “be good”—at the cost of being real. Drawing on Cory Muscara’s insight and Martha Beck’s concept of the essential self, Mae unpacks how performance—even in spiritual practice—can subtly sabotage our presence. What remains when we let all that go?

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling MAE Y method™, a powerful tool for self-awareness and transformation. A pioneer in wellness and personal development, Mae was the first Japanese woman authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India in 2006. Her work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, shaped by profound life experiences—including the loss of her mother, the sudden passing of her husband, and her ongoing journey as a mother to two sons. Mae’s upcoming books share her path of healing and becoming, and her online community, MAE Y, continues to support a growing circle of those on their path of inner growth. She has served as a global ambassador for adidas since 2015.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

In this follow-up to The Slow Death of the Do-er, Mae explores what it truly feels like to “just observe” when fear arises. She reveals how real surrender isn’t about silencing fear, but meeting it with gentle awareness—kizuki. This honest reflection offers a step-by-step glimpse into moving from fear-based doing to soul-aligned flow.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling MAE Y method™, a powerful tool for self-awareness and transformation. A pioneer in wellness and personal development, Mae was the first Japanese woman authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India in 2006. Her work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, shaped by profound life experiences—including the loss of her mother, the sudden passing of her husband, and her ongoing journey as a mother to two sons. Mae’s upcoming books share her path of healing and becoming, and her online community, MAE Y, continues to support a growing circle of those on their path of inner growth. She has served as a global ambassador for adidas since 2015.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

In this deeply personal episode, Mae reflects on what it actually feels like to live inside the spiral—not as an idea, but as a lived, looping journey. She shares a recent kizuki around the subtle performance of surrender, and what happened when she finally allowed herself to stop trying and just soften. An invitation to all of us who are tired of striving: maybe your softness is already the return.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling MAE Y method™, a powerful tool for self-awareness and transformation. A pioneer in wellness and personal development, Mae was the first Japanese woman authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India in 2006. Her work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, shaped by profound life experiences—including the loss of her mother, the sudden passing of her husband, and her ongoing journey as a mother to two sons. Mae’s upcoming books share her path of healing and becoming, and her online community, MAE Y, continues to support a growing circle of those on their path of inner growth. She has served as a global ambassador for adidas since 2015.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

In this episode, Mae reflects on her spiritual development through the metaphor of the spiral, exploring the quiet shift from mental mapping to simply being—letting go of the personality’s need to plan or perform. A journal entry from two years ago reveals she’s been here before, contemplating surrender. But this time, it’s different. The episode gently invites listeners to recognize their own patterns not as stuckness, but as a sacred rising into a new level of awareness.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae is an author, yoga & meditation practitioner, teacher, and mother. In 2006, Mae became the first Japanese woman to be authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India. In 2016, Mae was awarded the “Yoga People’s Award” for her remarkable social impact in the wellness field. She is known as the face of adidas yoga as well as being the founder of ⁠MAE Y⁠, a premier online community service. Her upcoming book, Kizuki: Realizations Beyond Time and Death encapsulates her life-changing journey of a metamorphosis of identity after the sudden loss of her husband in 2018.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

Mae reflects on a lifelong narrative she’s carried about her parents’ divorce—and the realization that the deepest wound wasn’t the event itself, but the unintended self-blame that followed. Through this powerful kizuki, she explores the difference between pain… and the pain we cause ourselves in reaction to pain. A gentle but profound invitation to release what no longer needs to be carried.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae is an author, yoga & meditation practitioner, teacher, and mother. In 2006, Mae became the first Japanese woman to be authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India. In 2016, Mae was awarded the “Yoga People’s Award” for her remarkable social impact in the wellness field. She is known as the face of adidas yoga as well as being the founder of ⁠MAE Y⁠, a premier online community service. Her upcoming book, Kizuki: Realizations Beyond Time and Death encapsulates her life-changing journey of a metamorphosis of identity after the sudden loss of her husband in 2018.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

In this quietly powerful episode, Mae shares a raw, present-moment realization: that surrender isn’t one grand moment, but a hundred tiny ones. She speaks tenderly about what it means to soften, to be shaped, and to keep walking—through storm, grace, and even breaking apart. A deep, human reminder that we’re never alone in the unraveling.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae is an author, yoga & meditation practitioner, teacher, and mother. In 2006, Mae became the first Japanese woman to be authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India. In 2016, Mae was awarded the “Yoga People’s Award” for her remarkable social impact in the wellness field. She is known as the face of adidas yoga as well as being the founder of ⁠MAE Y⁠, a premier online community service. Her upcoming book, Kizuki: Realizations Beyond Time and Death encapsulates her life-changing journey of a metamorphosis of identity after the sudden loss of her husband in 2018.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa

Have you ever witnessed a moment of silence so brimming with meaning that it stayed with you, even without words? Such was Mae’s experience when she watched a young man hold his own next to another who was puffing himself up—at his expense. True confidence isn’t about proving or reacting but about staying deeply centered. In this episode, Mae explores how we cultivate that quiet, unshaken presence—so that when the world challenges us, we’re prepared.

Mae Yoshikawa

Mae is an author, yoga & meditation practitioner, teacher, and mother. In 2006, Mae became the first Japanese woman to be authorized by the founding school of Ashtanga Yoga in India. In 2016, Mae was awarded the “Yoga People’s Award” for her remarkable social impact in the wellness field. She is known as the face of adidas yoga as well as being the founder of ⁠MAE Y⁠, a premier online community service. Her upcoming book, Kizuki: Realizations Beyond Time and Death encapsulates her life-changing journey of a metamorphosis of identity after the sudden loss of her husband in 2018.

Kizuki Journaling Website: KizukiJournaling.com

Personal Website: https://maey.live/

Instagram: ⁠@maeyoshikawa