The Performance Trap Practice
The four-week practice that goes with the book.
The book introduces SENSE for coming back to the body and STEP for changing the conversations that keep you stuck. Here, we put them into practice with what’s happening in your life, with guided recordings and two private conversations with me along the way.
You already know the pattern. The text you fired back, the yes you didn't mean, the meeting where you went quiet. Over four weeks, we practice noticing what happens in your body in those moments, so you have a chance to pause and make a different choice.
Four weeks · two private conversations · $295 founding price
One payment. Both conversations included.
What does an ordinary day look like?
Allow about 15–20 minutes most days for a guided sit and a few notes. Starting with five minutes is fine.
Pick a time that already has a place in your day: before your first coffee, after walking the dog, when you close the laptop. Press play and follow my voice. The recordings run about twelve to fifteen minutes.
Afterward, take two minutes to jot down what you noticed. Where were you tense? Did anything shift? What’s still there? Notes on what the body does, not essays.
Then take it into your day. Before you answer a request, notice your breath. Before you fire back the email, feel what’s happening in your chest or jaw. You’re practicing a little room between the feeling and what you do next.
A missed day is fine. Begin again the next. The point is to sit, not to do the hardest version.
The practice, and our conversations
We meet for half an hour as early in the first week as you can. You can begin Week 1 while you’re waiting to meet. You bring what’s happening in your life, and we find a place for the practice in it.
Our closing conversation. A full hour to bring what you’ve noticed into a conversation with me. We’ll work with a situation from your life, notice where you get caught, and explore what you might try next. You can ask questions, tell me when something doesn’t fit, and we can slow down and work with it together.
If you choose to share your final journal, I’ll read it before we meet. We’ll also talk about how to continue practicing and what support, if any, would be useful.
Explore a moment that’s stayed with you
Read or listen, then try a conversation with the companion. This is a short introduction to the work, adapted from the reading and reflection I send before an introductory session. No signup needed.
Try the reading and companion
Read or listen
Written by Chad. Read aloud by Michael or Heart, the computer voices available in the course.
Think about a conversation that’s been coming back to you. Something you said, something you didn’t say, or a moment when you went along with something and wished you hadn’t. Choose something you feel comfortable spending a little time with today.
You probably have a story about what happened. Who said what. What they meant. What you should have done. For a moment, see if you can describe the scene itself. If it were a scene in a movie, what would we see and hear?
Now notice what happens in your body as you remember it. Your throat, your chest, your belly. Is there a tightening, a heaviness, a restless feeling? Maybe you feel very little. Start with whatever you notice. You don’t have to make it more interesting.
In my work, we practice staying with what’s happening and finding room to act from what matters to us. The first part begins here: noticing a sensation without immediately trying to explain it or make it go away.
You may recognize it. Perhaps the situation is different, but that tightness is familiar. And perhaps you recognize what you tend to do next: push through, agree, defend yourself, go quiet, or get busy with something else.
There’s something useful in seeing that sequence. A situation, a feeling in the body, a response you know well. You don’t have to solve the whole pattern while you’re sitting here. For now, you’re getting curious about how it happens.
That curiosity is part of making room for a different choice. You might need time before you answer. You might have a question to ask, or something you want to say more plainly. You may not know yet.
The companion below gives you somewhere to begin. You can type or speak your answers. Don’t try to make them sound polished. The parts that ramble or contradict themselves can be useful too.
Try a conversation
The companion is loading.
The four weeks
Each week builds on the last, with a short welcome video, a guided meditation, a reading, a practice card, and a journal. Week 3 has two readings.
In addition to your daily practice, set aside time for the weekly reading and about twenty to thirty minutes for the longer journal reflection. The extra material is there if you want it.
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Week 1: From the Book to the Body
Start with a breathing recording and notice what’s happening in your body. Your first journal asks what brought you here. You can begin with the conversation you’re still replaying, rather than trying to explain your whole life.
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Week 2: Staying With It
Practice keeping an uncomfortable feeling company for a little while, without immediately trying to fix it. On a jumpy day, use the first week’s breathing recording instead. You can go slowly.
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Week 3: Turning Contact Into Choice
Bring a situation where you feel pulled between keeping someone happy and saying what you mean. Notice what you’re giving up, then look for another response. Sometimes it starts with, “Let me think about that.”
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Week 4: Integration and the Doorway
Bring the practices together and notice what still needs care. There’s no need to dig for an old story or force an opening. Your final journal gathers what you’re taking with you and what you want to bring to our conversation.
How it works
- A week at a time. Week 1 opens when you enroll. Each following week opens a week later.
- Weekly notes. You’ll receive an email when each week opens and another when it closes. These notes are based on the activity recorded in your course account.
- Read or listen. The readings are available as audio, with adjustable playback speed and downloads. A computer-generated voice reads these sections. The guided meditations and welcome videos are recorded by me.
- Write or speak. Complete the journals in your browser by typing or speaking, or print them to write by hand.
- The companion. Available between sessions when you want to explore a moment from your day. You’re interacting with AI, and its responses aren’t personal guidance from me or therapy.
Begin the four weeks
$295 founding price
The founding price is $295, with a request for honest feedback about your experience. The regular price is $495.
Your enrollment includes:
- All four weeks, available to revisit
- An opening 30-minute conversation with me
- A closing 60-minute conversation with me
- Guided meditations, welcome videos, readings, practice cards, and journals
- Access to the practice companion
Pay once through PayPal or by card. Your access code appears after payment and is also emailed to you.
Book your opening conversation as early in the first week as you can. You can begin Week 1 while you’re waiting to meet.
Your access code and weekly notes will go here.
If you want to go further
The course is designed to leave you with a practice you can continue on your own. Our closing conversation will help you see what that could look like.
If you want more support, my one-on-one program, Mind/Body Foundations, includes eight private 90-minute sessions over four to six months. The price is $8,000.
If you begin within 30 days of your closing conversation, the full amount you paid for this course is credited toward it. $295 paid here leaves $7,705 remaining, and $495 paid here leaves $7,505 remaining.
There’s nothing to decide now. We can talk about whether further work would be useful when we meet.
If it turns out not to be for you
Within 14 days of enrolling, write to me and I’ll refund your payment in full. You don’t need to give a reason or fill out a form. I only ask that you stop using the course and companion once the refund goes through.
After 14 days, payments are non-refundable.