Siddha Master Yogmata Keiko Aikawa On The Transformational Power Of Yoga And Meditation - Exclusive Interview
Yogmata Keiko Aikawa discovered yoga when she was a teenager. She found a book about yoga by chance at a local bookstore, and she was drawn to it because the gentle, concentrated movement practice focused on creating balance within the body. As Aikawa practiced, she found that yoga is so much more than the postures; it's an entire system of healing and enlightenment. She dove into her practice, determined to learn everything she could about yoga.
Eventually, she did. After decades of dedicated and relentless study, including study with the yoga master Hari Baba in the Himalayas, Aikawa became the first non-Indian woman to achieve samadhi, which Britannica defines as "the highest state of mental concentration that people can achieve while still bound to the body and which unites them with the highest reality." In other words, she actually achieved enlightenment.
Aikawa has spent the years since she first achieved samadhi leading others on the path to enlightenment, helping others heal, and doing charity work for humanitarian causes. In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Aikawa shared the details of her journey and explained how yoga and meditation can transform individuals and the world.
Finding yoga
What prompted your interest in meditation and natural healing?
I had pimples on my face at the age of 15. I tried to fix the pimples on my face by washing my face and doing other things on my own, but they got worse. After that, I took medicine and received hormone injections, etc., as prescribed by my doctor. However, it did not get any better and I started to go into natural therapy.
[I tried] dietary therapy. I grew my own pesticide-free vegetables, made green juice with them, and drank it. I also tried macrobiotics and brown rice therapy as well as fasting and physical therapy. After fasting, I lost a lot of strength.
I practiced beauty exercises, came across a book on yoga at a bookstore, and was attracted to yoga because the practice balances the body holistically.
How did you discover yoga, and how long have you been practicing?
I first encountered yoga as a way to include physical activity in my lifestyle, as I didn't like sports so much. The slow movements of posing and arranging my body appealed to me, rather than exercising for fun or to work up a sweat.
I have been doing yoga for 60 years since then. I have been able to continue to do yoga because I have learned it deeply, and as I began to teach others, I felt the need to improve my well-being as well. I wanted to become a person who could understand everything, and I went on to pursue the Yoga of Enlightenment, which is the highest consciousness.
Becoming a Siddha Master
Can you describe some of the ascetic training you did with Great Saint Hari Baba?
I had an obsession with learning. I was busy learning all kinds of things about healing because I wanted to heal people and needed to know everything. For this reason, I flew all over the world to study.
I never had the idea of playing for amusement. In such a situation, I never thought the ascetic practice of Hari Baba was asceticism. Therefore, I did not find anything difficult.
The yama, the commandment to forbid, and the niyama, the commandment to recommend, were commonplace for me. However, I learned a lot from the small things I noticed in my mind, such as laziness, making comparisons, and envy.
It is important to let people know how they can change their lives and how wonderful it is to be enlightened to meet their true selves. I was happy to be able to help others with my presence, discovering the energy within people, why the negative thinking happens and what the positive mind is, and how to better control the mind.
How did you become the first female and non-Indian Siddha Master?
The path to Himalayan saint is a solitary practice, a path that one must take alone for a long time and with a firm spirit. Women have always been physiologically passive, vulnerable to attacks, and have lived protected. The women stay at home and the men go outside. Men take what they eat and women protect the house. All men are born by women. We respect women, but on the other hand, they are weak, so men are the protectors.
I believe that women were not historically allowed to practice gaining power in such a situation. In tradition, it is men who serve the gods. It is also men who perform ascetic practices. Therefore, women in India do not practice hardship practices that require the intense use of the body, etc., because they are not suitable for women.
India is advanced and there are some women saints, but I think what they do is a gentle path, such as prayer. There are some women who have done hardship, but not full-fledged hardship. There are no women who go to the Himalayas for full-fledged practice. I went straight ahead without being conscious of breaking such conventions, and before I knew it, I had achieved the highest practice and fulfilled the highest samadhi — and no other woman has ever done that in history.
Her daily practice and service to others
What does your daily meditation and asana practice look like?
I am a Samadhi Master, Siddha Master, and I have fulfilled the ultimate Samadhi. Through the practice of samadhi, I have purified my mind, arranged my energy, and raised my consciousness.
In our daily life, we think a lot, use our mind and body, and drain our energy. At night, we rest and recover. My way of life is always peaceful, loving, present, and not driven by the mind. I live a natural way of life, always balanced and natural. I harmonize my very way of life. I am always with God. It is yoga, it is meditation, and I am always in balance.
I always live with awareness of my breath and thoughts. Everything is naturally in harmony. Yoga and meditation are always happening with me. Peace and love are there whether you sleep or wake up. You don't look for it; it's there.
My daily yoga and meditation is to help people. With love, I listen to people, help them, give them diksha, and take away their suffering. When I get tired, I draw energy from God and recharge my batteries by being with God. I am constantly connected to God and restored by the way I breathe, move my body, sleep, eat, and speak.
For that to happen, I also did secret practices. It cannot be expressed in words because it is an inner practice that cannot be seen from outside. I am with God, with His love, and with peace. That is the way of life to become one with the Truth.
How does service to others factor into yoga, and how can this principle promote positive change in the world?
Yoga means to tie. Where everything is connected, something new is born. That is the truth of the universe. Through the right connection, a new force, a good and right thing, is born. Otherwise, something unbalanced is created. It is true yoga teaching to explore what is the truth of the universe and our connection to the source of the universe.
Meditation is a process of letting go of selfishness that protects us. It is a way of life where a life of service and dedication to others in this visible world becomes natural. There is divine energy in others. To draw it out, we dedicate ourselves to and give kindness to others. The other person stops being protective and trusts us, and the divine energy is drawn out and peace is created. Instead of being suspicious, protective, and rigid, we give and serve each other in order to achieve peace.
Through such service, the world will become a place where people trust each other, love each other, forgive each other, help each other, and give and help each other rather than protect each other. Fighting will cease. A positive world will be created.
How yoga can change individuals and the world
How can yoga and meditation help people find peace and bring peace into the world?
There are always conflicts and wars going on in the world. Countries are fighting each other. There are disagreements, inequalities, anger, frustration, and contradictions within countries, within companies, and within families. There is conflict in relationships. There is constant stress, self-loathing, frustration, and lack of peace, etc.
It is not good to expect something from the outside and do nothing by yourself. What can change you is the teaching of truth, the path to enlightenment. It is Himalayan secret teachings. It is true yoga and meditation. It is not just a health practice. It is yoga and meditation on a higher level. Through my practice, I give samadhi energy and I teach the secret method to help make you whole and align with peace within.
What are the health benefits of yoga and meditation?
My yoga and meditation is different from the common ones. There is the blessing of the transformed energy of the Samadhi Master, which quickly transforms everyone from the deepest level and makes everyone comfortable. It is not just doing exercises or just stirring and aligning the insides on your own. The higher energies dissolve the lower energies, the workings of the mind.
The Samadhi Master, the Siddha Master, knows completely how the mind works, how the body works. He or she knows where we come from, he or she knows God and his energy, and he or she can manipulate it at will, transforming the unseen and restoring everything to its original state. He or she uses [their] wisdom from God to heal, teaches secret methods, and rebirths people.
By practicing the Master's teachings, one is on the path to transformation and becoming the best human being one can be.
How can people incorporate meditation and yoga into their daily lives?
There are many different teachers and methods. If you have the opportunity, it would be good to meet a real teacher. I do not simply teach yoga and meditation, but I teach practices that promote awareness from the root, not just a form.
We learn from the deepest parts of the body and the deepest parts of the mind to receive that energy and learn it in a natural and comprehensive way. It is not just exercises or relaxing meditation, but the Yoga of Enlightenment from the Source, Himalayan secret teachings, teaching true yoga and meditation.
For more information please visit http://yogmata.com/ and follow @yogmata45 on Instagram.
This interview was edited for clarity.