How do we care for ourselves when life won’t slow down? We know what might help: breathe, move, meditate, step outside. The harder part is remembering when meetings run late or the day gets away from us.
Drawing on research behind Micropractice (micropractice.com/book), this presentation asks how well-being practices can fit, and stick, in real life. Micropractices take 30 seconds or less and slip into the tiny pockets of our days that we usually overlook: a slower exhale before replying, a hand over the heart after a hard moment, a yoga pose between clients.
Eli Susman, PhD, coined the term micropractice and led its first peer-reviewed studies at UC Berkeley. In a randomized controlled trial, participants who practiced 20 seconds of self-compassionate touch daily showed greater increases in self-compassion and greater reductions in stress and mental health symptoms than participants who practiced a finger-tapping active control daily—on par with what’s often observed in interventions that require far more time. (Susman et al., 2024). But it only worked if people practiced it regularly.
So his next randomized controlled trial of 497 U.S. adults tested the missing piece: helping the practice stick. And adding a single 15-minute self-guided session about habit formation upfront helped the 20-second practice stick significantly better over six months, with greater gains in self-compassion and mental health still showing up at the six-month mark (Susman et al., 2026).
The evidence-based habit-formation strategies tested in this research form the basis of Chapter 6 of Micropractice and will be covered in this presentation. More broadly, applying habit science to evidence-based psychological treatments has been identified as a promising way to strengthen clinical interventions (Harvey et al., 2022). Participants will experience selected micropractices, explore the role of habit formation in helping them stick, and consider how these principles might support adherence to clinical interventions more broadly.
Participants will try research-supported micropractices, apply selected habit-formation strategies, and consider how the same principles might support engagement with psychological treatment. The presentation will also explore adaptations of compassion- and mindfulness-based interventions for people with trauma histories, sleep difficulties, or limited time and resources.
This is not therapy shrunk to 30 seconds. Micropractices offer a practical way to begin smaller, return more consistently, and weave moments of care into daily life. Just as brushing your teeth is not a replacement for seeing the dentist, micropractices are not substitutes for psychotherapy, professional care, or systemic change. But they can help sustain us as we navigate and work to improve the conditions shaping our well-being.
CE Learning Objectives
Following this presentation, participants will be able to:
1. Demonstrate three research-supported micropractices that can be completed in 30 seconds or less, and describe when they might be useful in daily life or between clinical sessions.
2. Apply at least two evidence-based habit-formation strategies for making well-being practices stick in daily life, and identify ways the same principles might support consistent engagement with psychological treatment.
3. Identify 3 specific ways that clinical, cultural, and socioeconomic factors, such as trauma histories, sleep difficulties, and limited time or resources, may shape the accessibility and acceptability of mindfulness-based practices; select an appropriate adaptation for one example; and explain how micropractices may complement professional care and support efforts toward systemic change without replacing either.
About Presenter
Eli Susman, PhD, is a psychologist, former Harvard researcher, and author of Micropractice: A Science-Backed Approach for Calm, Clarity, and Joy in 30 Seconds or Less, published by Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House, with international editions in more than 20 languages.
Susman earned his BA in psychology from Middlebury College and his PhD in psychology from UC Berkeley, where he coined the term micropractice and led its first peer-reviewed studies. His work seeks to address three barriers that make well-being practices hard to sustain: time, continuity, and habit formation, offering brief, research-grounded tools that help well-being travel with you through the day. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Greater Good Science Center, and the Mind & Life Institute.
For more than fifteen years, Susman has studied, practiced, and taught contemplative practices. He has conducted research in university laboratories, facilitated mindfulness practices in inpatient treatment centers, and trained in monasteries, ashrams, and meditation centers around the world. He is a certified yoga teacher, laughter yoga leader, and longtime meditation facilitator. He also writes The Micro Memo, a newsletter sharing the science and practice of well-being with thousands of subscribers.
His research has been featured in more than 100 outlets across 30 languages, including The New York Times, CNN, BBC, Psychology Today, Mindful, 10% Happier, Hidden Brain, and The Science of Happiness Podcast, and was recognized by Greater Good Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Insights from the Science of a Meaningful Life.”
Learn more at micropractice.com
About Discussant
Chris Molnar, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and clinical investigator, founded Mindful Exposure Therapy for Anxiety and Psychological Wellness Center (META Center) in 2007. She completed doctoral training at the Pennsylvania State University and post-doctoral fellowship training in traumatic stress, neuroscience, and psycho-physiology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She is an expert in the assessment and treatment of anxiety, OCD, PTSD, emotional, and stress-related conditions using evidence-based practices. Through a co-sponsorship between META Center & PBTA she leads one of the handful of professional MBCT Teacher Training Organizations in the USA and virtually offering Continuing Professional Development. In addition to virtual trainings, she offers the in-person week-long professional CE retreat workshop for professionals seeking foundational training to develop competence teaching MBCT. She teaches both Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in individual and group psychotherapy formats. She has developed adaptations for highly distressed clients, using Relational Mindfulness Practices (RMPs), to meet the needs of clients who have difficulty initially with the traditional 8-week MBSR & MBCT programs and elements. At META Center, she offers integrative interventions grounded in findings about the brain, emotion, and learning to facilitate mental and behavioral habit change, even in the face of severe distress. Before founding META Center, she served as a clinical investigator and therapist supported by grants from the National Institute of Health and other agencies. She is also on the editorial board of Behavior Therapy and serves the public in many ways, through professional presentations, workshops, publications, and affiliations.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for licensed professionals & advanced graduate students with clinical experience who anticipate seeking licensure as mental health professionals. The instructional level of this presentation is BEGINNER.
Continuing Education
- Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists*. Philadelphia Behavior Therapy Association maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- This program provides ONE (1) hour of CE credits.
- * PBTA offers CE to licensed psychologists licensed in the state of New York. Attestation of full attendance and provision of license number post-event required to obtain certificate that meets NY criteria for CE.
- PBTA is also an authorized provider of CE credits for Professional Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Clinical Social Workers licensed in the state of Pennsylvania. Non-psychologist licensees in other states should confirm with their respective boards if this meets criteria for CE in their specific non-PA states.
- Full attendance with video display is required to obtain CE credit for this program. APA guidelines do not permit PBTA to issue partial CE credits. No refunds are provided for CE programs. No exceptions allowed. Registrants have the option to log in and cancel up to 48 hours before event when registration closes.
Zoom video link will be sent to participants 48 hours before the event contingent upon membership being paid in full if membership rate was selected. NOTE: New membership period begins 2/1 of each calendar year. Enrollment for non-members is automatically cancelled if registration fee is not paid within 15 minutes of registration. Past members who have not renewed membership will not be eligible for no-cost CE credits.
References
Harvey, A. G., Callaway, C. A., Zieve, G. G., Gumport, N. B., & Armstrong, C. C. (2022). Applying the science of habit formation to evidence-based psychological treatments for mental illness. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(2), 572–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691621995752
Susman, E. S., Chen, S., Kring, A. M., & Harvey, A. G. (2024). Daily micropractice can augment single-session interventions: A randomized controlled trial of self-compassionate touch and examining their associations with habit formation in US college students. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 175, Article 104498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2024.104498
Susman, E. S., Chen, S., Keltner, D., & Harvey, A. G. (2026). Habit-formation strategies enhance long-term outcomes of a self-compassionate touch micropractice: A randomized controlled trial. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-63457-4
