What’s cluttering your life? Is it the stuff in the corner of the bedroom or the stuff in the corner of your mind? What are you tolerating that keeps you from expressing your true self? Authors Bruce and Lou Stewart say that clutter — both in our environment and our mind — is stagnating, blocking the free-flow of energy, or chi, in our homes and lives. Whether we’re detouring around a box in the living room or repeating a negative pattern in our head, it’s time to clear the path.

What are Asian Bodywork Therapies (ABT)? Are they indigenous, traditional forms of bodywork from Asia? Does a style of bodywork necessarily have to originate in some Asian country or culture in order to be considered an ABT? What is it that qualifies ABTs and draws them together under that umbrella? Are there bodywork therapies within Asia that are not considered forms of ABT? These are complicated, and revealing, questions.

I had no idea my chronically tight shoulders, constricted intestines, insomnia and unyielding jaw tension were so closely related to my limited breath. To regain my health, I had to relearn how to breathe. And, though I still have to remind myself to do this from time to time, I understand how healthy breathing supports the body’s ability to heal itself.