Hi! We're Tammy and Takeshi. We met in 2010, when our respective journeys brought us together in the small, charming town of Nong Khai, in the northeast of Thailand. It was a beautiful and serendipitous meeting... one of those that by all accounts shouldn't have happened! Our lives were both wide open vistas when we first found each other. Tammy was re-evaluating her life after a career in academia and the film industry in Toronto in a country she'd visited often and loved deeply, and Takeshi was passing through after years of working and living outside of his home country of Japan. We caught each other's eye in the lush gardens of Mut Mee, a gorgeous guesthouse and home to many intrepid travellers, nestled along the Mekhong river dividing Thailand and Laos, a true heaven on Earth! We met, laughed, talked and talked ... and decided to stay awhile, and see what a life together might look like.
There, we had a profound encounter with our teachers at the Nong Khai Alternative Center (our beloved teachers to this day, Pancho and Beatrix), and began to intensively study yoga and meditation. We deepened our practice over the next few years as we travelled between Southeast Asia and India, where it seemed like everyone we met and everything we saw had something magical to teach us! Among other courses and learning experiences, we both did several long, silent meditation retreats, and got our yoga teacher certifications in the sacred city of Rishikesh, India. Meanwhile, Takeshi intensively studied Thai massage from several schools and masters, while Tammy became a Reiki practitioner and then master in the traditional, Usui tradition and began her studies in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy (BCST) thought a series of workshops in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was an intense, rich and incredibly rewarding period - one of those times you know are rare and special even as you are living through them. It also really reinforced for us how important it is to recognize that "being", and not just "doing", is vital for mental health as an active way of choosing to be in the world (look at how much the ocean achieves without "doing" anything other than "being" itself, every moment of every day!).
Life's many twists and turns had us moving to Japan, where we spent five beautiful years reconnecting with (Takeshi's) family, exploring the temples, shrines and modern glories of this fascinating country, and deepening our commitment to building bridges between cultures and serving people with the skills we'd been learning and absorbing. Ultimately, our search for the best way to do this brought us to Canada. As the universe would have it, just as Tammy had decided to pursue her BSCT studies more intensively, she found that Body Intelligence - an eminent international BCST school - was holding its first ever course in Ottawa, where we live! More than that, Takeshi had decided to complement his massage practice with acupuncture, and we discovered that Ottawa not only had an acupuncture school, but that it was mere minutes away. Our path had found us.
As our world goes through a very challenging cycle in its history, we feel truly fortunate to have found the brilliant teachers what we did, and the tools to fortify us on our journey to peace, healing and sense of place in things. Being able to work with others through the powers of shared presence, ancient techniques and healing touch has been a gift we are both grateful for every day. We really look forward to meeting you and helping you be in your beautiful bodies with comfort, ease, health and happiness.
From our deepest hearts, be well,
Tammy and Takeshi
PS. Just some fun tidbits... when not engaged in this work and practice, Takeshi loves dabbling in the culinary arts (like many, he perfected the sourdough during the pandemic!); caring for plants, and woodworking - he's built most of our furniture and his creativity knows no bounds! And Tammy loves photography; exploring any neighbourhood she's in and making tree friends along the way; making "cloth art" with fabrics collected during our travels, and is also a published, grant-winning author and poet. Together, we love travelling and being in nature. Feel free to ask us more!