My Path to Healing

For much of my life, I was disconnected—from my body, my voice, and my truth.
Repeated medical trauma fractured my sense of self.
I was touched without consent.
Handled without reverence.
Stripped of dignity and left to make sense of it all in silence.

That silence became my teacher.
And eventually, it led me here.

Not through breakthrough moments or loud empowerment,
but through slow, quiet courage—the kind that doesn’t need to be seen to be real.
Through journaling, embodied self-inquiry, photography, and deep emotional presence,
I found my way back into my body.
And now, I hold space for others to do the same.

I know my identity—as a foreigner, as someone with a male-bodied past—may raise questions.
I welcome them.
Because I understand what it means to feel unsafe, unseen, or misread.

I’ve lived in Japan for over 25 years.
I’ve been a caregiver, a husband, a parent.
I’ve held roles rarely offered to men here.
And I’ve witnessed, intimately, the quiet exhaustion so many women carry.

That’s why this space exists:
For women who want to reconnect with themselves—not through force or performance,
but through gentleness, clarity, and safety.

Whether through writing, dialogue, or being witnessed in photography,
I will meet you where you are—with reverence, not expectation.

Why I Created Phoenix Rising

Because I know what it feels like to lose connection with your body—
to silence your needs, perform for love, and forget what it means to be held.
I created Phoenix Rising for women who have been strong for too long,
and who are ready to explore who they are beneath the roles, expectations, and quiet disconnection.

This isn’t a course.
It’s a gentle return.

I created this space because I never had one.
Not when I was being touched without consent.
Not when my body was cut open and reshaped without reverence.
Not when I disappeared inside a marriage, or in the rooms where no one could hold my truth.

Everything I offer here—writing, photography, presence, boundaries, emotional attunement—
comes from years of moving through disconnection, and learning to meet myself again.
Not to fix or heal in a linear way,
but to listen. To honor. To remember.

Phoenix Rising was born from that remembering.
Not to lead you, but to walk with you.
Not to give you answers, but to offer a space where your own voice can slowly return.
This journey isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about reclaiming what was always yours.

Where You Don’t Have to Perform to Be Received

What You Can Expect

This space wasn’t designed to fix you.
It was created to hold you. As you are—without needing to explain, justify, or prove anything.

So many women have spent years—or even decades—performing strength.
Meeting expectations. Swallowing their needs. Trying to earn love, safety, or approval through silence, sacrifice, or perfection.

I see that.
I’ve lived versions of that in my own body.

That’s why everything about this journey is paced, private, and personal.
There is no curriculum you have to keep up with. No right way to show up. No pressure to share what isn’t ready.

Whether you arrive through photography, journaling, or quiet conversation, you will be met with care.
We move slowly.
We follow what your body is ready for—not what the world demands.

This is where you get to bring the parts of you that have been performing for too long… and begin to let them rest.

This Is for the Part of You That’s Tired of Pretending

Your Journey Starts Here

The part that smiles when it’s not okay.
The part that keeps saying yes when your body is screaming no.
The part that learned how to disappear in order to stay safe, stay loved, stay “good.”

You’ve carried so much for so long.

This space is for the you beneath all that.
The you who doesn’t need to have the right words.
The you who’s curious, tender, angry, numb, aching, alive.
The you who’s ready—not to transform—but to be met.

You don’t have to perform here.
You don’t have to push.
You don’t even have to know what you want yet.

All that’s required is that quiet yes—the one that lives under the noise.

If you’ve heard it, even faintly, you’re already on the path.