Akari Yokokawa, R.TCMP, R.Ac, RMT - Pregnancy and Lactation Wellness -

05/06/2025

Hello — it’s been a while.

After more than a decade walking the path of Chinese Medicine, I’ve arrived at something that feels like home.

Tsumugi Healing Arts
(Tsoo-moo-ghee)

This is the new name for my work — but not a new beginning so much as a weaving together of all that’s come before.

“Tsumugi” (紬 / 紡) is a Japanese word that means:
• the hand-spinning of silk
• the act of weaving
• a woven kimono fabric

No, I’m not selling kimonos!

But I’ve always felt that healing is like weaving — slow, intentional, and uniquely yours.

My work remains rooted in Chinese Medicine, massage therapy, and deep listening — with a focus on pelvic, breast, and emotional health.

My role is still the same:
to walk beside you as you untangle and reweave the threads of your life.

A small nerdy fact I love:
There are actual meridians for weaving life —Yang Wei (for weaving) and Yin Wei (for fabric).
That’s always been my compass.

Also, running a business under my own name never quite fit.
I’m someone who holds space from behind the scenes — and Tsumugi gives me the right shape to keep doing that with more clarity and care.

I’ll no longer be posting here.

You can find me now at Tsumugi Healing Arts

If our paths continue to cross there, I’d be so glad.

And if not, thank you for being part of the thread that led me here.

With love & threads of healing,

Akari | Tsumugi Healing Arts

Hello, and welcome.

It’s taken over a decade since I entered a Chinese Medicine world to arrive here—with clarity, with softness, with a name that finally feels like home.

Let me introduce you to Tsumugi Healing Arts.
A new chapter, not just in name—but in meaning, in rhythm, and in relationship.

“Tsumugi” (紬 / 紡) is a word from my country - Japan.
It means:
• hand-spinning silk
• the act of weaving
• woven kimono fabric from that silk)
A slow, intentional process. Thread by thread. Life by life.

You are already whole, born with everything you need to weave your life.
But sometimes life pulls, knots, or tangles our threads.

At Tsumugi, we gently untangle what’s been held too tightly, and together, begin the reweaving.

I offer care rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine, bodywork, and deep strategy—supporting pelvic, breast, and emotional health for women.

Here, we don’t chase symptoms.
We listen. We trace patterns.
We honour the fabric of your story.

This isn’t a place for quick fixes.
This is a space for weaving.

And I’m honoured you’re here.

— Akari

Founder, Tsumugi Healing Arts

15/10/2024

My office has moved!

As of October 15th 2024, my office is now at:
253 Danforth Avenue (same building) but on the 3rd floor, #302.

There are now small waiting/seating area on the floor of my unit.
YAY!

AND!!

The new treatment space is larger!

I am hoping to start offering a family or friend acupuncture treatment where two acquainted acupuncture patients can receive treatments simultaneously (by request).

Also, if there’s enough demand, I would love to consider offering a community acupuncture once a month or so, where multiple people receive together in a semi-private setting, which allows the cost of the treatment to be lower.
I’ll update on this project here as it unfolds :)

Looking forward to seeing you at my new office space!!

Akari

15/04/2024

A week late to post, but I literally had a super bloody juicy day last weekend at Dr. Yvonne Farrell's course as a part of the 8-month mentorship about "Acupuncture for Surviving Adversity: Acts of Self-Preservation".

This module’s topic was Luo-Collaterals system.

Luo-Collaterals are the second layer of the 5 meridian/channel systems in Classical Chinese Medicine which deal with overwhelming input and experiences that one can no longer suppress and they start to take control of our lives. This channel system acts as a buffer in a way it pushes them into the blood and its circulation or creates some sort of lumpy-bumpy things on the body, so that those “harmful” things are kept away from vital organs. But eventually it gives in and shows up as symptoms.
When those are affected, it presents certain emotional and physical patterns (spider veins are one good example of this!) and noticed by the patient as it literally screams for help.

This system is definitely one of my favourite ones to study and treat, it does such amazing things to the patient that I don't think no other treatment options can offer. There’s no miracle but it does feel and look miraculous when treated!

And this learning is extra special for me as it was taught by Dr. Farrell.

Her teaching has extra emphasis on patients’ autonomy: we/care providers don’t get to decide what to do for them. We “know” it yet when it comes to facing our patients, we tend to start leading the session and treat the pulse or whatever we see. BUT her teaching constantly reminds us that the goal setting should come from the patient. She doesn’t say “treat the pulse”. She never endorses us leading the patients.

I felt so juiced-up after her class!
Maybe I’ll make a post about autonomy and empowerment because it’s SO important… I feel 80% of the treatment is influenced by those two elements.

Anyways, if you are overwhelmed by emotions and/or experiences and can’t handle it anymore, get acupuncture treatments from a Registered Acupuncturist. I must say it's our signature treatment that no other professions can really offer.

Akari

28/02/2024

Kintsugi and life lessons

I am learning Kintsugi, a classic Japanese art of putting broken pieces together while honouring the damage by applying decorative gold lines.

(You can check the Highlight to learn more about what it is, or check out my teacher here https://www.instagram.com/kintsugica/ .)

In the recent class, I was presented with the following three lessons:

- Know when to stop (know where you are and how you are engaging with things).
- Use appropriate tools (know your options).
- Pay attention to cues.

At the previous class, I filled tiny, shallow chipped areas with the bengara urushi mixture, but it didn't stay, or rather, darn!, I removed it for the second time!

My teacher told me it was because I scraped the layer too much with the metal blade; I needed to switch to a plant-based, softer polishing material (Tokusa) earlier in this process. I knew I needed to switch the tools once I'd done 80% of the trimming work, but I kept going until too late. Recalling it now, he placed Tokusa near me at some point while I was trimming this with a metal blade. Maybe he was hinting that it's time to switch the tools, or maybe not. It doesn't matter. The fact is that I acknowledged that there was another option available for me, but I ignored the cue and kept going because I believed firmly that I wasn't doing it enough and wasn't ready to switch.

This is a very classic everyday story for me.

I appreciate that the teacher didn't step in and let me "fail" so-to-speak, intentionally or unintentionally, and that those lessons were presented in a very obvious way for me.

I know my tendency, but this time, it hit me differently. It was a somatic learning moment that's deeper than an "a-ha" moment. I am still reflecting and processing it a lot...

Now what, you ask?

Round three: I will fill them in with the next layer, not overdo it when removing the excess, and use appropriate tools by knowing where I am in the process and looking around for what's available. Or maybe a different approach is needed.

Another lesson.

If you couldn't achieve what you want, no biggie. You just do it again.

Fail = "First Attempt at Learning"

Too philosophical?

Akari

18/01/2024

Soma means body in ancient Greek.
Somatization is a manifestation of emotional or psychological factors in a form of physical pain.

This concept is especially important for chronic conditions that are not improving with manual or movement therapy, or medications. Because there’s often, if not always, emotional component to it.

My teacher Yvonne Farrell says;
“Physical pain and restriction of movement for many people seems more manageable than emotional suffering or existential crisis. People will pay the price for the physical pain in order not to be destroyed by the emotional distress”.

Do you relate to this statement?

At one point in the past (or at repeated occasions) or at this present moment, the body made or is making an unconscious decision to protect you from unbearable emotional constraints by storing such experiences in the body.

The event can be so-called big-T trauma (very catastrophic events) or “seemingly” minor single or repetitive emotionally taxing experiences.

This shapes how you react to and navigate through everyday and how you defend and present yourself to the world.

It can be seen as a tension in the neck, tightness in the jaws (clenching), tight chest, shallow breathing, tight pelvic floor, posture, response to things (always on the go, saying NO before even giving a moment to contemplate, hiding etc..), RBF (Resting B***h Face) etc..

It is a body memory.

If this goes on for a long time and the body starts to “wear down”, it becomes complex presentations that involve the actual tissue changes as in degeneration or new growth (benign or malignant).

If this is the case, what would be the best way to support the person?

We have two ways;
Top-down; using the mind/cognition, change the narratives and reframe the experiences. E.g. Talk therapy
Bottom-up; engaging with the physical sensation then rearrange how the brain/nervous system understands it. Some kinds of talk therapies (Somatic Experiencing, Compassionate Inquiry) are able to address this, as well as body work.

The key is to consider both aspects.

TCM/Classical Acupuncture can do both, AND address the “wearing down” part. Acpuncture is super nourishing! :)

Akari

08/01/2024

Wow, it's already seven days into the new year!?

The start of this year for the Japanese was a rough one as the country was hit by another mega earthquake followed by tsunami, then a huge plane crash…

And without much to say, hearing and witnessing things about what's happening in Gaza…

It has been really hard for me to feel grounded and don’t really feel like celebrating the new year.

So I’ve been just acknowledging that I am emotionally affected and sitting with it.

Many say that Japan is a safe country when it comes to crime rates and it is a beautiful place with very distinct seasons. But the flip side is that there are full of natural disasters. Every time we are hit by those (earthquakes, tsunami, volcano eruptions, typhoons, flooding, landslides etc. etc.) we are reminded that we cannot take anything for granted. Nothing is eternal and things keep changing. Here we say “Shogyo Mujo (諸行無常)”.

While we mourn, we also learn to accept, adapt, and rebuild. It’s not giving up or surrendering, but doing what we can… I have to remind myself that I have that “blood” in me, so I can also be resilient if I trust myself when I face adversity.

Anyways,,, new year resolutions?

As of writing this post, I’d like to make this year to be more connected to the gut, slowing down, and checking in (attuned with myself, my medicine, sun and moon, seasons,,, all that). I also plan to be more fluid - flexible and adaptable, then focus on being present.

Another big one is to allow myself to be vulnerable. It’s so hard when you are supposed to be a grown-up solo business person! Will see how this goes…

For social media posts, I am not sure how many posts I will or can make, but I plan to share resourceful things when I can :)

By the way, the photo is a rice porridge (congee) I made today. Traditionally, we eat congee with seven herbs on January 7th to restore stomach from the indulgence of the new year’s food. I didn’t have all the herbs so I made it my way!

In healthy,

Akari

31/12/2023

Quickly reflecting on my 2023

First of all, thank you to everyone who crossed the pass in any form!

My practice grew because of each one of you. And here are some highlights!

Diving into German Auricular Medicine taught me to trust what I feel and treat as it guides me. As a highly analytical person it was quite challenging but when I put that aside and treated what I felt, I saw interesting changes in my patients with this treatment.

Also I studied deeper into Complement Channels (Classical Medicine, Channel Theories etc.) which sees that each channel system has unique personalities and ways to cope/deal with adversity. It’s a very complex 5 layer, 12 + 8 channel system, its complexity often exploded my head and its philosophy blew my mind how things are explained so beautifully from this lens. I am still chewing and digesting a lot about this,,, I literally have to support my digestive system in order to fully digest and get that into my body.

Outside the treatment room, I took on a role as a Committee member at one of my Colleges I belong to and participated in many meetings about regulations and decisions on various items. It’s with responsibility but after our profession faced a deregulation last year, contributing to the profession is the way to protect our profession and preserve this medicine. Otherwise we can’t protect the public. I am also thinking a lot about cultural appropriation etc.. a lot!

When it comes to business, I reviewed my cancellation policy last year (10 posts ago). Since then, I restructured my practice/business and reset my boundaries around it. As a result, the total cancellation within the policy period 2023 decreased significantly from a month's worth of income (2022) to a day's worth (2023). Everyone continued their care with me after I applied the fees despite the fear/warning from other people I had last year. Overall, I was way less in survival mode this year and I feel more grounded.

Again, thank you.

I have more to write but I’ll stop here for now.

See you in 2024!

Akari

Photo is one of my forever favourite formulas. Can you tell what this is? (Answer in the comment!)

14/11/2023

Zu Kan Soku Netsu - a Japanese idiom for healthy living.
Literal meaning is “head cold, feet hot”.
When your head is cool while your feet are kept warm, your body operates better.
Heat raises, so our head easily gets “heated”. You know that when you are angry or nervous etc. we say you get heated and someone will tell you to “cool down”. It’s not only about the temperature, but also the performance/function as well, and they go hand in hand. When the head is overheated, it’s like the CPU in the computer gets overheated and started to malfunction. There’s no difference in our “CPU” = brain!
On the other hand, we want to keep our feet warm, especially for those who have wombs and/or menstruating.
We have meridians on our feet that connect with the womb and abdomen, thus we have many acupoints for gynaecological (or digestive) concerns on or around feet and ankles. We even use heat lamps and/or moxa to warm up those points during the acupuncture sessions when we work on those issues.

But if the feet are kept cold outside the treatment room, we are undoing all the efforts we are making in our treatment room. You spend way more time outside! What you do when on your own has a significant impact on your health and treatment outcomes.
Remember, you are a part of the treatment. So, please;
- Wear slippers
- Keep socks on at all times
- Cover your ankles
- Do foot soaks regularly, and
- Set-up a Kotatsu table (if you have one)
Warming up the feet also “pulls” down the heat from the head to calm you down and bring clarity.
This practice is helpful for almost everyone, but especially for those who have any of the following.
- Anxiety
- Foggy mind
- Scattered mind/poor concentration
- Anger/outburst tendency
- Insomnia
- Cold hands and feet
- Low back pain
- bloating
- Loose stools
- Frequent urination
- Menstrual cramps and irregular menstruation
- Fertility challenges and more

Akari

03/10/2023

(Peri)menopause & 4 + 1 DIY ways to support the process of letting go

Letting go of life experiences, emotions, old thinking patterns, perceptions and/or beliefs is not as easy as dumping stuff in the waste bin, and it’s not really the point.

Letting go is about bringing closure. Coming to terms with it. Accepting what it is/was but also knowing you are more than that. Rewriting a new story about things so we nurture ourselves for a less burdened future.

I find that often the desire or readiness to do so comes rather spontaneously. We really can’t push the process. But if you feel you are ready, you can try this.

It’s called “unburden” in the Internal family Systems Therapy concept, and they use 4 ways to do so. You may choose what resonates with you the most, or feel free to combine.

I find it actually and physically doing it more powerful, but you can visualize it too.

1. FIRE; Have fire consume it. You can symbolize the piece of wood (or something you can burn) for what you’d like to let go. Burn it safely and see it turn into ash… Ash can then be sprinkled over the soil of the plant or ground to nourish and support new growth. Or disposed of as organic waste, follow/combine other elemental ways below.

2. WATER; Let it sail off with water… You can do that in the river, or even in the toilet or sink!

3. EARTH; Bury it (something to symbolize) deep under the ground to put it to rest. Or It’ll compost and nurture and support new lives and growth.

4. AIR; You can exhale what you want to let go and say bye to it as it leaves your body. Once you exhale, you can now inhale new fresh air into your lungs

I also like to include the WOOD element. This is the “+1”.

5. Wood; Write/draw things down on a paper. Then store it or also engage with any of the above to release it.

When you write down/draw do this, have as clear vision as you can re; what you want to let go or say boog-bye. Then pay close attention to the body and emotions.

Be curious. Has something shifted

Lastly,,, it’s important that your digestion, sleep, and elimination (p*e & poo) are optimal for the letting to to happen.

Akari

01/10/2023

(Peri)menopause; signs of the body not letting go

Many people esp. in (peri)menopausal phase experience a new set of symptoms without apparent reasons and feel very puzzled.
When body and mind speak up, it might look acute from just how the symptoms started, but the fact is, things have been accumulating for many years and it just happened to show up as “surprise” with the slightest and latest trigger.

It’s basically your body and mind throwing the towel. During the making process. we desensitize and create a new “normal/homeostasis” which actually puts a lot of strain on our system.

It’s a strong piece of metal that breaks after years of repetitive strain situation.

Such imbalances can look like below;
- Nagging headaches/migraines
- Insomnia
- Jaw clenching
- Dizziness and Tinnitus
- Eye issues ie; glaucoma
- High blood sugar
- Chronic postnasal drip, nasal polyps
- Neck/Shoulder tension, Frozen shoulders
- Asthma
- Acid reflux, food sensitivities, IBS
- Low back pain
- Chronic UTIs, Overactive Bladder, Leakage etc.
- Fibroids/ovarian cysts and menstrual issues
- Breast cysts
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Skin conditions
- Chronic pain
- Anxiety, Depression, Panic attack
- Ridge thinking, stubbornness
- Identity crisis
- Lack of motivation
- Chronic frustration (that you aren’t aware but others are picking up)
- Chronic inflammation or poor immunity
- Degenerative disease

The list goes on...

Those are due to a disharmony of external influence and who you really are… The body has given in and is no longer able to maintain the false homeostasis at this point.

TCM recognizes it and has been treating this for thousands of years, namely Divergent channel issues. We strongly nourish them internally, this allows the person to regain some inner strength to adapt with the environment and help them rediscover who they truly are by connecting Heart and Kidneys (in TCM language), and letting go of old patterns. And to evaluate the entire life and restructure how they want to exist in the world moving forward.

Registered Acupuncturists assist this process so well! If any of this post resonates with you, consider having treatments with an acupuncturist :)

Akari