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Christine Tolman, LPC, says, “By focusing on something as simple and vital as breathing, we are giving our minds a break.

Everyone can practice gaman in everyday life by meditating, through visualization or by taking a few moments to just breathe. Gaman is the ability to endure, be patient and remain calm. This shift of mindset, from striving for an impossible ideal to embracing our strengths, leads to a more positive and strength-oriented mindset.” Rachel O’Neill, LPCC, a therapist at Talkspace, says, “Embracing the imperfect means that we celebrate our strengths.

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Together, they teach us how to embrace the good and bad parts of ourselves and the asymmetry of life. In Japanese, wabi means alone and sabi is the passage of time. “Everyone goes through tough times and leading a life of perfection isn’t necessarily realistic,” Kumai says. Wabi sabi is about celebrating imperfections and living simply. Here, Kumai gives us a taste of how you can apply some of these Kintsugi practices to your everyday life.

That work, Kumai says, starts with following the main principles she outlines in her book. With that said, Kintsugi takes work and awareness in order for it to truly be healing.

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“You won’t realize your full potential until you go through the tough times,” Kumai says. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold - a metaphor for embracing your flaws and imperfections. Whether you’re going through the loss of a loved one or a job, or are recovering from an injury, divorce or other personal tragedy, Kintsugi can be a way to reframe hardships to remind yourself that you’re not a victim of your circumstances - and to help you come out the other side stronger. Kintsugi reveals how to heal and shows you that you are better with your golden cracks,” Kumai says.ĭuring the three years it took Kumai to write, edit and shoot photos for the book, she visited Japan 10 times, learning just how relevant the message of Kintsugi is to our everyday lives. “It occurred to me that people needed metaphors and objects to understand the art of healing. That’s when Kumai decided to make a trip to Japan and study under a Kintsugi master in Kyoto. “Kintsugi was something I had learned at a very young age, but it was brought back to me when I was going through a really hard time in my life,” Kumai says. Kumai, who is half Japanese, first learned about Kintsugi as a child from her mother and grandmother, but it wasn't until recently that she rediscovered it's relevance. Kintsugi Wellness: The Japanese Art of Nourishing Mind, Body, and Spirit by Candice Kumai.

Using this as a metaphor for healing ourselves teaches us an important lesson: Sometimes in the process of repairing things that have broken, we actually create something more unique, beautiful and resilient. Every break is unique and instead of repairing an item like new, the 400-year-old technique actually highlights the 'scars' as a part of the design. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold - built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art.

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