Imagine this surreal scene:

You just fell off the noisy deck of a cruiseship. You didn't think much about it, nor did the few passengers on the ship who saw you falling. Everybody thought it quite a mundane scene since they were holding their smartphones in their hands and thus assuming that you did, too, even when falling into the sea. And of course everybody thought the smartphone mas making you nearly invincible.

Unfortunately they didn't see the passing shark who nicked it. He wasn't interested in eating you but felt more inclined to steal your phone. Why he did it is not known. Maybe the shiny design appeared original to him. Certainly he didn't intend to participate in the shark-community on facebook, and it  would be preposterous to assume he needed the GPS.

Well, let's take the attention back from an unknown shark to you who is swimming now quite helplessly in the sea, while you watch the entertaining ship rapidly disappear. To make a long salty story short, you found the proverbial plank in the water that transported you to a nameless island. Since you didn't plan out to be here in the first place you also couldn't be bothered by your three favourite books everyone is supposed to have with them in the unlikely case one survives falling of a cruiseship.

What you did have with you – as always – was your Personal Practice Pack which you had been able to use basically everywhere at any time. These three you had sorted out from countless others you had tried over the years.  They were:

• Taichi
• Meditation
• Anchoring

Your Personal Practice Pack

Challenges are personal, you chose them yourself. So what about your way to exercise them? If you come from a school background of standardized testing and social discouragement of personal growth, choosing a challenge might already be a challenge. Yet even more important is the way you go about the daily execution of this challenge, in other words your personal practice counts. So whatever the challenge might be, a good personalized basic practice set can be very helpful.

Here are some suggestions what to look for to create your Personal Practice Pack:

1. Think of any good practice being holistic. That way you know you are positively affecting your whole being.
2. Choose a practice that involves grounding, your relationship to gravity. Could be QiGong, Taichi, and whatever practice explicitly deals with it.
3. Out of breath? Nervous? Uptight? Choose one breathing exercise.
4. Listen inside your body to localize tightness and immediately let go of it.
5. Find a way to express your creativity and playfulness, from doodling to playing the piccolo flute to drawing, writing etc. Focus  on the one closest to your heart.
6. Find a way to move. Something you can do wherever you are, independent from others (except you want to be joined): walking, running, dancing, cycling . . . .

Maybe you know already what you want, maybe you want to try out a few things. The point is to come to a very limited set of practices that you have explored and that you can always rely on. Practices which involve principles that can adjust to any situation: you may not be able to do a QiGong exercise on a conference table, but since QiGong involves principles of breathing, letting go and grounding you may use those principles once you have internalized them.

You should aim for a PPP containing a set of practices that you experienced as helpful and that you can apply anywhwere anytime.