Slowing Down - The Way of Phi in Practice -

How Slow Can You Go Without Losing Track of Your Destination? How Fast Can You Go while Maintaining Your Presence?

Dear friend,

This time of the year lends itself very well to slowing down.

While many get stressed, it is really a great time to rest, reflect and turn inward. Taking care of oneself.

Reaching out, meeting others, yes, but then returning back in. Back home. With every breath.

But why should we slow down?

Well, the point isn't actually to slow down, the point is to be able to maintain Dynamic Balance.

However, since much of society is urging us to speed up, it is often necessary to begin by slowing down.

For it is only to the extent that we can go slow, that we can actually speed up without losing ourselves. 

Slow Walking

We can practise this while walking, by being mindful of each step as we go. There are several steps to this:

1. When we walk we move from one place to another. This is Linear walking.

2. We walk not to get somewhere, but we are walking to walk. This is Circular walking.

3. Third, we do both at the same time. We are aware that we are moving from one place to another, while fully walking to be walking. This is advanced work and does not happen automatically. Rather, we need to be constantly aware of where we are, what we are doing as well as where we are going, without getting lost in either. This is the Dynamic Balance of walking. 

To practise this, start slowly. Then gradually experiment with different tempos. 

Remember to regularly check in with yourself if you are still present.

Click here to join me Walking in Dynamic Balance. In this video I go for a walk, starting slowly, and gradually experimenting with different tempos. Eventually, I move to the cognitive realm and explore different themes intellectually. Then things start to go a bit crazy.

Slow Loving

With the Midwinter celebrations around the corner, many take time off from work to spend with their loved ones. This is an ideal time to practise slow loving as a way towards loving with Dynamic Balance. Whether you are romantically involved with a partner, have children, surrounded by other relatives or friends – or even if you are alone – you can practice this.

Again, the point isn't to go slow for the sake of going slowly, but to ensure that you don't rush past the essentials.

For loving is not about getting anywhere. It is about being. Being in love. Being in love for the sake of being in love. We can be in love with someone else. And we can be in love with ourselves. Being in love is a state of being. Not something that we do.

Naturally, we can express our love by doing various things, saying something kind, giving gifts, offering to help someone, spending quality time together, sharing a hug... but really, these are not the love. Love is the space in which these things happen.

So, I invite you to explore the various sides of slow loving. And then, again, to start exploring the different flavours which come with varying the speeds. Not to rush. Just to create variation. Exhilaration. Returning back to slowness whenever needed. Returning to breath.

Slow Living

With practice we can find more and more areas in which to do this.

Slowing down to enter the stream. To connect. To arrive.

Then trying out different speeds.

Remaining connected while engaging in life.

Now Is the Time

This is a great time of year to slow down. To breathe. To be.

To meet oneself, to meet others, and back to self.

To be, to do and back to being.

In love.

In life.

With gratitude, 

Christopher