What score would you give on your relationship with your spouse or your closest loved ones? We know our relationship affect your sleep and the opposite is also true.

Yesterday, I missed a good sleep.  

My husband, Yasushi, and I went to the breathing class after work. We had dinner at our favorite Izakaya (a type of casual Japanese bar), got on the train together. From the train station, we walked back home separately.

He was reading the Financial Times on his desk, but there was something different. He didn’t answer my questions. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

Then right before going to bed, Yasushi uttered, “You didn’t want to listen to me.” I went blank. Then he added, “You were busy listening to your iPhone.”

Oh my god!  That was true!  On the train, I was listening to the webinar I missed during the day. I didn’t want to stop it when I got off the train. I kept listening not to miss a word on the way back...

What would you do when you want to clear your thought?

I took a walk, my daily routine, and there it was.

The shadow of a tree. Reflected on a stone wall covered with green moss. One of Korin Ogata’s sliding screen painting came into my mind.

Looking at the shadow changing its position with a breeze of air, I found peace inside. I took a deep breath and stayed with my energy.

Our brain may get noisy after the hectic round of meetings or an awkward conversation with our parents. It just happens.

Don’t be too hard on yourself.

How you respond is the key to opening a door for self-exploration.  

If you can’t go out for a walk and change the gear, find a picture of nature, green, water, animals, or anything that you feel comfortable and relaxing. Set it as a background cover photo on your devices or pin it down on your desk panel.

Looking at the picture you selected with intention will be a trigger to let you breathe deeply and reconnect with your inner peace.

...

I made countless mistakes during my corporate career. But the one that took my energy away most was this.

After being promoted as a deputy general manager of procurement (the first women in this post) in a major Japanese beverage company, I worked hard until late at night and even over the weekends to build my team and achieve our business goals. I really wanted to be a good leader, a role model for my peer women employees.

But after 3-4 years, I noticed my level of energy has declined even though I kept practicing the breathing method and was still conscious of maintaining my healthy habits. What was happening to me?

I realized that it came from my wrong, old style of thinking; I needed to sacrifice myself, my own joy to be perceived as a non-selfish leader. I put my energy to fill out others' plate and postponed my self-service.

If you're doing this, it won’t last for a long time. Let’s be deliberate in first filing our energy tank and then share it with others!

...

Do you have a dream? Even a tiny one is OK.

When you achieved your dream, what would that make you feel?

I really thought about this for a while. Do you know what I found?

The utmost feeling of joy, happiness, hope, knowing the greatness in me and others, and all these fulfilling emotions are already within me!

I just needed to think about a daily scene; feeling the loving interactions of the energy that flows naturally between my students and myself when we do the breathing exercise together.

That's so simple! And, I can access this fulfilling feeling anytime I want. Because it comes from my daily activity. Why not use our library of emotions wisely?

What are the highest feelings can you imagine? When you think of having achieved that dream already...

Getting a high-paid job, buying a car, a new house, traveling to Paris, or finding an everlasting partnership...

Can you think of any satisfying emotions that you already felt in the past or you have access right now from your...

One of the excellent sleeping techniques I couldn’t share with you in my recent webinar about sleep is a visualization technique.

If you haven’t done before, or even if you are already using some meditation or visualization technique, try this before going to bed. The nice thing about it is you can just add on to your daily practice. It is compatible with what you are doing right now.

This technique uses an image as the trigger to immerse you into a peaceful state of mind. Once you recall a safe, fulfilling emotion in you, your body also relaxes and releases its tension. That's why this technique is useful to shift your mind and body into feeling pleasant energy to guide us into a deep sleep. 

Let's get to the exercise (takes only a minute)!

• Select a photo, a picture clipped from magazines or books which shows your image of “peace and happiness.” (It could be a picture of flowers, sea, green field, or sky, something that you love.)
• ...

For my friend, I created a video to show how to gently relieve the pains (neck pains, back pains, joint aches) with deep breathing

I was wearing my down coat to show how to do it outside, but it was too cold!

Make sure to inhale through your nose and exhale from your mouth slowly. Imagine your pain melting down into the ground as you exhale.

Try it when you feel some pains. If you like this video, please share with your friend with your love.

Love to hear your comments. Enjoy your days!

From this week, I decided to post a weekly video blog to share my journey as a high performance coach, a breathing coach, and a personal stylist after I totally shifted my career path from the 34 years’ service in the corporate world.

Especially now, I’m working on myself to find more access to my true self. There are up and downs, but I’m ready to polish and bring up what’s sleeping in me so that I get to love myself and others even more.

I hope you can find something that may also work for you to accept and love yourself!

This week, I’m talking about why I thought I can be of service to the people having a sleeping problem.

If you also want to enjoy better sleep, you can register for the FREE Video Training now.

“How not to stay awake in the bed”

January 18th to 23rd (PST) 40 minutes  

https://best-in-me.jp/sleeptraining02

Happy New Year！

2019 is the year of the boar in Chinese Zodiac and often said to represent the meaning of courage and good health.

My new year's resolution is to open up my inner voice and to create and express the things that come out from my sincere passion.

Oh, this requires real courage, and that's why I think it's so timely! But I know, the more I share my thoughts, the more freedom of energy I'd get.

What would be your new year's resolution?

Yesterday, I celebrated my 56th birthday!

"Our birthday is the day we breathed in this world for the first time. So let's celebrate for having received the gift of life", my breathing teacher, now 92 years old, often said on his birthday parties.

I felt the great happiness and appreciation of actually living the life I wanted and being able to take new challenges as a high performance coach and a breathing coach to make the life of the people around me a little better and joyful than yesterday.

This year, thanks to my friends' support, I was able to do a webinar on the career transformation and also completed the 21-Day Challenge of my TRUE Breathing program on my birthday!

My love goes to Yasushi, my dearest husband, my parents and family, my friends and all of you who are willing to share your passion and cheerful messages with the world.

Please give yourself a pat on the back on your birthdays!

Cheers to you!

When I started working for a Japanese corporation at 22, it was still a male-dominant workplace. I had to serve tea twice a day, and I could only begin my real work after 5 pm. I worked until late at night, and I gradually noticed I was suffering from allergic rhinitis. My nose was always running, especially during important meetings where I needed to interpret in front of the directors. It was hard to go on.

I still remember those days, but I feel grateful now because it has given me a life time opportunity to acknowledge the real power of breathing and the energy that we all have. Ever since I got rid of my allergy with the breathing exercise I met, breath has been the core source of my energy.

Now at 55, I feel more energy, full of vitality than in my 20s.

I love my body, and I love myself. I hope you're feeling the same, too!