Burnout sent me to Japan.
Hinoki brought me back.
How a forest and wooden tub changed my wellness routine.
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I thought calm was weakness. That was the problem.
I've always been someone who pushes myself to the max. Harder workouts, longer hours, another project, another goal. I told myself that slowing down was for people who didn't want it badly enough.
I found out the hard way that my body was keeping score. Sleep worsened. Recovery took longer. The mental sharpness I depended on started to fade. I took those as signs that I was working hard to accomplish my goals. "When I get to X, I'll be back to normal" I told myself. Before X could happen, I woke up one morning and completely shut down.
My normal self talks couldn't push me any longer. I didn't know what to do so I escaped. I booked a flight to Japan with no plan and no agenda.
I just walked around Tokyo and ate sushi and ramen (basic I know) while trying to think myself back to "normal." Actual photo during one of many, "what the eff am I doing" moments below.
One afternoon in an onsen changed everything.
After days of walking around with a zombie mindset, I asked for recommendations beyond just eating sushi and ramen. Someone suggested an onsen outside of Tokyo. Sounded relaxing, so I searched on Google, picked the first one that came up and booked it. To this day I still don't remember the name of the actual onsen.
During the booking, there was an upgrade option for a hinoki wooden bath. It cost extra so I figured it had to be worth it. Checked the box, reserved my spot.
I arrived, stepped into the tub, and "ahhhhhhhh." My entire body shifted. Tension, gone. My mind stopped racing for the first time in months. I was actually responding to my thoughts instead of constantly reacting. This is what "normal" should feel like, I remember thinking.
The scent of the wood was doing something to my nervous system that I couldn't think my way into. I told myself right there: I need to learn how to feel this way without flying to the other side of the world.
From that day on, I became obsessed with hinoki and the power of our sense of smell.
Controlling your nervous system is more powerful than chasing happiness.
We're told to pursue happiness. Optimise for it. Hack it. But I realized that happiness is a reaction. It comes and goes. What I learned in that onsen is that calm is a skill. Learning to be in a bad mood has truly changed my life. And understanding how to regulate your nervous system is how to accomplish that.
As we get older, recovery (physical and mental) becomes the competitive advantage. Not more effort. Better recovery. The ability to downregulate when everything around you is pushing you to stay activated.
I started studying how scent works on the brain. The olfactory nerve is the only sense with a direct line to the limbic system, which is the part that controls stress, emotion and memory. No processing delay. Two seconds. One breath.
Hinoki essential oil wasn't just pleasant. It was functional. Peer-reviewed research on inhaled hinoki showed it could slow heart rate, lower blood pressure and shift the body toward parasympathetic activity. This wasn't aromatherapy. This was neuroscience. I didn't know it in the moment, but I can confirm the instant effects.
Four pillars that I'm committed to
I built my life around four non-negotiables. Not productivity hacks. Not biohacking trends. Simple, repeatable routines that compound over time. Hinoki is woven into all of them.
Sleep
I built a sleep routine that allows me to fall asleep within minutes. Not because I'm exhausted. Because I'm regulated. Same bed time every night, breathwork combined with hinoki oil 30 minutes before then.
Fitness
I'm in my 40s and in better shape than in my 20s. I train hard and focus on recovering just as much. Hinoki after training drops my heart rate faster and combined with breathwork, promotes parasympathetic activity. That's where recovery happens.
Recovery
As we get older, recovery becomes the competitive advantage. Not more effort. The ability to downregulate when everything around you is pushing you to stay activated is a skill I wish I learned earlier. This skill also allows me to keep my peace. If you know, you know.
Emotional regulation
This is the one nobody talks about. Especially guys.
Sleep, fitness and recovery all depend on one thing: your ability to control your emotional state. When you're stuck in sympathetic mode, you experience more anxiety, less energy, brain fog and in general just don't feel like yourself. That makes sleep, fitness and recovery harder.
When you can regulate your nervous system, everything else falls into place. You sleep deeper because you're in the right mode, train harder because you have the energy and you recover better between sessions. You also make better decisions throughout the day because you're not as reactive.
I brought the scent of a Japanese forest home.
Now you can too.
Give it a shot. You'll know from the first smell if it's right for you.