The Tortoise with Brooke McAlary

This month’s Slow Home Experiment sees Ben and Brooke trying to get 8 hours sleep every night, and, well, it’s been pretty straightforward so far. Ben is coasting along with his regular 8+ hours most nights, while Brooke finds herself gaining the extra sleep in the morning rather than the evening, which is having a less than ideal impact on her days. She is, however, enjoying the days where she doesn’t wake to an alarm clock, so might need to rethink her sleep patterns! Don't forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting! Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joel Zaslofsky is one of the kindest, most encouraging people Brooke’s had the fortune of meeting, and today he’s back for his second visit to the pogpast. He and Brooke talk about his current efforts in optimising sleep, collecting natural spring water with his son and his fascination with the idea of rewilding. They also talk about raising kids who are advocates for nature, gratitude meditations and Joel’s passion for community. As always with Joel, this is a positive, passionate conversation that’s sure to leave you feeling invigorated! Head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/80 to find links to Joel’s website, podcast and SimpleREV details, as well as a list of resources mentioned in today’s episode. Enjoy! ====   If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooke and Ben have started a new Slow Home Experiment this week, and it's one that plays directly into Ben's strengths - sleep. Specifically, they're looking to get 8 hours of sleep every night throughout June, and are curious to see how that will impact their health, well-being and energy levels.  Ben's always been a big fan of sleep, but Brooke has been getting by on 6-7 hours a night for years, thinking that's been enough.  The first week was pretty straightforward, with both Brooke and Ben getting at least 8 hours sleep a night. Brooke really enjoys waking early though and has found her early morning alone time the thing that's bearing the brunt of the experiment so far.  So the problem might be in the getting to sleep earlier, rather than the finding time for 8 hours a night.  Brooke also talks about not actually feeling tired by 8:30pm (the time she needs to go to bed in order to wake at 5am) and the idea that she needs to do more exercise in order to actually feel tired enough to sleep. Don't forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting! Enjoy! ====   If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today’s episode Brooke chats with Erin Loechner - author, design-y creative, mum and slow living advocate. They talk minimalist wardrobes, slow renovations and the delicate art of sucking at meditation. Also Erin's move from fast-paced LA to a much slower, roomier lifestyle in the Mid-West, what that actually looks like in the day-to-day, and her advice for those whose partners have a very different approach to stuff. Erin also goes deep into what’s important to her, and how she now cares less about a lot of things - in order to care more about those that truly matter. Enjoy! ====   If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s almost time to wrap up this month’s Slow Home Experiment, with only a couple of days of meditation left, so Ben and Brooke talk about the experience and whether they’re going to create a routine out of this particular habit. Brooke also talk about some of the excellent advice and encouragement they’ve both received over the past few weeks, and to see a list of resources submitted by listeners, head over to http://www.slowyourhome.com/77 Ben and Brooke also discus the upcoming June experiment of getting 8 hours of sleep every night, which is a simple (yet probably quite difficult) experiment. Of course there will be nights that sleep won’t want to play along, but they discuss how they plan to set up routines and make changes to their rhythms to give them the best possible chance to get a full eight hours. Don't forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting! Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this month’s Q&A hostful episode, Brooke and Ben curse slow Australian internet, lament their inability to do a Facebook live video chat this month, and answer some excellent listener questions, including: - thoughts on homework and after school activities - how they manage to find time for the experiments while also living a slower life - how they cope on those days that are just tough and nothing is going well at all - an insight into their daily rituals and routines - how to merge two households into one when there are vastly different approaches to “stuff” - why Brooke stopped writing on the blog Recording at 5:30PM on a Wednesday obviously isn’t ideal, but in this largely unedited podcast Brooke and Ben do give a pretty authentic view of what it looks like to balance work, family, self-employment, passion projects and slow living, and sometimes, it ain’t pretty! 
Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In last week’s episode Brooke said that this meditation challenge has already been a life-changer for her, so there’s actually a limit to where they can go in this episode! Ben’s experience, on the other hand, hasn’t been as clear cut. He’s battling time constraints and motivation, so in today’s episode he and Brooke talk about the obstacles he’s been facing in daily meditation, as well as what they see and how they visualise the letting go of thoughts while meditating. Don't forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting! Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Learning to live mindfully alongside modern technology can be one of the biggest tensions in slowing down. For better or worse, technology keeps us connected, employed and inspired, improves life expectancies and allows us to travel the globe. Modern tech has its issues, no doubt, but giving it up seems… extreme. And not fun. In today’s episode Brooke talks with Janell Burley Hoffman, an author, technology coach and creator of the Slow Tech Movement, and she drops some wisdom in regards to living mindfully alongside technology - as opposed to living mindlessly and in constant contact with technology. Brooke and Janell talk about establishing tech boundaries, as well as creating time and space for play, nature, real-world connections and conversations and the mundaneness of life. Janell also has really practical insights into how to establish your family’s iRules and why these are just as (if not more) important for the adults in your home. This episode is packed with practical advice, inspiration and a good dose of “do what’s right for you”, that will help you figure out the best approach to tech for you and your family. Head over to www.slowyourhome.com/74 for links to Janell's website and each of the resources mentioned in today's episode.  Enjoy! ====   If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re only halfway through the daily meditation Slow Home Experiment and Brooke’s already calling it: this one is a life-changer. She’s always understood meditation -  taking time to just be, focusing on the breath, finding pockets of stillness - is good for us, but practically never really explored it at all. This experiment has given her a reason to sit and meditate for a short time every day though and the benefits are proving massive (and people are already noticing a difference). In this episode, Ben and Brooke talk about the past week - what they did and didn’t like, what they’ve discovered and some of the wonderful tips they’ve received from listeners over the past few weeks. Don’t forget, you can play along with Brooke and Ben by tagging your social media posts with #slowhomeexperiment and sharing your experiences. Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and let’s get experimenting! Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the best parts of the Listener Chat episodes are the insights into how people apply slow living to their everyday - without a blog or a book or a podcast to share it with. It’s these insights - these hard-fought, battle-tested, real-world strategies that Brooke loves uncovering in the semi-regular Listener Chats, and this episode is no exception. Today Brooke chats with Juanita, a mother of two from Sydney whose story is one that is sure to resonate with a lot of people. Juanita and Brooke talk about the illness that laid her out for months last year, and her somewhat begrudging entry into slow living as a result. They also discuss the decision to skip out on the busy Christmas season last year and the restorative road trip Juanita and her family took. As an environmentalist, Juanita was further down the conscious consumption path than others may find themselves in the beginning, but it was the work she had to do to lower her standards and personal expectations that was the most challenging. Enjoy! ==== If you're enjoying the show and want to know how to best support it, leave a rating or a review in iTunes: (https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/slow-home-podcast-brooke-mcalary/id985005895?mt=2) or head over to the Patreon page (www.patreon.com/slow) to help support the show financially. And thanks so much for listening! ====Join The Tortoise Community: https://brookemcalary.substack.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.