Hi, I’m Taro.

I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and one of my earliest influences in movement was my father.

Growing up, I watched him train karate day after day. That daily practice left a deep impression on me and inspired my own path into martial arts — karate, kempo, boxing, kickboxing, tai chi, aikido — and later into sports, especially rugby.

Movement has always felt natural, alive, and full of possibility to me.

It was play.
It was exploration.
It was a way of learning about myself.

That early love eventually led me into the worlds of exercise kinesiology, athletic training, rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and movement education.

But beneath all of that study was a deeper question that stayed with me:

Why do so many people struggle to move freely in their bodies?

My Own Search for a Different Way

Rugby was one of my greatest passions, but it also came with repeated injuries, especially chronic issues in my neck and lower back.

Those injuries pushed me deeper into the world of rehab and recovery. Professionally, I also became deeply interested in helping athletes and active people recover safely, prevent unnecessary injuries, and return to the activities they loved.

But over time, I also began to feel frustrated.

I saw how often movement and recovery were approached as if the body were just a collection of parts to fix, strengthen, stretch, or correct.

Even with all the valuable tools I had learned, something about the conventional “fix the body” approach did not feel complete to me.

It often felt mechanical.
Overly complicated.
Disconnected from how human beings naturally learn, sense, and move.

And more than that, I began to see how our culture often teaches us to separate ourselves into parts.

If we have pain, we look for a body expert to fix the body.
If we struggle emotionally, we look for a mind expert to fix the mind.
If our posture, movement, or symptoms feel wrong, we often assume something in us needs to be corrected from the outside.

Over time, many people stop trusting their own body.
They stop listening from the inside.
They begin to relate to themselves as a problem that needs an expert, a diagnosis, or a technique to fix.

I kept wondering:

Why do babies learn to roll, crawl, stand, and walk without being mechanically corrected step by step?

Why do children develop movement through play, curiosity, and exploration?

Why do some people recover from injury and return to their lives, while others stay stuck in pain, tension, fear, and effort for years despite trying so many different approaches?

And what becomes possible when we stop separating the body from the mind, the mind from the body, and the person from their life?

Those questions changed everything for me.

Discovering a Different Relationship with Movement

That search eventually led me to the Feldenkrais Method.

Through years of deep training and exploration, I began to experience movement in a completely different way — not as something to force, correct, or control, but as something to sense, explore, and rediscover from the inside out.

I found a kind of freedom that felt quietly powerful.

More ease.
More presence.
More trust.
More connection.

I began to understand that lasting change is not just about muscles, joints, stretches, or exercises.

It is about the nervous system.

It is about awareness.

It is about changing the way we experience ourselves.

And it is about understanding that the body is not separate from the person’s life.

Pain, tension, posture, movement habits, fear, stress, protection, self-image, and past experiences are not isolated from one another.

They are connected.

That journey changed not only how I moved, but how I understood healing, learning, and what is possible in the body.

Professional Background

I’ve spent more than 20 years studying human movement, rehabilitation, and the nervous system.

My background includes a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and Kinesiology, certification as an Orthopedic Movement Specialist, certification as a Feldenkrais Practitioner, and extensive training in exercise kinesiology, therapeutic exercise, athletic rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and somatic movement.

Before focusing fully on this work, I spent many years in athletic training and orthopedic physical therapy settings. I worked with athletes, active adults, and people recovering from injury, helping them rebuild movement and return to the things that mattered to them.

I also spent over 17 years in various rehab settings including orthopedic outpatient physical therapy, skilled nursing homes, and home health physical therapy, where I learned from many skilled doctors, therapists and trainers. The work there emphasized individualized neuromuscular reeducation, not cookie-cutter exercises or techniques. That experience helped me become deeply interested in how the nervous system organizes movement, protection, pain, and recovery.

Over time, I began to see that many people were not struggling only because of muscles, joints, posture, or movement mechanics.

Their bodies were often carrying years of protection, bracing, fear, stress, effort, and learned patterns.

This foundation helps me bridge both the structural and nervous system aspects of movement — while guiding people in a way that is gentle, experiential, and rooted in awareness rather than correction.

What I Believe

• Your body is not broken.

• Changes cannot be forced.

• Pain and tension are often shaped by how we sense ourselves, not simply by what is structurally “wrong.”

• The nervous system is intelligent and adaptive, even when the patterns it has learned no longer serve you.

• True change happens when the nervous system begins to feel safe and recognize new possibilities.

• We are already deeply intelligent; we just need to reconnect with that wisdom.

How I Help

Today, I guide people who are tired of short-term fixes and ready for something deeper.

Through somatic movement and awareness, I help people:

• reconnect with their body’s intelligence

• soften patterns of bracing, guarding, and over-efforting

• rebuild trust in how they move

• explore with curiosity instead of correction

• move through life with more ease, confidence, and freedom

My work is shaped by more than 20 years of studying human movement, rehabilitation, martial arts, athletic training, and the nervous system, including training in exercise physiology, kinesiology, athletic rehabilitation, somatic movement, and the Feldenkrais Method.

But more than anything, it is shaped by the understanding that real change does not come from forcing the body.

It comes from creating the conditions for learning.

A Little More About Me

I live in Michigan with my wife, Yuka, who is also a Feldenkrais practitioner, and our son, Renta.

Outside of work, I love hiking, camping, biking, traveling with my family, practicing martial arts, and spending time in nature. I value simple living, curiosity, and continual growth.

If This Resonates With You

If something in my story or approach resonates with you, I’d love to invite you to take the next step.

You can explore my course, Moving Freely in Your Body, or book a Zoom Call if you’d like support in seeing whether this work is right for you.

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