Turning 50: The Present Breath Between My Past and Future 

July 27, 2025

Today, I turn 50.

It feels both surreal and deeply grounding to write those words. If you had told my younger self—architect-in-training, always striving, always pushing—that one day I would be here, living in the Pacific Northwest, teaching yoga and breathwork, and guiding others through their healing journeys… I’m not sure I would have believed you. But life, like breath, unfolds in ways we can’t always plan.

As I reflect on this milestone, I realize how much of my life has been shaped by the journey from doing to being—from holding tension to releasing it, from fighting life to flowing with it. That shift began in earnest when I found yoga—not just as a physical practice, but as a doorway inward. A way to meet myself with honesty, compassion, and presence.

The Past: A Body That Spoke in Pain

In my 40s, my body started sending messages I could no longer ignore. Chronic back pain, fatigue, a sense of disconnection from myself and the world. I tried to “fix” it with logic and willpower. But it wasn’t until I lay down on a yoga mat one night—just stretching, just breathing—that something deeper shifted. That was the beginning of my healing.

That was also the seed of what would later become the Inner Healer Project.

The Present: A Breath at a Time

Now, at 50, I no longer seek to "conquer" life. I meet it breath by breath. In the quiet of meditation, I watch my thoughts like clouds, knowing I am not them. In yoga, I move not to perfect a pose, but to feel more whole. In breathwork, I return again and again to the truth that I am already enough.

I’ve come to see aging not as a decline, but as a return. A return to simplicity, to honesty, to what matters most: presence.

The Future: Becoming the Teacher I Needed

As I step into this next chapter, I don’t have a five-year plan. I have something better: intention.

My intention is to continue guiding others—especially those who, like me, once thought healing was out of reach—into their own bodies, their own breath, their own hearts. Through the Inner Healer Project, I hope to create space for people to slow down, feel deeply, and come home to themselves.

There’s still so much I don’t know. But I know this: the path of yoga, breathwork, and meditation saved me. And now it’s my turn to offer it back.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you're 25 or 75, may we all keep learning, breathing, and showing up—together.

With gratitude,
Tsutomu (Tom) Tsurumaki