How to slow down:
and why you should!
Realise deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.
-Eckhart Tolle
Your alarm didn’t go off. There is no more bread left for your breakfast toast. Your favourite work shirt is dirty. The kids are being particularly SLOW at getting ready for school today. Someone cuts you up on the road and then flips YOU off. By the time you arrive to work, late, your line manager looks as if they want to burn you off the face of the Earth with their glare. Today is not a good day, you think, as you sink into your work cubicle, wishing the ground would swallow you up.
As humans, we have many ways of coping with everyday stress. Most of the time, our minds have pre-programmed coping mechanisms, usually wired to make us find ways of making ourselves better. But why is that we more often than not reach for the things that will only make us feel temporarily better, such as alcohol and foods rich in saturated fats, rather than the things that we know will benefit us longer term, such as exercise and yoga?
The brain works on a series of feedback mechanisms. It receives signals from the body, calculates a response, and then sends out the message. Sometimes, when it does this, the response can trigger a release of the feel-good hormones, dopamine and serotonin. Much like rewarding a dog for completing a trick correctly, our brains learn how to trigger positive hormonal responses to our actions. The action that gets the biggest dopamine hit becomes prioritised over others, sometimes, to the point where our brains can even begin to change our behaviour (think about addictive behaviours, such as lying, stealing and hiding to ‘chase a habit’).
This is why, when introducing something we know is good for us, such as exercise or Yoga, it can be much slower on the uptake. Some people may get that initial chemical feel-good high when walking out of a Yoga class, but it takes an hour or more of hard work and effort to achieve this. If you were your brain (and believe me, you’re not!) you’d reach for that bag of crisps for an instant hit of dopamine over that long-awaited delayed hit post-class. Conclusion: if there’s an easier way, your brain will want to take it.
Related: Try my Warm up Yoga sequence for runners before your next run
It’s important to recognise that Yoga Nidra is actually hard! Taking a break to just do “nothing” is impossible to many, even scary for some! “I can’t slow down, then my thoughts start to attack me!” People are constantly rushing around, trying to run away from their thoughts, all the time. Trying to fix their problems with short-term, unhelpful solutions. It’s no wonder that 1 in nearly 7 people in the workplace are experiencing mental health problems.
Start Small
It’s hard to just sit still off-the-bat. The best way to sit still is actually to do the opposite first – move! Start with movement first, gradually building in moments of pausing in-between, and eventually the mind learns to sit still. Gradually increasing the time of sitting still will help to cultivate a strong Yoga practice.
Accept where you are
Something I always tell my students is “Yoga meets you where you are”. Some days, it will feel really easy to sit still and not think of anything. Most days, it will feel impossible. By accepting where you are, and recognising that Yoga Nidra is not something to “win” or “fail” at, students begin to understand that actually those days when it is really hard to keep the mind focused are the days when you learn the most about yourself.
Work with an experienced teacher
If you want to get better at tennis, you get a tennis coach. If you want to improve your swimming, you enrol in a swim class. If you want to get better at meditation, find a good Yoga Nidra teacher. A great Yoga Nidra teacher will help you to cultivate that love of being still and being present though their guidance and expertise.
Appreciate the gaps in life
“Variety is the spice of life”. How many times have you heard that phrase? We hear these well-worn phrases a lot because there is usually an element of truth to them. Our brains actually need more switch-off time than ever. Have you been in a situation at work where you’re so wound up and fed up of working away at the same problem, only to take a 5 minute break and then come back to solve it within 30 seconds?
Making time to slow down is key to a better existence
Making time to slow down actually enhances our human qualities. We begin to notice more, such as our actions towards ourselves and others, the world around us and the impact we have on it. We can then begin to work towards a more positive outcome in life for all. Instead of running around, appearing ‘productive’ and falling into that trap of “If I am busy, then I’m winning at life”, why work towards changing that to “I know myself so well, I know when I need to work hard, and when I need to pause”, without the guilt. We live in a 24 hour society – you can be forgiven for thinking you don’t deserve a break!
If you’re interested in learning how to slow down, I run a 30 minute morning meditation class every other Thursday morning at 07:30am.
Details of the morning meditation class can be found here
