About – Kenta Thomas Naoi

Hi! I’m Kenta Thomas Naoi (研太トーマス直井) {{he/they}}.

I am many things beyond the written word (aren’t we all?). I am guided by the spirit of water 🌊.

My work has shifted quite a lot in the past few years from burnt out design studio owner in NYC, to consultant, movement artist/teacher, coach, and now to something that emerges as a decade long integration of these past experiences working for myself and cultivating capacity in the often uncomfortable 'in-between' spaces of change work.

I have come to realize that more than a 'title', what I desire is a practice -

of rooted creation, meaningful connection (to self, each-other), crafting sovereignty, weaving possibilities and through this practice, a hope - to empower more of us to build beyond these current systems - that was never designed for us to thrive in.

My work is equally spiritual, as it is practical.

Because beyond the language of 'business' - what I have realized my community asks from me AND the questions I return back to is, "How do we feed our communities, how do we provide true abundance and regenerative resources that allow us to bridge from this system, to the one's we are co-weaving into reality? How do we support change under a Capitalist system, when we lack the capital power to fund the change work?"

This is about re-orientating of how we approach 'business, not as capital accumulation, but as world weaving praxis, of reshaping how resources are exchanged, redistributed, and used to care for each other (which includes YOU)!'

This is also why, even though, I speak often about business, it's beyond business.

If this vision connect with you :

I would be honored to start with an introductory call.

It's a no pressure way for us to get to know each other more.

Okay, you're still reading ;). Then here's more about me.

I grew up in the SF/Bay Area (Ohlone Land).
I like cats - I embody their will.
I am a queer, Asian American by way of Japanese ancestors currently living in Copenhagen

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How We Can Work Together in Partnership:

1-1 Coaching/Consulting (inner/outer work including hands-on digital/creative consulting support)
Digital/Creative Consulting via my Studio (this is more for the traditional client, who wants 'done for you').

You can also check out:

Weekly Movement Research and Mobility Training here in Copenhagen : Functional Flow
My Movement Oriented design brand : MDR (Movement Designer Research)
My artistic and modality research practice : Mu Noh Butoh + In-Bodied Inquiry

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These days, I also offer my work to those who may not seek vocational support, but want a self awareness and attunement practice. To share the heaviness of their body and spirit into a space where they can be held to transmute what's present into what can be - perhaps a way of being and doing that causes less suffering to self and collective (in the Buddhist sense). This ritual, I offer as 'counsel' - not in the therapeutic traditions, but in being inspired by the indigenous peoples and the ways they offer healing support. If you've been interested in my work, but felt that 'business or creative practice' hasn't quite called to you, you are welcome to still reach out.

I often work with the creatively inclined, cultural workers, world builders, care givers, and those who are tired of ‘business as usual’, who desire deeper breaths in the body.

How I Got Here:

I used to run a small creative studio in Brooklyn, NY. I have been self employed for 13+ years. I bring many of my learnings as a creative surviving within capitalism, including a deep knowing of the realities of burnout and a deep desire to pursue meaningful work to my current practice.

I know the feeling of ‘stuckness’ well.

I also know, what I had to do ‘thrive’ fiscally (6 figure freelancing business that led to my burnout).

I have witnessed my own coping with a system that dampens our imaginative labour, and asks us to forsake ourselves to ‘be successful’ - how it asks us to comply or resist.

I choose to resist. That is why I do the work I do today. To invite you into your own paths of resistance, through ‘hope’.

“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”

Toni Cade Bambara

“Trainings”

I am certified under an ICF accredited school for coaching, and have studied and mentored in program for two years.

Beyond these year long trainings, I have taken many workshops/talks (parts-work, poly vagal theory, animist psychology, etc.). But certifications are not markers for my knowing.

I share these, because they are traditional forms of ‘knowledge-trust’, but truthfully, I desire a world where we are not so dismissive of our own embodied learnings... so, let me say ...

I credit my own embodied education working with 100s of individuals, and working with mentors/coaches/guides, as well as, self practice, as the source for my personal knowing, from which I hold space and guide you to your inner knowing.

I want to name that I have been dancing, moving, and exploring body-based inquiries for most of my life, and I encourage all of us to see how we have developed our own languages for healing over time. I offer this also.

‘Supremacy culture’ often teaches us to outsource our authority+agency.

I am here to guide you back to yours

(Which ironically, you do not need. However, having a support system and space held is often helpful, when we have learned to doubt our own truths for so long.)

YOU are the source of your own healing rituals.

Healing, not as a destination, or 'fixing'.

Instead, healing as becoming, as awareness, as tending to 'another way'. To open ourselves up to the otherwise.

My work includes (not limited to)

working holistically with the body through somatic/movement practices,
breath work (pranayama influenced),
guided meditations,
as well as, mindset work,
accountability and habit building,
business strategies + creative direction
digital/IT consulting
emotional processing work,
spiritual discourse,
ritual making/creative practices,
and critical thinking around current oppressive colonial systems.

It is fluid and always transforming. We will mostly work over Zoom, unless you are in CPH, DK.

I also want to name that I am critical of the current landscapes of inner healing or inner work.

And I work to articulate my own feelings around this, actively.

Our healing, is only as effective as the collective healing work we must effort inside of. This is why our work together is nestled into a 1-1 partnership, AND a knowing that you will take this work back out into the world.

Which is why I would always ask us to consider:

how do our practices impact our communities and align with collective desires?

Without material/systemic awareness and transformation, we are only teaching each other to ‘cope’. True freedom, comes when our systems are oriented towards such freedoms. And this takes collective effort.

This is why I am dedicated to a larger liberatory praxis (decolonial, anti-supremacist/racist, anti-capitalist… ) - because if we truly believe that our inner world reflects the outer realities, then the outer realities must also be tended to, so that we have more nourishing material realities from which to nurture the inner landscapes. This (ethical observation) is of course reflected in many spiritual discourses, especially that of Dharmic traditions, which I am personally interested in.

I am committed to constantly learning and honing my practice to better hold you wonder folk.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out.

I strive to be transparent, so that you know who you are working with - I don’t take your trust lightly.

I am looking forward to getting to know and seeing if we’re a good fit.