Mayumi Kojima on Discovering Meaning Through Daily Activities

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Getting Into Naturopathy and Health

From one unfulfilling job to conducting a business that brings her a sense of ikigai, Mayumi shares how she got into naturopathy and health.

An opportunity to learn something new

Nick: Let's talk about what you do. So how did you get into naturopathy and health?

Mayumi: Thanks for asking me that. I started studying naturopathy in 2015. Prior to that, I was always working in tourism and hospitality industry in Cairns, as you know, it is one of the best tourism sites maybe in Australia.

But anyway, I was very unhappy. If you ask my partner he will tell you how much whinging I do every day. Also with the previous marriage as well, the relationship was falling apart. So I think combined with the relationship and the work, the satisfaction toward work wasn't really fulfilling.

Unfortunately my relationship ended, but in the meantime, I saw that opportunity to study something new. And one of the local magazine called Connect Magazine, you can pick up from the cafe or shops in Cairns, and I picked up the magazine and I saw naturopathy, the advanced naturopathy study.

I thought, oh, wow, I was always interested about health and looking after my well-being. And there I was, I enrolled myself to study naturopathy.

Nick: Nice. And look at you now, you have your own business, yes?

Mayumi: Yes, small size, but yes, I am.

Nick: That's awesome. So I have a lot of admiration for people who do their own business, especially in a country where they're there not from. I think there's all these extra challenges. So that's amazing.

Mayumi: Thank you.

Experiencing the Feeling of Ikigai

How can one experience ikigai? For Mayumi, performing tea ceremonies has become an outlet for her to experience ikigai, urging her to incorporate the concept into her work as a naturopath.

What brings you joy and makes you feel alive?

Nick: We connected through Facebook, and I think we'd seen each other for a while because we were mentioning ikigai in our posts. And you started a group, IKIGAI - Live Life to the Fullest. I think it would be helpful for you to share how you understand or define ikigai or what it means to you.

Mayumi: So I'm going to talk through my experience, is that okay?

Nick: Yeah, for sure.

Mayumi: So, during my naturopathic study and working at the same time, it was a lot of stress as well. For some reason, when I was in Japan, one year, I picked up the book called Nichinichi Kore Koji Tsu, meaning Every Day is a Good Day.

So it's about the main character developing herself through the Japanese tea ceremony. She was feeling lost, a university student, and her mother recommended her to practice tea ceremony which is just a couple of blocks away from her house.

At the time, like I said, before she felt lost, and through the Japanese tea ceremony she grow. I resonate myself very much with her, that's me. And then, for almost the same time, when I was reading or just about to finish the book, I found a tea ceremony club in Cairns.

One of the member was opening a 10th year anniversary of her business. She's a Japanese language teacher, and doing the tea ceremony as part of the anniversary. So I went there as a guest. And as soon as I finished the tea ceremony gathering with them, I said, ‘Oh, do you seek full member? I would like to be a member.’ So I became a member.

And then I started talking to my partner, I think the Japanese tea ceremony has become sort of a feeling of ikigai— I feel alive and it just brings me joy, and brings me to the sort of the moment. Be mindful. So I started using the word ikigai naturally for some reason.

That was year 2019, just before the COVID started, we are at the airport and my partner was at the kiosk and picked up the book, one of those book about ikigai. And I’ve gone through the content, and I thought some of the contents were pretty good in naturopathy. Because they talked about basic lifestyle recommendation and stuff like that.

So I wanted to share the ikigai word with my clients. And I thought, why not create a twist and share it and then connect with like minded people. So that's how I started.

Nick: Yeah, that's interesting, how you found ikigai in something, I guess, familiar. And quite simple, but I guess traditional Japanese art, where you practice mindfulness and appreciation. And we might even call it something quite simple, really.

So it’s the small things or the simple things. But I guess for you, it might connect you back to your culture as well, and make you feel grounded or whole. So that's an interesting answer. I don't think anyone's ever answered that way before. So thank you.

Understanding the Importance of Looking After Ourselves

As a naturopath, Mayumi's passion lies in connecting with people, which is crucial for fostering well-being. Prioritizing both physical and mental self-care is essential for this purpose.

Influencing others positively

Nick: Let's go a bit deeper into your work, you write that taking care of ourselves allows us to have the energy and positivity necessary to support and influence others by prioritizing our own well-being, we can positively impact those around us.

So I interpret this as prioritizing self-care. So this self-care that leads to more social ikigai and purpose in our lives. So am I on the right track?

Mayumi: Yes, I think so, too. Thank you so much for asking me this. And this is one of the biggest passions as a naturopath, before naturopath as a person. To connect with people was a very, very important.

And in order to connect with people better, and also to create a positive ripple effect, it's one of my passion too, as a practitioner. So keeping our well-being, starting off with the physical health, that's tangible, you can sort of feel it and then easily sort of recognize, and mental emotional beings can be a little bit tricky.

But I wanted to connect with people, the clients, as a naturopath, I always talk about the whole well-being not just about the physical, but starting with physical. Because when we are happy within ourselves to optimize well-being we can influence others positively. So that's one of the reasons why.

Nick: I think that's really important. We need to get good sleep and eat well and exercise. So we have that energy to help others. And yeah, when we're not looking after ourselves to get stressed, maybe we get moody. So it's really important that we have self-care in our lives.

Mayumi: Yes, absolutely.

Jyonetsu: What is it?

Mayumi introduces five concepts she deems essential for living a healthy and meaningful life, and one of them is jyonetsu 'passion.' In this video, Mayumi shares her understanding of what passion is and why it is important in our lives.

Passion helps us move forward

Nick: So related to all of this, today, we're going to explore five concepts that you consider essential to living a healthy and meaningful life. And we'll introduce them in Japanese, and I guess you'll explain them. So the first one is jyonetsu. So what is that? And would you like to touch on it?

Mayumi: Okay, so I'll be sort of touching on how I perceive it, if that's okay with you?

Nick: Yeah, that's fine.

Mayumi: So jyonetsu ‘passion’ to me, is something that moves forward despite the challenge in my life. So that's how I interpret the jyonetsu ‘passion.’ For example, in my naturopathic practice, I had encountered some clients that have complex cases: chronic health challenge, physically or mentally, emotionally.

I used to feel bad not knowing everything, I used to feel bad not having an answer for them. But now I'll be honest with them, ‘Look, I haven't heard this before, would it be okay for you to give me some time to study it? So I can be ready to give you some sort of suggestions, that we can work as a team.’

So now I take this as a challenge—challenge for me to move forward, become a better practitioner, and we grow together as a team. I use this term a lot with my clients because it's not like I'm giving them, I'm actually receiving something from my clients when we work as a team.

So that's jyonetsu to me. And also, I would like to mention about my tea ceremony practice and Aikido practice, and the challenges that come in to practice. For example, sitting on the tatami, it’s a little bit embarrassing to say, but more than 15 or 20 minutes, my legs become numb.

But it gives me the teaching to be in the moment and be patient. And even with the teachers and sensei, I really appreciate how they interact with me, with their patience. And I'm actually learning their patient and implemented it into my practice as a naturopath. Same for Aikido, they’re really patient with me, ‘Okay, you move this way.’ If I don't understand some of the movement, ‘Okay, try this.’

I really love that patience from my sensei, and I'm really grateful. And the teaching from the Tea Ceremony and Aikido is actually offering me to become more resilient in life as a practitioner, as a person, and serve the people. I hope I didn't sidetrack, but that's part of my passion.

Nick: That's fine. It's very helpful for you to illustrate examples. And I think practices like Aikido or tea ceremony where there are these periods of stillness and reflection. And I guess, sitting, kneeling on the floor for two 20 minutes is part of this training. So you're developing resilience in that.

And I guess people who can't do that, or they find it too uncomfortable or quit quickly. Likewise with tea ceremony, it's quite a slow cup of tea; you're not drinking it quickly. Most of it was waiting and looking for cues and reacting to each other. And the actual time you drink tea is quite short. In the end. So it's interesting. It's a process, but it seems like a process of appreciation.

Understanding Shoku ‘The Culture of Eating’

For Mayumi, food, nutrition, and a person’s cultural background are essential in promoting health and well-being. Understanding one’s own body's needs is crucial for overall health.

Understanding how our bodies are naturally made up

Nick: Let's move on to something I think everyone loves, and that is shoku. So what is shoku? And how do you tie it into your business and helping others?

Mayumi: Well, we can't not talk about naturopathy without talking about food, nutrition, and diet. I love cooking, and every time I go different places, even the states, also Cairns, the one thing I look for is always a nice cafe and the food. Food, actually, I strongly connect it to people, it's very cultural.

And I really love food—talking about food, thinking about food. So I use the term, as a naturopath, is food as medicine. So definitely fundamental for me to talk with my client—it’s a must each time. For me, first of all it is important to understand what kind of food are we eating? What kind of background they're coming from? Are they born in Australia or are they born in different country, and they eat different kinds of food.

And you know, being in Australia for certain time, and they change the diet gradually and adapted to their environment. And those kinds of elements are also important for me to understand. Okay, so they might have a little bit of tolerance to something.

For example, myself as a Japanese person, I do have an intolerance, some degree of intolerance with the gluten and dairy because my ancestors did not eat too much of those things, such as bread, pasta, pizza, and stuff like that.

So if I eat too much, I have a little bit of a challenge. So the ancestry eating is one of those common thing that I start talking with my clients: so what is your background? What kind of food your ancestor, your grandparents, your grand grandparents used to eat?

Even European people, even though they eat gluten, no bread, and the gluten here in Europe is very different. And another things is to eat with the season. I think we forget that. And studying Tibetan Medicine was a wake up call for me to really own other seasonal change.

Because some of the constitution in our body will adapt right each season, for example. So according to the season, we eat accordingly is also very important, as well as understanding the natural make up of ourself.

The Importance of Undo ‘Exercise’

Mayumi shares the importance of incorporating exercise into our daily routine, suggesting that we seek activities that bring us joy and meaning.

Define the events that bring you joy

Nick: Let's move from food to exercise, so undo. And you tie undo, maybe your thoughts on exercise are a bit different. So would you like to share your thoughts on exercise?

Mayumi: Thank you for that. Definitely *undo ‘*exercise’ is part of the chat in a consultation room with my client. And any movement, I believe, that brings the happy hormone in the brain, endorphins. I think it’s an important thing, another important thing is what sort of movement brings us joy.

So I again, I asked a question, so is there any movement that you enjoy doing? So some people say dancing, some people say, walk with the dog every day, even 20 minutes. Okay, so you enjoy that? They say yes, okay, that's great. Some people do gardening, and sit and up, I believe that is part of movement.

So I think first of all the important thing is to define the events that bring joy to us. So for example, I teach chair yoga every week at the community center. And yoga to me really enhances the practice of the breathing. Because I heard from the yoga teacher who looked up the study in the past, and apparently we only use 16% or 20% of our lung capacity.

So we’re not really using it in optimum. Something like yoga actually helps to breathe better, and I feel better and calmer after a yoga practice. And Aikido, I practice a few times a week, to me it helps build the resilience on my body and spirit. It's a bit more vigorous than yoga, and I love that movement and connecting with other person.

I used to do salsa dancing, but I didn't enjoy even though it’s contact. I prefer Aikido for some reason. I have no problem touching or holding the hands of men. I used to feel funny when I was doing salsa. And walking, that's another regular thing I do. And and I believe you do, too. I remember you mentioned that you love walking.

Nick: Yeah.

Mayumi: Walking to me is just organizing my thought, because, I don't know, I'm Aquarius, I'm not sure if you’re into those kinds of stuff, but I've got an air element, so I fracture my thoughts by walking, ‘Okay, I wanted to do this today, or I need to do that.’ And it's sort of just free kind of mapping thought and then connecting with nature, fresh air.

So I think another things I would suggest with the exercise or movement or undo, is to have a purpose with that, that brings you joy, and what's the reason why you do it?

For the full podcast conversation, go to: Living with Intent: Finding Purpose in Everyday Activities with Mayumi Kojima