By in Mindfulness, Yoga & Pilates

Why Slowing Down is Important

When I teach my Pilates classes they usually have a fairly slow pace overall. We may speed things up a little here and there to pick up the energy and to explore moving in other tempos. However, the general pace is slow, often matching the rhythm of our breath. We transition from one movement to another slowly. Sometimes, particularly in 1-1 sessions, we may even take a moment before moving on from one exercise to another, in order to actually notice the immediate effect the last exercise has had.

The idea is to be more “in the moment”, to notice more of what happens in the moment, and to use the more rich information we are picking up to our advantage. If I pause after doing a stretch on one side of my body and acknowledge the difference, I have a much better understanding of what I am looking for on the other side, or what this exercise is actually doing for me. It also tells me what my normal state is before the stretch and how it differs to the side that has just been improved. All this awareness gives me a greater understanding about myself and my behaviours. Furthermore, when I do the exercise itself slower, I give my body a much better chance to organise itself in the way I need it to, in order to perform the movement healthily. So for example, if an area of me is stiff and I push through the movement to get my 20 reps done, my body does not have the time to tell the stiff area to release and open up with the demand of the movement. If I go slower or pause, however, it has time to react and do what I want it to do. What are 20 reps worth if I do them badly and my body does not change for the better from it? If you struggle with repetitive injury or pain that comes from exercising you will also find that slowing down gives you the chance to be more aware in each moment of each movement so that you can actually pinpoint what it is your body currently does not like and can not handle and you can act on that and make changes.

So it makes sense to slow down during exercising and to practice more being in the moment. That is why I often say to my clients “Start at the beginning of the exercise. Don’t think too much about the competition of it. Each phase of the exercise is important in its own right. Spend time with the set-up and really explore it and how it feels and how making small changes make it feel different. Then move through to the next bit. Be with each moment of the movement. How far you get is somewhat less important.”

I’m aware that slowing down is not easy or an instantly positive experience for everyone. Some of us struggle to slow down because we are used to being in a rush. Our nervous system is on top gear all the time, as we stress and rush to get everything done each day. Somehow, no matter how much we rush, it never gets easier and we never manage to get to the bottom of our to-do list. For others, slowing down their movements is boring. If you are always attracted to fast-paced high energy activities, because anything slower is boring, you may want to ask yourself why slowing down feels boring. Perhaps it is boring because you find that you do not feel as much as when you put yourself under a lot of stress and intensity? If this is the case, this is not because there is less there to experience in slowing down. The truth is that you have more time to pick up more sensations. However, this will only happen if you are truly in the moment, in your body and aware of yourself and how you feel.

Why is this important? Well, this is where slowing down not just in exercise, but in life becomes incredibly powerful and sometimes life-saving. Our body is a very complex and sensitive organism. There is a lot going on on the inside that we are usually not aware of. Our autonomic nervous system regulates our stress and resting responses. When we are stressed, under pressure or exercise at pace, our nervous system reacts with chemical processes that put us into a sympathetic and adrenal state, meaning our heart beats faster, adrenaline, cortisol and other chemicals are released to put our body into the fight and flight response cycle. It is by no means a bad state to be in. We need to be able to access this state and go through the cycle successfully. However, if we chronically live in this state where we act faster and harder, this becomes problematic to our health. It is not meant to be a state we spend prolonged periods of time in. We all know how stress can affect our health, from chronic pain and blood pressure problems to chronic fatigue and weight management issues.

This state also actually does not make us more efficient in our everyday functions. We may be faster in a literal sense, but we do not see the whole picture. We become forgetful or confused. If we rush around all day and then blitz ourselves at the gym or race through our Pilates class, this means we are keeping stress levels up all the time. Sometimes we feel better for truly exhausting ourselves because then we can finally find sleep. However, this is not a healthy balanced rhythm. It is a back and forth between high energy activation and total collapse.

Our oldest most primal part of the brain, the brain stem and reptilian brain are responsible for our most instinctive processes and experiences. For example, you may be aware that you are a little irritated or alarmed about something that just happened. But how do you know that you are irritated or alarmed? You are actually interpreting instinctive sensations in your body that came first, like a tightening in the stomach or jaw, a buzzing in your head, and so on. Often we actually struggle to really acknowledge and name the sensations that lead to our interpretation. The more we are tuned into these primal sensations, the earlier we can detect when something is going wrong. We do not need to be surprised by the stress migraine, the full-blown panic attack or the sudden onset of back pain. We can catch the first sign that our body is picking up on something troublesome and act on it. In fact, this insight and connection with our body does not only help us prevent problems. We can also learn about our physical reactions to positive things and become more equipped to access those more often. When we slow down like that we access the parasympathetic state, which is where we can truly rest and digest, take in more information, see the bigger picture, make good decisions and therefore do not only become healthier but also more efficient and smarter at our daily tasks. Perhaps you have had the experience, that you struggle to find a solution to a problem during a stressful time. However, when you were more relaxed later it was actually relatively easily solved.

So we already discussed how we can slow down in a Pilates class. How do we do it throughout the day? Start noticing as soon as you are rushing. Schedule your day in a way that gives you realistic time frames for what you need to do. We all want to get done as much as possible, but be respectful of your energy levels. Working against your body will not work in the long run. It is always with you until the end. You can not leave it behind or exchange it. Take a few minutes here and there to notice the sensations that may give you the first warning that you are getting stressed or rushed. Give yourself a mindful break at the next opportunity. If there is no chance for a break, remember times when you were having a nice relaxing time and feel how your body’s sensations change.

For more support with slowing down effectively, or if you would like to explore a mindful slow Pilates practice to truly connect with your body and address its problems, please contact Kristin at The Body Matters on 01702 714968.

Kristin Loeer
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