From 1991 Yukiko was a competitive gymnast. She was coached by Japanese and Russian trainers, practicing up to 12-13 hours a day. Her teenage years were spent touring and practicing for tournaments, and was always in love with the experience.
Becoming frustrated by elements of over competitive attitudes and unfair judging in Japanese gymnastics, in the late 90’s she decided to put aside her passion as a gymnast to pursue other interests.
Basing herself in California and Hawaii, she lived a life surrounded by fashion, art, film, music, design, nature and beaches. Her fashion related occupation eventually led her to relocate Tokyo. In 2009 as her interest in Yoga grew, she discovered YogaJaya and studio director, Patrick Oancia. Her experience at YogaJaya brought back the passion she had when she was in gymnastics.
After a short time living back in Osaka, Yukiko decided to make her base in Tokyo to dedicate herself to more to yoga practice and to share her experience with others as a teacher.
Yukiko enrolled in and completed the YogaJaya International Teacher Training program and is a YogaJaya Accredited Teacher (YJAT) and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance.