On slowing down & survival…

Once we move into September I usually begin talking about the somatics of slowing down (by my calendar… Autumn actually starts in August!).

So this year is no exception. Emails & socials tend to revolve around an Autumnal theme and yesterday I posed a question that I often ask in 1:1 sessions…

“What would happen if you slowed down?”

The simple answer is that you would notice more, but that’s not really what I’m here to talk about today.

In response to my musings on slowing down and noticing more came a very valid question back at me…

“How do we slow down & still earn enough to survive?”

VALID.

And this question sort of points to the systemic issue that we're entangled in right.

Because if we unpick this a bit... the idea that slowing down might mean that we don't survive alludes to something quite harmful actually doesn't it?! 

When elements of slow are a necessity to the human body (and to nature as an extension of the body), a culture that requires us not to in order to merely survive is clearly quite problematic.

And the irony is that it's also the thing that's killing us, and the planet. 

When I speak about support as opposed to extraction, this is what I mean. The way we're living and working for the most part is under an extractive model. And to feel like slowing the pace might lead to actual potential death??

VIOLIENT. OPPRESSIVE. 

So this is where slowing down in alignment with cycles of nature becomes like an act of resistance under this level of extraction. 

Of course, we could say that having the capacity to slow down is a privilege. And in some ways I guess it is. 

But if we have that privilege to lean into cyclicality, to take moments to tune into the body & honour those needs in any way, I really feel that we should be, for the sake of dismantling the aforementioned systems of harm.

It doesn't have to be all at once. It can be as simple as taking a moment with the breath or to sit outside and simply notice.

But yes! Cyclicality, rewilding… it does call a lot of things into question. And that is sort of the point.

Because the current way?

Not sustainable.

For any of us.