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In this deeply personal episode, Mae shares two pivotal Kizukis that helped her unravel a lifelong pattern of striving to earn her worth. Beginning with the childhood wound of questioning her very right to exist, she uncovers a second, subtler layer: the longing to be truly seen and met by her father. An invitation to examine our deepest longings, reclaim our innate worth, and discover the freedom that becomes possible when we finally stop waiting. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

After a three-and-a-half-hour date with a Japanese man leaves her completely bewildered, Mae discovers that even growing up in Japan doesn’t mean she understands all its romantic rules. From the ritual of kokuhaku to the nostalgic tradition of the second button, she explores the surprising contradictions of Japanese dating culture—and what they reveal about the assumptions people bring into love. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

Returning to her childhood school as a parent brings back an unexpected memory for Mae: a track coach who tried to recruit her year after year, despite her repeated refusals. What once felt like an awkward encounter takes on a profoundly different meaning thirty years later, and Mae explores the lasting impact of letting someone know that they mattered. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

In one of the darkest periods after losing her husband, Mae went searching online for other widows—and encountered a woman whose loss forced her to look beyond the walls of her own pain. Reading directly from her memoir manuscript, she revisits an uncomfortable truth about comparison: sometimes witnessing the depths of what another person has survived can become a reason to keep going. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

After finding herself repeatedly fantasizing about escape, Mae turns to her journal and confronts a feeling she usually tries to transform. This episode explores what happens when she stops searching for meaning, wisdom, or a brighter perspective—and simply allows herself to stay with what hurts. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

After experiencing both divorce and widowhood, Mae reflects on something people rarely consider at the beginning of a relationship: how someone behaves when it ends. Looking back at the painful dissolution of her first marriage, she explores how endings expose values, boundaries, and character—not only in the person leaving, but in everyone involved. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

At fifteen, Mae sits across from a psychiatrist as her collapsing family is reduced to circles, lines, and one enormous X. Decades later, the memory raises a different question: after years of learning to understand and explain our pain, have we also learned how to hold it? A powerful episode about the limits of conceptual insight—and the kind of presence pain sometimes asks for instead. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

After discovering that only a tiny fraction of her life feels like pure play, Mae begins questioning the careful management underneath the freedom she has built. What begins as an inquiry into play leads to a deeper realization about falling—what it asks of her, why she resists it, and what that resistance may be costing her. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling®︎, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

After years of understanding the grief of losing her husband, Mae recognizes a trauma response she hadn’t fully seen before—and the surprising intelligence behind it. If our deepest protections were formed in response to something that actually happened, how do we loosen them when life can offer no guarantee it won’t happen again? This episode explores the difficult invitation to receive, trust, and love anyway. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

A child can turn a parent’s limitations into beliefs about their own worth. By looking at how absence is passed down through generations, this episode reveals a crucial distinction: what we did not receive mattered deeply, but it never determined our worth. It explores how inherited pain becomes identity—and how recognizing what was never ours to begin with can help break the cycle. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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: ⁠@collectingkizuki

Mae uncovers what may be one of the core kizukis of her life: beneath her patterns of independence, achievement, and difficulty receiving was an old question about whether she was worthy of existing at all. What begins as an exploration of money leads her back to childhood, worthiness, and the realization that she no longer has to apologize for taking up space. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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 how early experiences of feeling unprotected by authority unknowingly shaped her relationship with power and leadership. She discovers that stepping into her own authority doesn’t mean becoming what she once feared; she gets to decide what kind of authority she becomes. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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

After joking that she wanted to “do something bad,” Mae is unexpectedly confronted with a Tokyo exhibition that invites visitors to steal. What begins as a humorous exchange with a friend leads to a much deeper realization: she wasn’t craving rebellion at all. She was longing for freedom from the constant inner supervision that had shaped her life for years. In this episode, Mae explores the difference between self-control and self-trust—and the freedom that begins when we stop constantly watching ourselves. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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

After a scene of an Italian family gathered around a long dinner table lingers in her heart, Mae realizes that what she’s been searching for was never romance—it was belonging. Through stories from her childhood and reflections on the communities she has built over the years, she discovers that the table she thought she had lost never disappeared. It only became bigger, making room for others to feel seen, safe, and at home. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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

Beneath years of healing, grief, and self-discovery, Mae had also been deeply angry with Life itself. Through an imagined conversation with Life, she explores trust, pain, and what becomes possible when we stop resisting our most existential questions and allow honesty to become the beginning of healing. Mae Yoshikawa Mae Yoshikawa is the creator of the Kizuki Journaling™, 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