I liked your point about taking things slowly to enable future performance. Running is very different from Pilates, but the same idea of slowness applies: you mostly train slowly (at low effort) to build the base that enables you do the faster running later. There's a reason runners tend to spend most of their time running slowly!
Thanks Isabel for this essay. Establishing a practice of slowness is hard, but I've found it to be worthwhile.
It's perilously easy to get caught in the doing trap where you race to accomplish all the things you "should do" while a slow, deliberate effort to tackle one thing at a time actually leads to a greater output. You're right that it's a muscle we need to train, I find it to be helpful narrowing in on the things that I get physically uncomfortable taking slow (workouts, house chores, email responses) and turning it into a practice where I try to be as mindful as possible of each movement or noticing finer details as a sort of meditative exercise
Lots of things you spoke about of anticipating the next steps or always wanting to move fast as a child really resonated with me! It is indeed double-edged. These days, I'm try to stay present to make sure I do the current steps well too.
I liked your point about taking things slowly to enable future performance. Running is very different from Pilates, but the same idea of slowness applies: you mostly train slowly (at low effort) to build the base that enables you do the faster running later. There's a reason runners tend to spend most of their time running slowly!
Thanks Isabel for this essay. Establishing a practice of slowness is hard, but I've found it to be worthwhile.
It's perilously easy to get caught in the doing trap where you race to accomplish all the things you "should do" while a slow, deliberate effort to tackle one thing at a time actually leads to a greater output. You're right that it's a muscle we need to train, I find it to be helpful narrowing in on the things that I get physically uncomfortable taking slow (workouts, house chores, email responses) and turning it into a practice where I try to be as mindful as possible of each movement or noticing finer details as a sort of meditative exercise
Lots of things you spoke about of anticipating the next steps or always wanting to move fast as a child really resonated with me! It is indeed double-edged. These days, I'm try to stay present to make sure I do the current steps well too.