I had stomach flu for the first time in nearly 15 years.

I practice breathing exercises every day, and that has helped me avoid catching a bad cold or flu in the cold winter season.

But this time, it was different. We dined out last Friday, and something must be wrong there.

So, I went to see a doctor. She reassured me that it was just stomach flu. I felt relieved and slept like a baby for two full days.

Health comes first above everything else. The lesson I learned was this.

1. Watch out for overconfidence about my health.
2. Listen to my body, and when I feel something wrong, go to see a doctor even when my schedule is tight.
3. Things happen at the right timing. Make sure to give a positive meaning to it.

When I returned to a breathing class yesterday, I felt that my energy had been purified and strengthened because of this experience.

If you are having some tough times, you might want to be more kind to yourself and think of a good lesson you'll learn from it.

I wish you the very...

Are you getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night?

In this video, I talked about a quick tip to calm down your mind before sleep.

There are only three steps to follow: 1. Write 2. Deposit, and 3. Be grateful.

Just like most of you, I'm chasing my time to get things done before bedtime. So I needed to make it quick and easy. These steps only take 3 minutes, and it is working so well!

Previous research shows that writing helps to lessen our anxiety and even helps to sleep better. A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology also suggests writing in a journal for five minutes before bed. Another research found that writing to-do lists, rather than writing about completed tasks, helped people fall asleep faster. 

So rather than writing a complete sentence or journaling what you've done on that day, writing "a few trigger keywords" that remind you of the to-do items or your concerns helps you feel at ease. It will lessen any tension in your brain and...

Are you taking a warm shower or bath at night?  In this video, I talked about how you can effectively use a night warm shower or bath to let you sleep deeper. 

3. Why taking a warm shower or bath helps you to fall asleep
4. What’s the best time to take a warm shower or bath?  1- 2 hours before sleep  
5. Self-massage you can do to relax your neck in the shower or bath 

The important thing is to be more mindful of your sleep.

Let's take a warm shower before bed to improve your sleep and revitalize your life!

Have you thought about what pillow is best for you?

If you're feeling stiffness around your neck or shoulders, check this video to learn my three tips on how to pick the right pillow to sleep better.

1. Height
2. Filling
3. Size 

Let's sleep deeply and revitalize our life.

Did you know about your best sleep position?

Here is my recommendation.

1. Best to sleep on your back

 You can relax your spine, neck, and stomach naturally and use gravity to keep your body in an even alignment over your spine. Also, you can absorb the energy from the universe with your entire body by lying horizontally.

2. Switch sides

  If you're having difficulty sleeping on your back due to snoring or sleep apnea, try to switch sides during sleep. If you sleep only on one side, gravity and pressure can even damage your teeth. And it will add wrinkles on one side of your face.

3. Tossing and turning in bed is good for your body's natural healing

  This teaching is coming from Mr. Haruchika Noguchi, a founding father of Japanese chiropractic (Seitai). He recommended freeing our body and move naturally during sleep to adjust our body on our own. I've been doing this for over 2 decades. When I wake up, I feel more energy circulation throughout my body.

*If...

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.

...

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.)
• ...

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