THE POWER OF SLOW
The Power of SLOW and meditation musings on how to practice it.
SLOW -and people who practice it - are commonly perceived as useless, tired, lost and above all lazy.
SLOW is not what the dominant narrative or culture asks of us, the capitalist GO-GO-GO culture of the West that never allows us to pause, breathe and move at a milder more gentle pace because it has us measuring our very worth by how much we produce and prove we are Enough, by the relentless, sick and savage cycle of DO-ing.
Never allowing us to listen to our inner rhythms and inherent wisdom in our bodies. Never allowing us to rest in our BE-ing-ness.
As someone who has experienced the extreme of DO-ing-ness- which is burnout and chronic fatigue; I truly know the value of slowing down and allowing time to pause, rest and feel.
In Yin yoga, I teach this through the body, as I break down what it means to somatically SLOW down. I call them the three sisters - Softness, Stillness and Silence.
I will deep dive into these Feminine qualities now;
SOFTNESS-’
She is inherent in our bodies- as we are made of mostly water, cellular fluids deep within each cell, synovial fluids that house our joints, cerebral spinal fluid that holds our brains, saliva that keeps our mouths and throats moist and of course our blood, our plasma - that pumps nutrients around our bodies and to our hearts - all of these are soft. Remembering Softness is a move away from the hard edges of our bodies, the tough armouring and thick skins we surround our bodies with to protect from this hard, cold and mean world. I ask you to return for a few breaths to the reality of all the Softness that you are right now - all that exists within the flesh of your body and is oh so natural and beautiful.
STILLNESS is always in the centre, there is an unmoving calm centre or “unfuckwithable” core in each of us that is always present when we slow down and look within. Many ways back into this centre, through mediation of any kind- moving, diving, praying, mindfulness and breathwork are all ways to return to this still quiet centre, away from the noise of the world, of social media, away from the constant moving and DO-ing, grafting and hustle culture that's slowly killing us all. When we move away from the chaos we all have still quite centres that are screaming for us to come back to. Come home to your stillness with 10 deep breaths now. Stillness is always available if we just pause and breath.
SILENCE is perhaps the most feared and revered sister of all- ask anyone who's taken a vow of silence or practices Vipassana meditation or has a daily meditation practice- knows that there is infinite wisdom, beauty and value in shutting the fuck up for a little while. Indeed to truly listen one needs to be silent, in fact both the words Listen and Silent are made up of the same letters - they are one and the same, right? Again dominant Masculine culture does not want us to ever turn the volume or noise down, as then we would start to hear our true selves, our inner voices which are screaming "There must be a better way than all this NOISE???"
I know being silent is scary as the West has taught us how valuable our voices are, and that making some noise is needed and it truly is, but like all things in life the Yin comes with the Yang. To make more effective noise and use your voice wisely, we need to make daily time for. And as this IS the way into your Centre, only YOU know what's best for you to honour your inner silence. Find what this is and please practice this daily. Remember all these things needed are reflected in the collective right now as much as on an individual level.
I will be releasing a meditation on SLOW soon - exploring these 3 sisters of Softness, Stillness and Silence away from Hardness, Chaos and Noise that have ruled our lives and worlds for way too long. Please make SLOW a daily practice by perhaps exploring one of these qualities for a good week.
If you would like MORE ON SLOW, please sign up to my mailing list or join me for Yin and Yoga Nidra Sundays online 8pm UK time, 10pm Cairo time and Wednesdays live in Dahab, Egypt, 9am on my rooftop..
Much love and enjoy your journey back to balance and to building a better world, through going SLOW.
Feel free to share your thoughts on Slow below..xx