Darin Hiroshi Kawazoe
Founder of Aligned Mindset. Based in ʻAiea, Hawaiʻi.
Call (808) 852-2334 Or email darin@alignedmindset.meTwo kinds of work
I spent three decades in Hawaiʻi’s behavioral health and justice systems. For those same years, I lifted heavy.
Thirty years watching other people’s bodies. The same thirty years loading my own.
I was good at bracing. Then one morning I got out of bed and my back ached. Nothing had happened. It took me a long time to unlearn what I had built.
Before Aligned Mindset
For several decades I worked in criminal justice, substance-use treatment, community health, and nonprofit leadership. I was Hawaiʻi’s first Drug Court program coordinator. I worked in statewide inmate reentry, built and directed community programs, and trained organizations in evidence-based treatment and prevention. Through Support Unlimited, LLC, I have also consulted with organizations on program design, leadership, and strategy.
The question underneath all of it was the same one I ask now: what helps people regain stability, confidence, and forward movement?
Today I ask it about the body. I notice how people move, where they compensate, and what small change helps them feel more capable and secure.
Hirobuilt
For ten years, I trained ordinary people who took on extraordinary challenges: half marathons, marathons, extreme mountain races, and team biathlons. The program was called Hirobuilt.
I also conditioned youth athletes for rugby and competitive canoe paddling.
After the pandemic
After the pandemic, I began working with older adults. Many had faced isolation and loneliness. Their mobility had declined along with their connection to the world.
The work was no longer about finishing a race. It was about getting up from a chair, stepping off a curb, and carrying the groceries home. That was the beginning of Aligned Mindset.
My grandfather
I carry my maternal grandfather’s name, Hiroshi. He died before I was born.
During the pandemic, I learned more about him. Hiroshi Miyahara was a Shinto minister. His practice dealt with healing through times of transition. One of the methods he used came from Nishi Shiki, a Japanese system that includes practices for spinal alignment.
His practices reached me through my mother. I do not replicate them. But the ideas that came down through my family continue to influence how I see movement: attention to the spine, the ground, transition, balance, and the way the whole body organizes itself.
A figure walks with attention, one steady step at a time. Around him is an enso, a circle drawn in a single brushstroke and left open. The work is like that. It is never finished. It is practiced.
The work now
I work one-on-one with adults 50 and older across Oʻahu, and I prepare older travelers for the trips they want to take. The work begins with noticing, and it moves at your pace.
I have also written two books about it, Boots by the River and Noticing.
Client voices
I feel steadier walking, and I no longer hesitate on stairs. The fear I used to carry is gone.
My confidence walking has improved more than I expected. I feel grounded in a way I haven’t in years.
I came in thinking I just needed exercises. What I learned was how my body had been working against me, and how to change that.
Credentials and recognition
- Certified Fall Prevention SpecialistPESI
- Balance and Mobility Training, 11 contact hoursHuman Kinetics, October 16, 2026
- Certified Senior Fitness TrainerInternational Fitness Association
- Certified Personal TrainerInternational Fitness Association
- Certified NutritionistInternational Fitness Association
- Ergonomics trainingOSHA
- Master of Urban and Regional PlanningUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- Bachelor of Social WorkUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
- Community Leadership AwardPresident's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, 2015
- Golden Gavel AwardHawaiʻi State Bar Association, 1999, shared with Joan Sakaba
Call or email to schedule a consultation
Call (808) 852-2334 Email darin@alignedmindset.meThe consultation is free. We talk about what you need, how sessions work, and cost.
I return calls and emails within one business day.