Meet the Educators
Breath Fitness- Miles Lukas
Miles Lukas is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Dave Camarillo with over 20 years of experience and a certified level 2 Wim Hof Method Instructor. He has had unprecedented opportunities to learn directly from many masters, including Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia, and Rickson Gracie. His experience includes climbing Mount Hood in Oregon with Wim Hof, bare-chested, in only shorts, using breathing techniques to mitigate the elements. He specializes in applying breathwork to temperature control, health, anxiety, mental fortitude, martial arts, and fitness.
Ikebana- Yumi Rakers
Yumi Rakers, certified instructor of Ikebana in the Sogetsu-ryu school, has been teaching, demonstrating, presenting and studying this art for the past 34 years. As a certified instructor, Ms. Rakers, when she has time to visit Japan, continually takes classes at the Sogetsu branch headquarters to further her training. Past 16 years, she’s been studying under the Sogetsu USA director Mrs. Kika Shibata. Since she moved to San Diego 2003, she has been teaching at Japanese Friendship Garden every Tuesday for past 15 years. Additionally, Ms. Rakers is a participant artist at San Diego Museum of Art “Art Alive”, a member of Ikebana International San Diego Chapter, Sogetsu San Diego Branch, Sogetsu Shoka-kai San Diego, Sogetsu teacher association in Tokyo headquarter. She served as a president and vice president of Ikebana international Akron Chapter, a vice president, program chairman, and flowers show chairman of San Diego Chapter.
Kamishibai- Walter Ritter and Write Out Loud
Walter Ritter has presented kamishibai stories all over San Diego County in classrooms and libraries since 1913. He is Executive Director of Write Out Loud, the theatre company that reads literature aloud to audiences of all ages and which features kamishibai as a core program under the name of StoryBox Theatre. Walter says, “Kamishibai is a marvelous way to tell stories to groups of all kinds, adults as well as children. It is also a powerful teaching tool that should be in use in our primary grade classrooms.” Walter is a member of IKAJA, the International Kamishibai Association of Japan. Write Out Loud's mission is to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading literature aloud to all ages through - Story Concerts, TwainFest - a free literary festival, PoeFest, Stories for Seniors, Kamishibai (StoryBox Theatre), Read Imagine Create for teens and adults, Poetry Out Loud for high school students and Ripples From Walden Pond, a one-man play about Henry David Thoreau.
Kanpai- Ayaka Ito
Ayaka Ito is a certified Kikizakeshi (sake sommelier, essentially) and co-owner of Beshock Ramen & Sake Bar in East Village and Carlsbad. Ayaka is the organizer of the largest Sake event of the year, the San Diego Sake Festival. She was born in Nagoya, Japan and at 15 years old, she began living abroad in Canada. From there, she lived in Hawaii and South Korea, experiencing diverse cultures and lifestyles along the way. The world of saké was introduced to her when she was working as a long-term volunteer in the Miyagi prefecture after the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. Eastern Japan carries a variety of local saké and it was an eye-opening experience for her to come upon this time-honored gem in her own homeland. It was there that she discovered her life passion - to proudly introduce the national beverage of her country by becoming a certified Kikizakeshi. In 2014, she achieved this goal but felt this was just the beginning of her journey. To expand her knowledge and to fulfill her curiosity, she continues to visit sake breweries throughout Japan. Since 2016, Ayaka has been one of the leading authorities on sake in San Diego and enjoys bringing the story of sake to San Diego. It is her pleasure to share her knowledge and passion with at the Japanese Friendship Garden by hosting classes and workshops.
Kintsugi and Introduction to Japanese Tea- Chris Gilpin
After living in Aomori, Chris Gilpin has found a passion for understanding traditional Japanese craftsmanship, practices & sharing them with others. She was involved in countless ways during her nine years in Japan. Chris shares those experiences in the Japanese culture community on the entire west coast, bridging the communities to come together. She is the first international student for the Higashi Abe Ryu School of Sencha.
Koi Club San Diego
Since joining the San Diego Koi Club (KCSD)in the early ‘90’s, Linda, Greg, Will, and Jack have explore their passion in the wonders of koi. In September of 1999, these four joined JFG, volunteering their time in cleaning the koi pond. In 2005, their duties increased, soon caring for the fish and periodically checking the quality of the water. While originally only coming occasionally to check on the fish, they soon found they were needed more, when an autofill tragedy befell the Upper Garden pond in 2009, and all fish were lost due to chlorine. Because of this, KCSD has dedicated themselves every Monday before the garden opens, making sure the pond is up to top standards for the fish to live in. With Koi having weaker immune systems than the common carp, it’s been important for KCSD to keep a close eye on JFG’s garden jewels. In March of 2021, a deadly parasite struck the pond, causing us to lose 8 of our koi, with the other 16 left in critical condition. Through months of hard work, administering vaccines and medicine, KCSD was able to help bring the remaining koi back to full health!
Koto- Yuki Easter
Yuki Easter is the founder of the SoCal Koto Ensemble. In 1996, she received her koto instructor's license from Grand Master Sawai Koto Academy of Music in Tokyo Japan. Since 1993, she has been performing at JFGSD as well as other cultural events around San Diego County.
Nunchaku and Yoga- John Ortiz
John Ortiz is San Diego's own Neighborhood Sound Healer. East coast by nature, John blends his Yoga Teacher Training from Montclair, New Jersey (2016) along with his Atma Buti Sound Healing ( 2018) into a Traditional yet Creative Vinyasa practice tailor made for beginners and seasoned practitioners, alike.
QiGong- Shophar Graves
Shophar is a Breath Poet & author who has been on a journey with Qi Gong for over 20 years. He helps People Become Aware of the Rhythm & Rhyme of their Inhale & Exhale.
Sound Meditation- Lindsey Roach
Lindsey Roach is a sound healing and reiki practitioner with an educational background in Social Work. She fell in love with music and sound at a young age and after witnessing the positive effects of sound healing on her own body and mind as an adult, she felt called to become certified and offer sound medicine to others. One of her favorite details about sound healing is that there’s absolutely no effort involved for anyone to receive its benefits – the recipient gets to comfortably lie down and melt into the vibrations as their body does the transformative work itself. The natural beauty of the Japanese Friendship Garden paired with sound from crystal bowls, Tibetan bowls, chimes, gongs, drums and other sound tools will bathe listeners in a rejuvenating, multi-sensory experience.
Sound Meditation- Noriko Whitfield
Noriko Whitfield has specialized in various forms of healing arts for over 15 years. Her recent focus is on deepening the mind-body connection by incorporating body movements and sound, and her mission is to help others live to their full potential. Whitfield has performed at the Mingei International Museum, ICA San Diego and at Jerwood Arts in London. She is currently conducting an ongoing sound meditation and body movement series at California Center for the Arts, Escondido. She is also a coach and Grief Recovery Method Specialist. During her sound therapy, Whitfield creates a sense of space, calming the nervous system for emotional well-being and facilitating connection to the unconscious mind.
Happi Helpers program - CleanUp Kitsune
CleanUp Kitsune is an environmental performance art project designed to generate waste awareness through culture and creativity. Powered by Allgoods, an environmental 501c3, CleanUp Kitsune can be found at parks, events and various gatherings, collecting trash and littering kindness. CleanUp Kitsune is nonverbal, creating a unique experience for the senses. They use gestures to communicate kindness, which can be understood in any language. Equipped with kitsune (kit-soon-ay) masks, bamboo basket backpacks and armed with trash pickers, they walk around events in costume, cleaning up litter, pushing down trash bins, applauding for proper waste disposal, taking pictures with people & interacting with polite tomfoolery. After each event, CleanUp Kitsune details the experience, trash collections and recommendations for litter mitigation of each location on social media and includes posts of selfies with friends made along the way. CleanUp Kitsune has removed, sorted and responsibly disposed of approximately 18,000 pieces/150lbs of litter, at the time of writing. These two have cleaned up events like Comic Con, Renaissance Faires, Farmers Markets, Oktoberfest, Holiday Markets, Japanese Fairs, Environmental Events and can be found all throughout Balboa Park cleaning up litter and helping make outdoor events more waste aware.
Tai Chi- Mary Goldin-Lee
Mary Goldin-Lee has taught Tai Chi and Qigong since 2017 and has practiced with Qigong Masters such as Mingtong Gu, Minke deVos, Michael Winn, Ken Cohen, and Dr Roger Jahnke, OMD. Mary also shares her passion for empowerment and embodiment as a wellness coach and wellness retreat facilitator.
Temari- Becki Collins
Becki was first introduced to temari by her grandmother many years ago and it was love at first stich. Fast forward many years, she was reintroduced to it in Tokyo. From there she began taking formal lessons learning many patterns and receiving certifications from the Japan Temari Association by progressing through the formal curriculum. When not stitching a temari (which is rare) Becki also enjoys knitting, cross stitch and ikebana. She has previously taught in elementary school and also led jewelry making classes.
Wa-Shokuiku- Mayumi Uejima-Carr
Mayumi became the President of TABLE FOR TWO USA following work with Accenture and Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company and earning an MBA from Thunderbird. With TFT, she has developed a program to provide healthier school meals for children in the U.S. In doing so, she realized the need for a more structured food education program. She is a delegate to the US-Japan Leadership Program (2017-18).
Yoga-Tess Collins
For almost a decade, Tess Collins has been facilitating Mindful Movement experiences through 16 different countries' rooted cultures. She's excited to be sharing time with the San Diego community, connecting with surrounding nature, and continually researching what freedom in the mind/body can look and feel like, and from that, how to support & empower others through these various systems.