Miyuki is an immigrant from Japan. She previously worked as a nurse in Japan, having achieved everything needed to be a responsible adult — yet she was not happy. She couldn’t find anything that made her feel truly connected to her Ikigai (a reason for being). Over time, she developed unhealthy habits and began feeling numb. Eventually, she realized something was deeply wrong.
Determined to change her life, Miyuki stopped her bad habits and moved to the USA in 2010 to start over in a new environment. She studied Child Development and the Montessori method to better understand the roots of her unhappiness.
In 2014, one of Miyuki’s friends introduced her to a hot yoga class. Through the practice, she experienced a deep self-realization and soon began attending yoga classes every day. In 2015, she sought to deepen her practice and started studying Ashtanga Yoga with Magnolia Zuniga in San Francisco. After a year of training with Magnolia, Miyuki continued her studies with her local teacher, Timothy Lynch. By 2017, she began assisting in the Mysore room.
Miyuki enjoyed observing others' practice and connecting with people through assisting. She decided to deepen her knowledge of the Ashtanga yoga tradition and completed a 500-hour training with Kino MacGregor and Tim Feldmann in 2020 and 2021. In 2023, she traveled to Mysore for the first time to practice with Sharath Jois for two months, supported by her community, family, and friends.
Staying in Mysore, interacting with Ashtanga yoga practitioners from all over the world, and immersing herself in the local culture, Miyuki discovered the true meaning of Ishvara Pranidhana—surrender to God or a higher power.
Currently, she teaches Led classe on Fridays at Atha Room. She also leads a Quarter Primary Series class at Green Yogi on Mondays and Fridays.
Beyond yoga, Miyuki enjoys creative pursuits. She creates custom watercolor paintings and, in 2023, co-founded a small business called Santosha with her Ashtanga yoga friend, Debora Savicio.
Miyuki became an artist in her 40s — fulfilling a dream she had held since childhood. She grew up in Japan with loving parents, but they couldn’t believe she could support herself as an artist. When Miyuki was just 10 years old, they had a big fight over this, and she stopped drawing entirely.
Decades later, when she tried to draw again for the first time, she couldn’t stop crying. All the old feelings of disappointment, anger, and frustration resurfaced every time she picked up a pencil. It took nearly 10 years of consistent yoga practice for Miyuki to work through this deep-seated trauma and finally start drawing regularly again.
Miyuki hopes to send a message to anyone who has faced similar struggles: “It’s never too late! We can become who we want to be if we keep trying.”