The Year of the Horse invites us to move forward not by pushing harder, but by listening to what kind of motion actually feels supportive now.

You do not need a new body this year, you need a kinder, more trusting relationship with the one that has been carrying you all along.

As the Year of the Snake comes to a close, we reflect on how healing unfolds quietly, shedding old patterns and revealing new freedom when the body feels safe enough to let go.

A year end reflection from Kaname Chiropractic on what 2025 taught us about nervous system aware care, healing that isn’t linear, and why slowing down may be the most radical form of wellness.

As the year closes, this gentle wellness checklist offers a way to pause, listen to your body, and enter the new year supported rather than rushed.

Healing rarely follows a straight line, and for patients like Ebony and Sarah, the long arc of wellness has been less about perfection and more about partnership. Ebony went from sleepless nights and stress-knotted stomachs to coaching tennis again with ease, crediting the way her physical healing unlocked mental clarity. Sarah found her footing too as clearer sinuses, newfound strength, and rooted confidence reshaped how she moves through the world. Their stories remind us that long-term care isn’t a quick fix; it’s a rhythm, a relationship, a shedding of old layers over time. And in that slow, steady transformation, liberation begins.

The body is an elder long before we ever notice it — carrying lineage in its posture, wisdom in its habits, and quiet truths in every ache and exhale. In many Asian and Indigenous traditions, the body isn’t just a biological machine; it’s a living archive that records storms and stillness, resilience and renewal. At Kaname Chiropractic, we meet the body as a storyteller, not a problem to fix. Each adjustment is a conversation with memory, a way of restoring flow so the nervous system can remember safety again. When you slow down and listen — really listen — you begin to hear what your muscles, breath, and bones have been saying all along: you’re held, you’re learning, and you’re still becoming.

Caring for elders is one of the oldest forms of devotion, echoed in Japanese keirō, Chinese understandings of qi, and Indigenous traditions that honor wisdom-keepers as the anchors of memory and meaning. Dr. Mari often describes adjusting an elder’s spine as meeting a living archive — shoulders shaped by decades of carrying family burdens, hips that held entire generations steady, breath that has survived whole eras. At Kaname, we see elders as the kaname, the vital hinge through which love, wisdom, and lineage flow. Gentle chiropractic care becomes less about “fixing” and more about witnessing, restoring dignity, and reminding the body it is still cherished.

Visiting Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto with my family was a journey through Japan’s living history — from Benzaiten’s flowing wisdom to the preserved beauty of Kyoto’s temples. As a chiropractor rooted in Hiroshima heritage, I was reminded that healing and travel both begin with balance, presence and connection.

At Kaname Chiropractic, Filipino American History Month is a time to honor healing traditions, heritage, and the values that unite our Fil-Am community — from hilot and bayanihan to modern chiropractic care. Led by Dr. Cassie Sum in San Mateo, alongside Dr. Justin Mariano and Dr. Kaylee Rivera, we celebrate the stories and movement that connect us all.

Learn how fight, flight, freeze, and fawn show up as body patterns, and how chiropractic adjustments support trauma recovery.

Discover how trauma is stored in the body and spine, and how chiropractic care helps release tension, grief, and stress patterns safely.

Healing has never been a solitary act. Across Latinx and Indigenous traditions, it has always meant tending not just to the body, but to the bonds that connect us—to family, to land, to spirit. Practices like curanderismo remind us that health is communal and cyclical, rooted in rhythm and relationship.

This Fall Equinox, I’m reflecting on what it means to grow in balance—2 years as Kaname Chiropractic, 9 years in practice, and a lineage of care spanning generations, from my father to my brother and our Kaname family of doctors. Healing, like the seasons, is a cycle of renewal.

When we think of “wellness,” we often imagine something private and personal. But at Kaname Chiropractic, healing is never just a solo practice—it’s something we co-create in community.

We’re often told to push through, keep going, and ignore our discomfort. But your nervous system doesn’t lie. At Kaname, we believe those signals aren’t failures—they’re invitations to listen, heal, and return to balance.

Backpacks, early mornings, homework—and a lot of sitting. The school year brings new challenges for your child’s posture, focus, and overall well-being. Small daily choices, from the way they carry their books to the food they eat before class, can make a big difference in how they feel and function. Here’s our Kaname Chiropractic guide to keeping kids strong, balanced, and energized all year long.

Midwife. Mama. Six months postpartum. Káren’s story reminds us that healing doesn’t follow a timeline and instead reminds us that it follows connection. At Kaname, where care is shared and supported by staff and patients alike, we honor postpartum as a portal, and interdependence as the path.

As the U.S. marks another Independence Day, we ask: what does healing look like when we move away from rugged individualism and toward collective care?