Chama (Mamoru Aizawa) is a Tokyo native now based in Izu, where he runs a blog-style homepage through which he has been promoting the concept of a Japanese yoga lifestyle since 2002. Chama set up his blog, titled “TYG,” at tokyo-yoga.com after previously managing a reggae club, working as a broadcast writer, and producing TV commercials. He started the blog after traveling abroad and then followed it up by opening a yoga studio in Aoyama coupled with an online business for yoga-related goods. Chama moved his yoga studio to its current Shibuya location in 2003 and has since branched out to travel around Japan to give yoga workshops and seminars.
Chama mainly practices Ashtanga yoga, a traditional yoga form accessible to everyone from beginners to experts. He has continued to refine his skills as an instructor by making regular visits to the Ashtanga center in Mysore, India.
Chama also believes in reinforcing his yoga knowledge through broader learning. He is studying anatomy from Akihiro Hirayama, craniosacral bio-dynamics from Hiromi Morikawa, and other kinds of bodywork from various experts. Firstname incorporates all of these allied skills into his yoga classes in his Tokyo and Osaka studios, as well as integrating them into the workshops and retreats that he offers around the country.
On the communications side, Chama publishes the free yoga lifestyle paper YOGAYOMU, using his media-career experience to bring enlightening yoga-related content to the widest possible public audience.