Staying Connected to Practice Through the Holidays

As we move into the holiday season—a time that can feel both tender and overwhelming—I invite you to consider how your practice can become a quiet anchor. Not a task, not another item on an already heavy list, but a way of softening the edges of what can be a complicated month.

The holidays tend to stir a lot: family patterns, expectations, grief, overstimulation, joy, fatigue, hope… often all in the same week. It’s easy for our nervous systems to tip into “too much.” And when that happens, the very things that keep us steady—our breath, our movement, our moments of stillness—are often the first to slip away.

But practice doesn’t need to be grand or time-consuming. It doesn’t even need to look like practice. It might be one long exhale in the car before you go inside. It might be pausing with your hand on your heart after a difficult conversation. It might be a few minutes of gentle movement in the morning while the kettle boils. These small moments reconnect us to the truth that we’re not doing the holidays alone—our breath is always with us, always ready to meet us.

You don’t need perfection. You don’t need a special setup. You don’t need to be calm first. You simply get to arrive as you are, with your practice meeting you there. This season can be chaotic, but it can also be tender. It can be a time where you choose, again and again, to return to yourself.

As a small offering for this month, here is a short breath-based meditation you can use anytime you need a moment of grounding or spaciousness.