Many of us are familiar with the character Treebeard from Tolkien’s “Lord Of The Rings”, and the comical ways in which he moved and acted more slowly than any of the other characters (who weren’t Ents, of course). We could say that nobody in a human body would ever want to take as long as Treebeard did to do things, but I find Treebeard to be a great teacher. When I am moving slowly and unhurriedly, my breathing deepens, my thoughts drop out and I am significantly more in touch with my body and my feelings. It’s remembering and practicing the art of slowness that is the tricky piece to master.

Those of us living in remote locales figure we’ve slowed down the pace of our lives merely by living where we do, having “dropped out of the race”. To some extent this is true, but we need only look as far as this past summer to notice how extremely we picked up that pace. Though we live mostly off the grid, we cannot separate from the rest of our human species. The world is getting faster, and from inside ourselves we feel impulsed to keep up. Television, and especially commercials, faster than ever in their jump cuts, are one reflection of this.

There are many possible reasons for this, but to my mind one stands out: fear of death. A fear of not getting everything we want done before we start to become decrepit and become incapable of realizing our dreams and doing everything we judge we need to do so that those dreams may reach fruition. To compensate for this unresolved terror, we move fast. We get ahead of ourselves, we leave the moment, our bodies. We overplan, strategize and think, our lightning-quick minds three moves ahead of what we are doing right now. We don’t notice what our bodies are actually doing and feeling, right now. We breathe shallowly and unconsciously. And from Middle Earth, Treebeard sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

What can be done to slow down and live deliberately? There are several possibilities to play with. Try taking some time every day to sit and breathe deeply and slowly for a few minutes. Then, while continuing to breathe, continue moving through your day, in slow motion. It doesn’t have to be ultra-slow-mo, just slower than your normal pace. Notice what “comes up” in you as a result; do you feel impatience, harsh words in your head to get a move on, dire predictions of missed deadlines? If you feel emotions arise as a result, release them in the ways that work for you. That internal pressure to move faster is real; you are not making it up. Let it whirl past you, let that energy leave you in its wake.

Personally, the best way I have found to cool down my own pace is a daily practice of Somatic exercises. They are a brillliant body meditation, an organic slowdown for my entire system, and contain a plethora of health benefitsI like to practice mindful movement when I have completed my daily routine. Yoga may accomplish the same things for you; at any rate, you may be able to find a body-centered practice that works for you if you intend to bring yourself present and reduce your “hastiness quotient”.

The reality is, we do sometimes need to move quickly in order to accomplish things in certain time frames, and that must be allowed without a new reason for feeling guilty at having to move expediently. Even Treebeard knows there is a time for action. Hom-hooooooom!!