Message

From my childhood experiences, questions such as “How can diverse people live together peacefully while remaining different?” and “What contribution can I make as a Japanese person?” have guided my life's journey and I have worked in the fields of international cooperation, refugee assistance, and multicultural conviviality.

Through working on projects for post-conflict reconstruction and peacebuilding in developing countries through a government-affiliated financial institution and providing legal assistance to refugees and immigrants in Japan, I tried to build "peace" in the world outside of myself. However, it painfully deepened my sense of helplessness as I realized the futility of crying out for justice and righteousness and the new cycle of violence created by the act of judging.

In response to the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, I founded the General Incorporated Association “WaNavi Japan”, which provides training for international residents to support their soft landing into Japanese society and culture, with a focus on disaster preparedness education.
Through my efforts to enhance diversity and inclusion in Japan, I began to offer programs for self-exploration and mutual understanding through Japanese cultural experiences, mainly at Hitotsubashi Business School (an English-language MBA program in which 80% of the students are international students). As part of the immersion in various wisdoms of Japanese culture, I took on the role of guiding students to experience Zen meditation at a Zen temple. There, I realized that people all over the world suffer from the same problem.
“I want to be able to control my emotions, and to know how to keep my mind calm”, “I have problems in my relationships and want to build good relationships.” Surprisingly, the various people in their 20s to 70s from all over the world that we welcomed expressed the same concerns and desires.
And another thing I noticed was that when we sat together in quiet zazen and had a dialogue with the monk to share our thoughts and feelings, all the groups began to get along remarkably quickly.

I had always thought harmony was something that “we create” in the outer world, but this experience made me think, maybe harmony is something that “arises of its own accord” when there is alignment in the inner world… Maybe, peace is the “result” of good and stable relationships among people... When this understanding came, it seemed crucial for me to work on harmonizing of the mind and of interpersonal relationships.

In addition, through raising my own children, I have revisited the reality of societal structure based on evaluation, judgment, and competition, as well as the uneasiness I felt in my own upbringing. I have come to believe that in order to build a society that values diversity and inclusion, it is essential that each child be valued for who he or she is and nurtured under compassionate and attentive eyes.

Since then, with "empathy" and "connection" as keywords, we have incorporated various studies of mind, spirit, consciousness, and relationships. My endeavor is to explore "designing shared experiences that naturally create harmony" and "creating a field of connection". In March of 2021, we launched Healing Connections, LLC as a vessel for such co-creation.

This process of exploration was also a journey of healing memories of pain in my own close relationships, and a journey of reconnecting to my true nature from the heart.
What I realized was that when we listen carefully to the needs and wishes that lie deep within our thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, and experience a state of "coherence," a warm connection from the heart to ourselves, others, and the world, we come to understand that "the wishes of others are also my wishes" and that "everything is connected.
They say, "You cannot reproduce a dish you have not tasted," but I believe that if we can taste this deep and delicate realm together, harmony will spread with reproducibility.

Although I still have a long way to go in my quest, for now I am happy to follow my heart's guidance, co-create with diverse people, and hold space where collective healing and awareness emerges.
I am happy to expand the rich and empathetic world where we can connect with our own "essence" and connect deeply with others, together with as many people as possible. I look forward to the day when we can work together somewhere.

Motoko Kimura

Team

We have learned from the wisdom of the East and West, in science, religion, philosophy, medicine, and other fields, and have put it into practice in a variety of teams in businesses, educational institutions, communities, and other places where people gather.

Our Experiences

包括的・多角的な関係性へのエンパワーメント

私たちは組織における共感的なコミュニケーションや関係性をテーマとした人材研修、人間性に立ち戻るスペースや習慣（リズム）の環境設計、コレクティブな癒しと気付きが出現する対話のリトリートなどを実施してきました。それらの経験を包括的・多角的に組み合わせて、「和」の出現、ポジティブな組織文化の創出と定着をサポートします。

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