But calm doesn’t come naturally to most people. Quite the opposite, actually.
With over 70% of Americans actively seeking stress relief through everyday habits, you’re not alone if you're looking for a little bit of calm throughout your day. I’ve been there. I found that calm is a skill and like any skill, it can be learned, practiced and improved.
It’s a skill that’s made such a massive difference in my life, I created my own system and eventually, my own products to help others find it too.
Calm Doesn't Happen Instantly
Another thing I realized: calm doesn’t just happen, especially when you need it most. If you’ve had an extra stressful day on top of the usual chaos, it’s going to take more than a few deep breaths to unwind.
That tension you feel? That tight chest, racing thoughts, or shallow breathing? It’s your nervous system stuck in high alert and it needs help coming down.
My Turning Point: Learning to Calm on Purpose
When I committed to learning how to truly feel calm again, two things made the biggest difference:
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Taking more five-minute breathing breaks
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Smelling hinoki oil and yuzu together during those breaks
That’s exactly why I created Pause, our first kimorii product and honestly, the one I believe is most important. Because a calm mind performs better and sleeps deeper. And sleep? That was where I struggled the most.
My Rock Bottom: When Sleep Became a Battle
One of the worst points in my life was when I couldn’t sleep.
I’d wake up already stressed. My focus was gone. I felt robotic. Workouts were trash. And worst of all, I stressed about not sleeping all day… which of course led to worse sleep. The cycle was brutal. I was stuck in autopilot, barely hanging on.
That’s when I started building a system. Not a single hack. Not another supplement. A full-on sleeping system. It worked. Now, I fall asleep in minutes.
You can read more about that in this post, but the key takeaway is this:
There’s no single habit that will change your sleep or calmness.
You have to get in the mindset that you’re building systems. The same thing applies to your calming system.
Systems = Stability
I have:
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A sleep system that helps me fall asleep fast
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A workout system
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A working-while-traveling system
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A calm system I use throughout the day
The calm system is simple and thankfully, it overlaps a lot with my sleep one. It revolves around two main practices:
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Deep breathing - I experiment with all different types of breathing exercises depending on my mood, but the 4-4-4-4 method tends to be the one I default to the most.
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Pause, our scent blend made with hinoki and yuzu
Both ingredients have compounds like hinoki's α-pinene and yuzu's limonene that send a signal to your brain that it’s safe to chill. That’s not a metaphor. Your sense of smell connects directly to your limbic system, the emotional powerhouse in your brain.
This isn’t just “self-care.” This is neurochemistry backed by science.
How I Use Pause to Reset
Breathing while smelling Pause almost always brings me back to a grounded, clear mindset. It doesn’t erase the chaos. It just helps me respond to it better. And, the more you use it the more your brain will associate the scent with calm.
When you’re in fight-or-flight mode, you react emotionally. You make worse decisions. You carry stress into the next hour. But literally taking a few seconds to pause? That helps you break the cycle before it builds.
It reduces cortisol spikes in real-time. And over time, it builds a calmer, more resilient baseline.
How to Build Your Calm System
Start small. Here's how I integrate Pause into my day:
- As soon as I wake up I start with smelling Pause and 5 minutes of breathing
- Before going to work, even when taking public transportation to my favorite cafes
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Right before a big meeting or performance task
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After a hard workout or cold plunge
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During a walk between work blocks. I absolutely love work blocks and starting it with breathing and a few minutes of smelling Pause puts me in the right mindset to crush my work block goals.
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Anytime I feel reactive or tense
I also have a two hour reset routine:
Walk for 5 minutes. Breathe. Smell Pause. That’s it.
The name Pause was intentional.
It’s a reminder to slow down and to remain calm because that moment when you choose to pause?
That’s when everything else gets just a little easier.
