About Us
About Maria, CD(DONA)
Maria believes that the way pregnancy, labour, and postpartum is builds the foundation for all aspects of the mother, child, and other involved members’ lives from then and on.
Her journey and passion for motherhood started when she became pregnant with her boy who was born January of 2008. Through her personal experience, she felt the power of this special time and strongly wished to pass her gained sense of empowerment on to other women and families.
She felt like she was able to tune in with herself and be born once again as she gave birth to her baby. She also knew that without the unconditional and continuous love, care and support of her family and supporting members, this experience would not have been the same.
She went through the birth and postpartum Doula training provided by DONA (Doulas of North America) in 2008. She is a current member of DONA International and board member acting as Director of Publicity and Promotions for Doula Services Association of British Columbia, Canada. She is a volunteer doula at South Community Birth Program of Vancouver BC, the Youth Pregnancy and Parenting Program (YPPP) of Vancouver, BC, and the SMILE Program in Burnaby, BC. She wishes to support women and their families in any way they wish so they are also allowed the opportunity to embrace this special journey being led by their own voice and intuition.
Her other passion is pursuing holistic wellness through natural healthy living. She is a Certified Natural Products Manufacturer and studying for her degree in Complementary Alternative Medicine and Herbalism. Apart from her doula services (in which she only provides information and support that her clients seek), she shares her wisdom of holistic health and natural baby caring such as cloth diapering and babywearing. When not with her clients, she enjoys every moment of being with her son, family, and dog, which she considers their daughter. She is constantly thankful for all the blessings life brings, including being a part of other women's magnificent experience of birth.
Maria is bilingual in Japanese and English. She is Japanese, born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, growing up in an international school environment. She now resides in Vancouver BC, Canada with her loving family. She feels that her unique background has taught her a sense of respect and understanding for different cultures and lifestyles. Her personal life goal that she is concentrating on this year is endurance and being non-judgmental.
The Birth of the Name
There are some philosophical and personal reasons to the name, Inner Earth.
When I became pregnant, I had this magical trance-like experience. I'm sure it only lasted a minute but it felt eternal and will be remembered eternally. I was just standing in the middle of the family room at my mom’s place and just laid my hands on my not-yet-grown belly (I was about 7 weeks pregnant). Then all of a sudden, I could see this vast space inside my belly. It is the universe and it looks big and spacious and empty but felt so dense and fulfilled. It was black but not dark, I think the color looking dark was the result of all these colors mixing with one another. I felt that that was my first conscious experience with my fetus and what he was about to teach and show me. That was the moment I truly could listen to my inner voice and trust them.
Then, closer to the end of my pregnancy, I was making my sister a picture book for her Christmas present. I was drawing each picture and to me, it was my birth art. It was about life and all the different intertwining energies that flowed through the paint brush, the crayons, the pencils, and pens, onto the blank paper. I wanted my husband to be a part of it too and had asked him ton draw a few pages. I really wanted him to express the pregnancy or the upcoming birth through his picture but wasn’t sure if he was going to and didn’t request it. Then to my surprise, he drew a beautiful picture, which later becomes the base idea for this name and logo. It was a water-color painting of my belly with one big Earth in the middle with some sparkling stars around. It was soft, flowy, and had character. It reminded me of the universe that I had imagined earlier in my pregnancy. My baby had traveled and grown into being, settling himself on Earth, with us. Interestingly, I also figured out that my husband, my son, and I were all different Earth signs: Virgo, Capricorn and Taurus.
I really wanted “Earth” to be a part of the name of my service, since it grounds me, lets me know of my roots, and keeps me close to my family –because without them, I wouldn't have any of the amazing journeys and experiences of being a mother and a wife, which are big parts of who I am now.
Being pregnant truly got me connected and in touch with my inner self and baby, giving me the confidence as a person. So I wanted my services to empower and support women and families to be able to look at what's within, believe in it, and trust it.
That's the little birth story of the name, Inner Earth.
The Logo
The Inner Earth logo was created with much care and love. We hope it will be seen by many people as a symbol of gentle, fun, and loving spirit, which we would like to promote. The basic idea of it started out with trying to represent the earth in the womb. The surrounding flowers represent many of the positive energies of pregnancy, such as kindness, protection, and beauty. We also say they kind of look like breasts! –another nurturer. The upside down Earth represents the optimal fetal position for babies to be in right before birth. The double-lined letters of “inner earth” represents the umbilical cord that connects mothers with their unborn babies. We hope the logo can enhance the image of the kind of people we are and what we would like to do.
