Mindfulness in the Middle has a home here now.
It began as my healing journey, a path to finding myself again. Small practices for staying whole in the thick of it: the middle of change, the middle of recovery, the middle of trying again.
It began as my healing journey, a path to finding myself again. Small practices for staying whole in the thick of it: the middle of change, the middle of recovery, the middle of trying again.
“This isn't about expertise. I'm not a guru. It's about practice.”
I started Mindfulness in the Middle on TikTok in the summer of 2025. I needed something simple and steady to hold onto. A deck of mindfulness cards gave me the structure: one card, one theme, one reflection.
Somewhere along the way, I wasn't just following the cards anymore. I was journaling in public.
The middle isn't just middle age. It's the middle of change, the middle of recovery, the middle of uncertainty, the middle of trying again. It's about care before crisis, rest as resistance, and remembering that authenticity matters more than performance.
Mindfulness in the Middle was my healing journey, a path to finding myself again. That same path is what inspired Lipstick on My Fork and SZND by Katoya.
Last year I said I didn't know if this series would end at 10 episodes or 100. What I did know is that I was still here. I still am, and so is the practice. Now it has a home here, and one practice lands in my weekly letter every Monday.
It's what I do before every speaking engagement or presentation.
In for four, hold for four, out for six. One round resets more than you'd think.
Sixty seconds, no cushion required. Grounding you can do at your desk, in the car, mid-shift.
Five you can see, four you can touch. Pull yourself back into the room you're in.
Before you answer, react, or send, one beat to choose instead of just respond.
Name the one worry you're carrying that isn't yours to hold today. Set it down.
A palm to the chest, three breaths. Steadiness you can give yourself, anywhere.
One small ritual to mark the shift from doing to being. Begin and end on purpose.
Notice one place you're carrying more than you need to. Ask: what would shift if I let someone help me?
Each essay started as a card or an episode. All ten live here now.
Why I went back to a card deck that sat on my shelf for years, and why this is about practice, not expertise.
"Anger doesn't dissolve through more anger. It dissolves when love is poured into the cracks."
Rest before crisis, an "everything shower," and the beauty rituals of the women in my family.
"Now, I defend less. I listen more."
"It's not dangerous. It's information."
"Being wanted isn't the same as being valued."
The cards were the doorway. The real work has been showing up with honesty.
"Saying the words out loud is often the biggest hurdle."
"Who am I when I stop performing and simply allow myself to be?"
"Preparedness is situational. Perfection is defensive."
The original series ran on my TikTok from July to December 2025. Tap through to watch.
A card deck from my first season of deep healing, and why I picked it up again.
"We began with a pause. We made rest a practice."
Career lessons, aging, and gratitude, in three parts.
"We grow up defending labels like armor, but they can hold us back."
"Desire isn't dangerous… it's information."
"It's not about yes being easy, it's about yes being the doorway."
"Hyper-independence isn't strength, it's survival mode."
The rooms we edit ourselves for, in four parts.
"When uncertainty lasts too long, perfection starts to feel safe."
One practice every Monday in my weekly letter, Thought, Taste & Presence. No guru, no pressure, just company for the middle.