Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama
(December 15, 1925 – September 19, 2015)
Dr. Motoyama was the inspiration for Paul Grilley, and later Sarah Powers, to delve deeper into the mysterious connection of the physical movements in yoga and the movement of energy through the subtle body. Sarah has described Dr. Motoyama as a yoga adept. He was born of a mother who was an accomplished yogini with advanced psychic abilities. Early in his life Motoyama was also taken under the wing of his mother’s teacher who adopted the young Motoyama. Her name was Kinue Motoyama [1] and she was the founder of the Tamamistsu Jinja religious organization.
Tidbits of Dr. Motoyama’s life are sprinkled throughout his books. Curious readers can find more details in the book Awakening of the Chakras and Emancipation. Here we learn about the rigor of Motoyama’s early training and the awakening of his many vibhutis, or powers: his ability to see the energy fields, his ability to influence and correct faulty energy, to heal both those close to him and those in need far away.
Dr. Motoyama’s brilliance was not limited to his psychic abilities. He held two PhD degrees. He was also a Shinto priest, one highly respected in Japan. His ability to move freely between the worlds of the spirit and of the physical allowed him to investigate his own abilities using the rigors of Western science and medicine. With the aim of making the subtle measurable, he created instruments that he and others have learned to use to verify the flow of energy through the subtle body.
To further his research and spread his findings, Dr. Motoyama created institutes both in Japan and in the USA. It was during his travels that Paul Grilley came across him. Paul, as noted earlier, was inspired by what Dr. Motoyama revealed and went back with him to Japan. Later Paul introduced Sarah and others to Motoyama and they too embraced the teacher.
Dr. Motoyama passed away in 2015, but his institute is still active. It is called the California Institute of Human Science (CIHS). His formal biography is available from them, and there is an entry on him in Wikipedia.
(Next: Sarah Powers )