A single sentence from a friend opens Mae’s heart to something she hadn’t realized she’d closed. In this episode, she reflects on how pain can harden us—and how we can still choose to open again, not because it’s safe, but because it’s true.

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

Mae departs from her usual storytelling to share an original poem, written in spring 2025. A meditation on presence, legacy, and love’s quiet transformation of loss, it invites the listener to pause and receive life exactly as it is—in all its forms.

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

Mae unpacks how the search for answers can quietly become a form of self-punishment—especially when we judge the version of ourselves in the middle of becoming. Drawing inspiration from Frida Kahlo’s raw self-portraits, this episode is a love letter to the not-yet, the still-cooking, and the deeply real.

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

Mae shares a powerful reflection on how emotions don't always appear in their purest form. Through her own journey, she explores how grief can unlock long-buried anger, revealing that when we peel back the layers of what we feel, we touch what’s most real.

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

Mae shares a personal story of practicing her TEDx talk with her teenage son—only to find him asleep mid-speech. What could have been frustrating turned into a grounding kizuki: the reminder that some people uplift, some challenge, and some simply keep us human.

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

Mae explores the outsized language of “great” and “radical” in American culture, contrasting it with Japan’s reverence for subtle perception. She reflects on how language shapes reality—and why naming the quiet truths may be the most radical act of all.

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

Mae shares how a fleeting thought at lunch with a friend revealed a hidden entitlement rooted in generational victimhood. She reframes the cycle, offering a path from pain and “being owed” to freedom, honor, and the joy of giving from fullness.

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

Mae reflects on cynicism as her old survival mechanism—how it shaped her identity, how her late husband’s neutrality mirrored it back, and how grief revealed its true cost. Inspired by Kyle Cease’s reflections on comedy, she invites listeners to notice the patterns they picked up in childhood that no longer serve them—and to consider what it would feel like to lay them down.

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

Mae shares a deeply personal realization from her summer trip to the Philippines, where witnessing her children’s care and emotional maturity helped her body release decades-old tension. She reflects on how small acts of safety can heal nervous system patterns rooted in childhood, and how gentle love can rewrite the past.

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

Mae revisits her first heartbreak—a relationship that ended not in betrayal, but in distance and care. She explores the emotional contradiction of grieving without wrongdoing, and reflects on the powerful kizuki that sometimes, leaving is the deepest form of love.

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