Yogmata Keiko Aikawa: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Be happy that you were born a human being. There are many kinds of living organisms and animals in the universe. Among them, it is a miracle to be born as a human being who can think and act. Be grateful for that. Animals don’t have minds, so they can’t be enlightened. Humans, through various experiences, can understand whether something is good or bad, can evolve themselves in a better direction, and eventually become the best human beings they can be. It is possible for humans to raise their consciousness and become saints; to purify themselves inside.

As a part of our series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Yogmata Keiko Aikawa.

Yogmata Keiko Aikawa developed an early interest in yoga and naturopathy, which led her to travels in Tibet, China, and India. She has received the title of Mahamandaleshwar, or Supreme Master of the Universe, in India. Yogmata-Ji is the first woman and non-Indian to achieve this status. She is currently working with the United Nations on a series of international conferences. Yogmata-Ji’s charitable work includes the Yogmata Foundation dedicated to funding mobile hospitals to remote villages in India. Her global mission is to bring love and kindness to all. She has published over thirty books.

Yogmata performed 18 public Samadhis, most notably at the Maha Kumbh Mela, a festival held once every 144 years and attended by over 70 million people, including prominent celebrities and figures such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama 14th, Madonna, and Paul McCartney.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in mental wellness?

I had acne as a high school student. My dermatologist had difficulty treating my bad acne, so I tried eating a healthy diet, doing some exercise, and even fasting. Then I came across Yoga. Afterwards, I practiced “Zen”. At one point, I became too lazy to practice what I should, relaxed too much, and I caught tuberculosis. And that was when I became more serious about studying Yoga. Soon after that, I started teaching Yoga. Because I wanted to help others, I studied Yoga and other religions, psychology, oriental medicine etc.. I eventually came to operate 50 Yoga classes in Tokyo.

Then in my late 30’s, I had an opportunity to get to know a Himalayan Saint who was invited by a local TV station to take part in a documentary program about himself. This connection gave me an opportunity to visit the Himalayas with him.

In the Himalayas, I practiced deep meditation training to achieve the state of enlightenment. And finally, I reached the state of the ultimate enlightenment called samadhi where I became aware of the ultimate truth of the universe.

I became aware of the mechanism of our body, mind and soul. And I became the one who can bless people in the world. For many years after that, I performed a number of “public underground Samadhi” every year to send blessing to people, and to promote world peace.

Now, I am teaching essential meditation to guide people to know true happiness and reach the state of enlightenment. This is about mental health. I am teaching a practical method for people to strengthen their mind, purify themselves, balance themselves, then even go beyond mind, to become one with the energy of God so that they can be a wonderful person.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

I had been trying really hard in my life, but through the experience of transcending the mind, transcending time, and transcending space, I found there was no more suffering. My possibilities expanded and my mind became free.

It means to reach the ultimate stage of consciousness.

Remove the mind from the point where you have been firmly attaching to something, then a good character from within will spring forth.

When we go beyond the body by practicing mindlessness — not thinking, dying, ceasing to breathe, stopping all physiological functions — we meet the astral body and beyond that, we meet the soul.

Then I realized that there is an immeasurable mysterious power within each person, that we are all children of God, that everyone has this potential, and to live that is to truly grow. By sharing this, we can all help each other to develop good energy and bring out the best in each other.

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the personal wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

I purified my mind and body, transcended them, and became one with the existence of the source and experienced the truth. This means I had reached the state of ultimate samadhi. Then I obtained the power to change other people.

By connecting with me, believing in the Master of Enlightenment, and practicing the Himalayan sacred teachings that I teach, you can be led from suffering in darkness to the world of light, and evolve your lost and confused consciousness to become a person of love and peace.

What is the purpose of your lives? You will raise your consciousness to the true purpose of this life, and it will further awaken you to a way of life that will bring you true happiness. You will shift from the use of this body and mind and being caught up in desires and suffering to the true way of life.

You will connect to the source, believe, draw power, prepare your mind and body, and live a life of true growth with hope. As a Himalayan saint, I guide you on the path of truth. I guide you on the path to becoming the best human being you can be, and the way of living to realize the truth. I transmit energy so that you can practice it easily. That is the best way to be healthy.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Hari Baba, a Himalayan Siddha master, and his disciple, another Himalayan Siddha master, Pilot Baba are the ones who influenced me. In my 20’s and 30’s, I often traveled to India to learn Yoga. In my late 30’s, Pilot Baba was invited to Japan by a Japanese TV station. At that time, I was already famous in the Yoga community in Japan, therefore, I was asked to assist the program.

Afterwards, Pilot Baba invited me to the Himalayas where I was initiated with energy to pursue the path to reach the state of Samadhi and I was taught this meditation method by the great Himalayan sage, Hari Baba. I practiced this method deeply. It was an irreplaceable experience to meet my father of the soul. Unintentionally, I was moved to tears when I met him. Also, Pilot Baba has always encouraged me as a senior saint.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

I think one block is to worry about what people will think of you. As a result, we are unable to think about the importance of what we need to do and so we don’t continue.

Or we worry about what people will think of us if we are different from others.

The Himalayan sacred teachings are a path of truth, not dependence. To be connected to the truth means to be on the true path. Just do it and don’t worry about what others think.

The second block is a lack of respect for yourself, a lack of love, a lack of love for yourself, a lack of belief in yourself.

The third block is a lack of concentration, which weakens your willpower and your ability to keep going.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)

1. Be happy that you were born a human being. There are many kinds of living organisms and animals in the universe. Among them, it is a miracle to be born as a human being who can think and act. Be grateful for that. Animals don’t have minds, so they can’t be enlightened. Humans, through various experiences, can understand whether something is good or bad, can evolve themselves in a better direction, and eventually become the best human beings they can be. It is possible for humans to raise their consciousness and become saints; to purify themselves inside.
2. There is a saying that “like attracts like.” We attract those with the same qualities as our own. When you practice the Himalayas sacred teachings and change yourself, what you then attract will also change. You will be able to attract the best things. Actually, it is not so much about attracting, but rather about returning to them. So, it is important to believe in your true self; the self from the eternal existence. Believe that there is a being inside of you that keeps you alive, an infinite being that always supports you. No matter how lost you are, how swayed your mind is, how much your mind moves, how much you suffer, there is an existence that watches over you.
3. Do what you’ve been given, enjoy it, and be grateful. Focus on the present. You have a job to do, you can creatively make various useful things for your life, you can make things that make people happy. You can do good deeds. It is good to do things, through your body, that influence true growth of your soul and others. Then, focus on the present and enjoy it. You will not attract anything negative. This way is the least draining on your energy.
4. Even if you have a bad day, it happened in order for you to learn, so accept it as a learning experience. Don’t take it negatively, be grateful. Be grateful for everything. Every situation teaches you something. When the mind thinks negatively, it causes bad things to occur. Be grateful what you have learned from all bad situations. Eventually, time will have moved on and it will pass.
5. There is a law of karma, which states that your actions sow the seed of a cause, and the result will either be fruitful or not. Therefore, a good action becomes a good cause and leads to a good result. As you accumulate such actions, your body and mind will be guided in the right direction and your destiny will change. An action is a good action, a good thought, or a good word. In this way, we perform various actions during our lives. It is important to be aware of these actions and do good deeds without hurting others or yourself. Then your destiny will surely open up. Even if you don’t get praise from others, do it selflessly.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

This is a book about Buddhism. I enjoy wondering what the Buddha was actually like.

It is interesting to see how the Buddha lived his life and how he attained enlightenment.

After six years of hard training, he finally found meditation.

Now I am teaching you the secret of meditation from the beginning, but the Buddha spent six years seeking, here and there, a teacher of meditation and truth. At the end he was fasting and about to collapse.

When a woman named Sujata came to pray to the tree gods for a child, the Buddha was there, so she offered him some rice porridge.

The Buddha ate it and somehow gained enough strength and was able to sit down, meditate and attain enlightenment. Thus, he opened up the way.

Now, thanks to these predecessors, we are lucky enough to have found meditation without having to go through a rigorous process. And it is only by meeting a true, well-informed meditation master that we can continue on this path.

In addition, I came across the enlightenment teachings of the Himalayan saints who are older than the Buddha, and even in this modern age, the teachings of truth are still alive. It is the most important fundamental teaching for all human beings.

It is a miracle that I have the opportunity to share this with you now, and I am very grateful for it.

I believe that now is the time for everyone to become a real person.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Where everyone practices Himalayan sacred teachings. Everyone meditates and prays.

We become people of cosmic love and give out love.

We pray for the happiness of others. Be kind to others. We help others. We see God in each other and believe in each other. There is a Source, a Super Consciousness, and we can connect to it and draw its power. We pray for the happiness of all people with love for the earth, the universe, and humanity.

We do this in our homes, in our communities, across all religions, countries, and races. Because we are all children of the universe, we all have a soul, and everyone can practice this.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

“When the mind is empty, the fire is also cool.”

Harmonize the workings of your mind and brain to create oneness.

Then the mind and body become silent.

Without thought, the workings of the brain and mind are stilled.

You are quiet, unaffected by the people whose activities are burning around you.

When you are not influenced by your surroundings, but are connected to God, connected to the truth, connected to the unmoving place, you can live while receiving power from it.

You can live for the happiness of all, calmly and without being at the mercy of those around you, making calm decisions, not decisions of the ego, but correct decisions.

I think this is a good way to describe this.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

I believe that everyone has great talent, is hardworking, open-minded, and has good karma.

I am interested in all of you. I wish you all happiness.

I believe that everyone is interested in becoming immortal, enlightened, becoming their own master, and enhancing the workings of their own life.

I would like to meet people who are interested in maintaining eternal youth.

How can we extend death, live without stress, and make life shine?

How can we inspire wisdom and contact infinite love?

These are paths that money can’t buy, but paths that will improve your quality and make you a saint. I think everyone is interested in this.

I would share this with you. To receive a new life, to die, be resurrected and reborn.

Be like Christ, be like Buddha. Even if you have everything, don’t be satisfied with that yet. You are an excellent person who can contribute more to the world.

You will be admired in this world and can aim for truth so that your soul can further influence your next life. Your encounter with me will enable this.

I am interested in everyone. The talents that God has given you are amazing.

And even more, you will experience God himself.

Please go back to your source. I’m looking forward to meeting you. I am looking forward to meeting famous people from all walks of life.

I am your mother’s age and I would like to share the benefits of the Himalayas with you.

Celebrities, rich people, actors, actresses, writers, politicians, and more, if you want to contribute to society, why don’t you become a saint?

You will meet even more amazing inner treasures just as you are!

How about Jeff Bezos or Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex?

What is the best way our readers can follow you online?

Please search my website “Yogmata.com”

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!