Profile&Bio
Yoga & Meditation Facilitator
Japanese–English Interpreter
MSc in Mindfulness
Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
Comassionate Inquiry
E-RYT500
Kumi Umuyashiki
I guide yoga and meditation with attention to safety.
E-RYT 500 / Completed Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry (CI) training / Completed Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) profefssional training / Postgraduate research in mindfulness at the University of Aberdeen, UK / Currently undertaking certification courses in Dr Daniel Siegel’s Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) and attachment theory.
Japanese–English interpreter for yoga and mindfulness since 2009.
I began practising yoga in 1999. The world is constantly changing (impermanence) and full of uncertainty. Yet when we learn to relax into that uncertainty and feel at ease, our minds open up and the way we see the world changes.
What emerges there is not a sense of hope, but but a sense of possibility. Hope belongs to the future, while possibility exists in the here and now. Yoga and meditation have become essential to me in bringing my wandering mind back to the present moment.
Timeline: My Journey of Learning and Practice
I have spent much of my life moving between Japan and English-speaking countries, including the UK and Canada, living across different cultures and languages. I have also continued to explore personal challenges involving my mind and body since childhood, both in Japan and abroad.
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1990s
Studied art at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Experienced panic disorder and regularly attended counselling after being referred by my university GP. -
Late 1990s
Moved to Canada after getting married.
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1999
Started practising yoga in Vancouver. -
2000
Started chanting the Heart Sutra in English and practising zazen (seated meditation) at North Shore Zendo, a Sōtō Zen centre in North Vancouver. -
2006
Divorced and returned to Japan as a single mother of two.
Began working as a Japanese–English interpreter. -
2007
Recognised how much yoga and meditation had supported me through ongoing physical and emotional difficulties.
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March 2009
Interpreted at a yoga teacher training co-led by Akira Watamoto and Steve Ross, a yoga instructor described at the time as a leading figure in the Los Angeles yoga scene.Around this time, I was avidly listening to an internet radio programme hosted by Oprah Winfrey and the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now. When I first met Steve, I told him that listening to the programme had inspired me to deepen my yoga practice and apply for the interpreting role. He replied, “Eckhart is a close friend of mine. I was the one who introduced him to Oprah.”
I felt a strong sense of destiny. This encounter became a turning point, inspiring me to commit to a life devoted to yoga. Steve Ross remains my yoga teacher to this day.
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2009
Spent a short period in Canada and obtained my RYT 200 certification at Prana Yoga College, now based in Israel.
After returning to Japan, I opened my own yoga school, Shakti Mandir Yoga, and began teaching. -
2009
Established myself as a yoga interpreter, providing interpreting services at studios including Studio Yoggy and Osaka Spirit Yoga. -
Around 2010–2012
Studied kirtan with Steve Ross. Between interpreting assignments, I would sometimes play the guitar and sing or chant. I was deeply immersed in kirtan during this period and also took part in kirtan sessions led by the late David Newman. -
2010–2013
Deepened my yoga studies through intensive training, completing the following courses:
Yin Yoga Teacher Training / Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training / Medical Yoga Training / Restorative Yoga Teacher Training at Path Yoga, Vancouver / Restorative Yoga Teacher Training at Sun & Moon YOGA, Tokyo
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2012 onwards
Offered Hatha Yoga, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Prenatal Yoga at my own studio, Shakti Mandir Yoga, working alongside other teachers. Built a yoga community in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, and organised numerous yoga events. -
2012
Interpreted for Sarah Powers, one of the founders of Yin Yoga. -
2012–2019
Regularly organised and led Yoga Tours to Vancouver, Canada. Visited Canadian yoga teachers and North Shore Zendo, where we practised yoga and meditation. -
2014–2017
Completed Thai massage training. Obtained a certification in Yoga Therapeutics teaching.
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2014 onwards
Interpreted for Joe Barnett, a close student of Paul Grilley, one of the founders of Yin Yoga. From then on, I interpreted for Joe Barnett’s Yin Yoga workshops held annually in various parts of Japan. -
2014–2018
Invited yoga teachers from overseas to Japan and helped organise Yoga Alliance–registered 200-hour teacher training programmes and other courses in Mie, Aichi, Okayama, Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Kumamoto. Worked as a teacher, assistant, and interpreter. -
2015 onwards
Developed my own Restorative Yoga teaching manual and began offering 15–20-hour Restorative Yoga teacher training courses. Around this time, I was also exploring my growing interest in the relationships between the mind and the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. -
2015 onwards
Began offering Thai massage treatments.
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2015
Established a personal connection with Gabor Maté, author of When the Body Says No . I sought his advice on working with cancer patients through yoga. This connection deepened my interest in the relationship between yoga and healing. -
2015 onwards
Actively offered private yoga sessions at my home studio for cancer survivors and people experiencing physical or emotional stress and difficulties. -
2017
Completed Lara Benusis’s Science of Yoga: Yoga for Cancer course. -
Around 2017
Experienced a recurrence of atopic dermatitis after many years without symptoms.
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2018
Created a simplified Thai massage manual and began offering Thai massage training. By omitting more complex techniques and dividing longer 90-minute sessions into three shorter sections, I made the practice easier to learn and apply. -
Summer 2018
Obtained my Yoga Alliance–registered RYT 300-hour certification through Open Source Yoga, then based on Texada Island on the west coast of Canada. -
Late 2018
After stopping the topical steroid medication I had been using to treat atopic dermatitis, I experienced severe symptoms associated with steroid withdrawal, followed by psychosomatic symptoms. My treating physician recommended that I leave Japan to support my recovery. -
July 2019
Decided to relocate temporarily to Texada Island, Canada, with my toy poodle, and stayed for nine months. I lived with a yoga teacher in a village of around 100 people, offering yoga and Thai massage to local residents through bartering. Within a few weeks of arriving on the island, my psychosomatic symptoms had resolved.
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Summer 2019
Heard from Gabor Maté, who, after learning that I had developed psychosomatic symptoms and temporarily relocated to an island in Canada, expressed an interest in interviewing me for The Myth of Normal, which he was writing at the time. However, the interview never happened. -
Autumn 2019
An Ayurvedic doctor suggested that I explore psychedelic plant therapy as part of my care for psychosomatic symptoms. I was hesitant, so the doctor instead recommended a psychotherapy training course focused on trauma care called Compassionate Inquiry. When I looked into the course, I discovered that it had been developed by Gabor Maté. Surprised by this unexpected coincidence, I decided to enrol.
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February 2020
Began Gabor Maté’s Compassionate Inquiry training. Developed an interest in the relationship between the psychosomatic symptoms I had experienced since childhood and implicit memory. -
February 2020
With the COVID-19 pandemic emerging and lockdowns a growing concern, decided to return to Japan. -
February–March 2020
Planned to establish a Yoga Alliance–registered 200-hour yoga teacher training school in Japan. While staying on the Canadian island, I wrote the training manual and registered the school with Yoga Alliance.
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March 2020
Returned to Japan. Amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, I began offering Yin Yoga online as a “Practice of Trust”, following a suggestion from my friend Kanako Izawa, a yoga educator who had returned from Hong Kong around the same time. I also interpreted online workshops in Yin Yoga and chakra meditation, featuring Joe Barnett and Paul Grilley, one of the founders of Yin Yoga. -
March 2020
Started the 300-hour Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) training course online from the United States. As I studied trauma theory through CI, I found it impossible to separate the subject from the body. -
March 2020 onwards
Began offering my own online yoga classes and Yoga Alliance–registered 200-hour yoga teacher training programmes.
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Summer 2020 onwards
Began offering chair yoga training incorporating trauma-sensitive approaches, exploring interoception with participants. Added polyvagal theory to the theoretical component of my Restorative Yoga teacher training. -
2021
Co-delivered an online prenatal yoga teacher training course with Kaori Ogawa, a midwife based in Mie Prefecture, Japan. -
2021 onwards
Began working as an interpreter for teacher training programmes in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), organised by the International Mindfulness Center JAPAN (IMCJ). -
March 2021
Completed the Compassionate Inquiry (CI) and Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) training programmes.
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2021
Reconnected with Akira Watamoto and Steve Ross after 12 years. Organised and interpreted an online class featuring a collaboration between the two teachers. From then until 2022, I regularly hosted Steve Ross’s meditation classes online. -
2021–2022
Offered Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) online in Japan. Encountered challenges arising from differences between American and Japanese cultures, including language and expression, as well as difficulties in finding appropriate pathways to reach those who might benefit from the practice. These challenges led me to reconsider my approach, and I temporarily stopped offering the programme. -
2021 onwards
Began offering Compassionate Inquiry. As with Trauma-Sensitive Yoga, I encountered challenges related to cultural differences. In particular, the experience prompted deep reflection on emotional connection in parent–child relationships in Japanese families. -
2022
Prepared a preliminary Japanese translation of the recorded Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM) course.
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July 2023
Decided to pursue postgraduate studies online at a UK university to deepen my understanding of mindfulness. Spent six months in the UK, teaching yoga and mindfulness classes in Japan remotely from there, while continuing to interpret online. -
August 2023 onwards
Began researching mindfulness from a social science perspective as a postgraduate student at the University of Aberdeen, enrolled in a three-year online programme. -
2024
Returned to Japan and continued my postgraduate studies from there. -
March 2024 onwards
Began interpreting for programmes including SEE Learning (Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning) and Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT), jointly offered by Keio University’s Center for Contemplative Science and the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University in the United States.
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2025–2026
Worked on my MSc dissertation using autoethnography as a methodology. Guided by the meta-awareness cultivated through mindfulness, I explored the fluidity of selfhood in a bicultural context. -
2026
Drawing on theories from cross-cultural psychology and Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) in my dissertation deepened my understanding of the considerations involved in introducing trauma therapies developed in Western contexts to Japan. -
August 2026
Submitted my MSc dissertation, receiving a mark of 20 out of 22. -
November 2026
Graduated with an MSc from the University of Aberdeen.
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2026 onwards
Slowly working through the Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) certification course led by Dr Daniel Siegel, at my own pace. -
September 2026 onwards
Finding joy in returning to simple yoga and meditation practices. Practice is what matters most. With a sense of returning to the basics, I am living simply and mindfully, day by day.