The new LSD –Learn to Slow Down

A slower-paced life means making time to enjoy your mornings, instead of rushing off to work in a frenzy. It means taking time to enjoy whatever you’re doing, to appreciate the outdoors, to actually focus on whoever you’re talking to or spending time with — instead of always being connected to a Blackberry or iPhone or laptop, instead of always thinking about work tasks and emails. It means single-tasking rather than switching between a multitude of tasks and focusing on none of them.

Slowing down is a conscious choice, and not always an easy one, but it leads to a greater appreciation for life and a greater level of happiness.

Some tips from Leo Babauta on Zen Habits in breathing:

1. Do less – Identify 3 critical tasks for the day and focus on achieving the same. As Horace Walpole once said - The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.

2. Be present- Focus on what you are doing instead of allowing your mind to fly into the realm of figuring out what could happen or what did happen in the past

3. Disconnect –Occasionally cut yourself off from your iphone, smartphone or blackberry and live in the real environment without allowing yourself to flow into a virtual reality

4. Focus on people – Instead of allowing your attention to deflect into a Whatsapp or Facebook while interacting with someone, take time out to focus on the person you are interacting with ,This would actually mean connecting with the people instead of simply meeting them .

5. Appreciate nature- Since we are stuck up at home or in the office or spending a great amount of time on the laptop or cellphone , take the time to go outside and really observe nature, take a deep breath of fresh air, enjoy the serenity of water and greenery. Exercise outdoors when you can, or find other outdoor activities to enjoy such as nature walks, hiking, swimming, etc. Feel the sensations of water and wind and earth against your skin

6. Eat slower. Instead of cramming food down our throats as quickly as possible — leading to overeating and a lack of enjoyment of our food — learn to eat slowly. Be mindful of each bite. Appreciate the flavour and texture. Eating slowly has the double benefit of making you fuller on less food and making the food taste better.

The most important tip 

7. Breathe Slowly - When you find yourself speeding up and stressing out, pause, and take a deep breath. Take a couple more. Really feel the air coming into your body, and feel the stress going out. By fully focusing on each breath, you bring yourself back to the present, and slow yourself down.

I had once attended a lecture by Swami Anubhavanandaji who opined that a rat breathes  85 times in a minute , a dog  30 to 60   times per minute , a human around 15 times per minute and a tortoise approximately 4 times per minute ! Now compare this to their longevity. A black rat lives for 1 year, dog for 10 to 15 years , a human for 70 to 90 years & a tortoise for around 150 years at least . A 255-year-old giant tortoise named Adwaitya died at the Calcutta Zoo recently. The animal had been brought to India from the Seychelles Islands in the mid-18^th century as a gift to the British colonial ruler Robert Clive.

Slower breathing would definitely help metabolism, remove the toxic gases from your system and would help you remain stress and disease free and improve your longevity. Of course as a disclaimer I would state that it is not just respiratory rate that leads to longevity, but it definitely has a role.  


 

A few quotations on slowing down to reinforce my point of view:

“It's better to be slow and careful in the right direction than to be fast and careless on the wrong path. Be sure that you are on the right path before you begin to take your steps!”
― Israelmore Ayivor, Daily Drive 365

“If people just took it a day at a time, they'd be a lot happier.”
― Richard Bachman

“Sometimes I think there are only two instructions we need to follow to develop and deepen our spiritual life: slow down and let go.”
― Oriah Mountain Dreamer, The Dance: Moving To the Rhythms of Your True Self

“Perfection of effort is not required, by the way. It is the consistency of attempting to work these tools that brings the progress. It’s like anything else. If I want to tone muscle, lifting a ten-pound weight a few times every day will move me toward my goal much quicker than hoisting a fifty-pound barbell once a week. Yes, it really is true: “Slow and steady wins the race.” Just try a little, every day. You’ll see.”
― Holly Mosier & to sum it all.....

“Like a bee in a flower bed, the human brain naturally flits from one thought to the next. In the high-speed workplace, where data and headlines come thick and fast, we are all under pressure to think quickly. Reaction, rather than reflection, is the order of the day. To make the most of our time, and to avoid boredom, we fill up every spare moment with mental stimulation…Keeping the mind active makes poor use of our most precious resource. True, the brain can work wonders in high gear. But it will do so much more if given the chance to slow down from time to time. Shifting the mind into lower gear can bring better health, inner calm, enhanced concentration and the ability to think more creatively.”
― Carl Honoré, In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed