I've been talking to a lot of people lately about small rest practices…things they can do when they're pressed for time or just starting a new rest habit.

This is very much on my mind this week because I'm traveling, and traveling has a way of putting your practices to the test.

For example, my mornings at home are a whole vibe: soft lighting, a candle, meditation, a bit of journaling. When I'm away, those things can either get tossed out the window or they can get compressed.

Why not toss them out the window? Because they ground and center me in the morning.

So I compress them.

I bring a journal. No candle (le sigh), but I recently found a small soft travel light that's coming with me everywhere now. And since my body wakes up early, especially in a strange bed, I turn on my soft light and either meditate and journal in bed while my husband sleeps, move to the couch in the room, or head down to a quiet lobby with a cup of coffee.

The practice is smaller. But it still does the thing it's supposed to do: it grounds me.

I use this same approach during busy weeks at home too. When I have early call days or back-to-back speaking engagements, my practices get shorter. I figure out in advance what the compressed version looks like so I can reach for it without thinking.

• Maybe I don't take a walk at lunch, but I stand outside for five minutes.
• Maybe I don't fit in a full workout, but I do a few stretches before my first call.
• Maybe the meditation is three minutes instead of fifteen.

These are what I call minimally viable practices. It’s my riff on minimally viable product where you don't need the perfect, fully built version to launch. You just need the smallest version that still works. That's what I'm going for here...the smallest version of a practice that still delivers what you actually need from it.

When you think about it, the practice isn't really about the candle or the specific mug (although I do love my mugs!). It's about what those things do for you. They center me and help me to keep a quiet promise to myself. That I will create space for me, even on the busy days.

When I skip them entirely, I feel it. When I honor the small version? Still feels like I showed up for myself.

Your Invitation This Week: Create Your Minimally Viable Practices

1. Find the "why" under your practice. Pick one practice and ask: what does it actually give me? When you know the function, you can find smaller ways to get there on the days when the full version isn't possible.
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2. Design your compressed version now, before you need it. What's the five-minute version of your morning practice? The two-minute version? Name it. Write it down. When a chaotic week arrives, you won't have to figure it out under pressure.
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3. Tell me yours. What's one practice you've compressed or carried into a busy stretch? Hit reply and share because I genuinely love knowing what's in your toolkit. And I'll share some back here with your fellow readers.

Whatever this week holds — travel, deadlines, full calendars, or all three — I hope you find your minimally viable version of creating space for yourself.

And if you need help shrinking your practices, reply to this email or book some time on my calendar. Happy to chat about creating minimally viable practices 🧚🏻

Live in the Baltimore area?
Check out my April local events!

​Full Moon Glow: Forest Bathing and Qigong​
Friday, April 3 | 7:45 - 9:45 PM | Timonium, MD
$66

An evening of forest bathing and qigong under the glow of the full moon!
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​Color Me Unplugged: A Mindful Coloring Experience​
Tuesday, April 21 | 6:30 - 7:45 PM
Moonlight Collective Studios - Abingdon, MD
$35

An evening of mindful coloring designed to quiet the mental noise and find calm.

Did you know I do Color Me Unplugged sessions for groups and organizations too? I can lead sessions virtually or travel to do them by you. Curious what that might look like? Reply to this email!
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