Naoko Mira Owaki Robinson, ERYT-500, is a small woman with a global mission – which begins by first revolutionizing Japanese society but might not end there!
Born and raised in a well-to-do family during post war Japan, Naoko overcame near fatal childhood health thereby providing a firm basis for her natural inclination to educate by sharing what she learns first hand from experience.
Naoko persevered to earn a masters degree in political science after studying at Sophia Univ, Tokyo; Georgetown Univ, Washington DC and Edinburgh Univ, Scotland in order to harmoniously address the seeming dichotomy between eastern and western spheres of human thought, eventually spending twenty-five years living abroad.
As it turns out, holistic health ended up being the vehicle by which Naoko has since been traveling, beginning with Macrobiotic’s founder and fellow Japanese George Osawa’s influence while Naoko was still a child. So much so, she eventually owned and operated Kenko Natural Grocery in the US for over ten years, specializing in a wide variety of Oriental cuisine options in addition to Macrobiotic and also promoting organic/biodynamic alternatives.
This was where we Fell In Life with each other in 1988.
Holistic diet and nutrition prominently remained in Naoko’s repertoire when she returned to Japan in 1992. She then added extensive online western training in aromatherapy, flower essences, homeopathy and other holistic health topics which all creatively figured into many of her Japanese classes.
This, all the while in pursuit of spreading yoga in Japan where her earliest influences of yoga classes took place at the Tokyo American Club during her scholastic years. She later completed YTT and many other yoga programs at Kripalu Center in Lenox MA USA which ended up supplying her propulsion back to Japan largely for the expressed purpose of mingling yoga education with influences of traditional Japanese thought and culture.
Naoko’s other Kripalu program influences include Holistic Lifestyle TT, Advanced Self-Awakening YTT, Teaching Chair Yoga, Restorative YTT, Danskinetics TT and three KYTA Conferences. She’s also completed Pranassage Practitioner Training, Interdisciplinary YTT, Professional Level YTT and Inner Quest For The Yoga Educator at Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica plus one year’s worth of Landmark Forum programs including the Advanced Course.
In April 2016, Naoko was awarded certification for 1,000 hour Nosara Yoga Master Yoga Educator.
Upon landing back in Japan, Naoko proceeded to set herself up in numerous teaching situations both steady and sporadic, covering an unconventional menu of topics including aromatherapy, herb craft & cooking, flower essences and yoga dance as well as conventional yoga. By 1996 these endeavors had led to establishment of Naoko’s own company, Samira, so she could be formally recognized by governmental authorities as well as by other educators.
She even became involved in teaching Jr HS English and for seven years guided annual student excursions to Niagara Falls, NYC and the breathtakingly beautiful Berkshires of Connecticut & Massachusetts USA where she arranged home stay experiences and exposure to holistic/environmentally natural influences & activities for the students.
During these years she guided/translated many adult excursions as well, such as an herb garden tour in France & England, a group visit to Findhorn in Scotland and three group visits to Perelandra Nature Research Center open houses in Virginia USA.
In turn, Naoko hosted and translated two separate programs in Japan for Findhorn representatives Marion Leigh and Dorothy Maclean plus hosted a representative Hopi from Arizona USA for a tour of Japan surrounding attendance at the 2003 Third World Water Forum in Kyoto. She subsequently hosted a later tour with two other leaders from Hopi.
Following these connections, Naoko then answered an invitation to visit the Hopi reservation in Arizona while translating for guest “Messages From Water” Japanese speaker Masaru Emoto in Sedona and Flagstaff.
Of course yoga was always Naoko’s principle focus and in addition to regular weekly classes she has either translated or directed by herself more than a dozen overnight yoga events in Japan. Abroad, Naoko guided and translated seven residential yoga programs for Japanese students at Kripalu plus seven more such programs at Nosara Yoga Institute.
Not satisfied with just randomly presenting regular classes and extended programs at many separate venues, Naoko finally took the leap of starting her own HOLT (Holistic Lifestyle Training) School in 1998 where she taught unconventionally until reuniting with Don Stapleton of Nosara Yoga Institute. After Naoko translated for Don and others during a Kripalu feasibility study in Japan in 1991 and again for Don presenting a seminar in Japan in 1992, the two decided to collaborate in 2005 at which time HOLT School grew another branch: HOLT Yoga Institute.
HYI thereafter opened studios in Tokyo, Kanazawa, Osaka, Sendai and Niigata and by September 2015, had graduated its 155th HYI-NYI Interdisciplinary yoga teacher, 53rd HYI-NYI Pranassage Practitioner plus 38 more students who completed both trainings. Moreover, 29 of those graduates have also completed NYI’s Inner Quest of the Yoga Educator at NYI in Costa Rica.
In 2018, Naoko actively began cultivating students in Okinawa, where she has since established another HYI studio at EM Wellness & Lifestyle Resort Hotel. She currently divides most of her time between there and her Akasaka Tokyo studio, which now also serves as a Dojo for Shingikan Karate. In 2021, Naoko earned a black belt level of proficiency at age 74.
Please visit Naoko’s website at www.holt.jp for more details about classes and other programs as they develop.
Namaste,
Daniel Samir Bushnell-Robinson