““The times are urgent; let us slow down.””
When we practice slow in the Peony Method, it's not just to practice being physically slow. Though it is that to some degree, as slower physical practices are, truly, more challenging.
Why? To start, you can’t “cheat” with momentum. Going slowly, you’ll also feel more — including if you’re pushing past a limit of some sort that could lead to injury.
You’re also able to observe your body’s strengths and deficiencies more closely.
If you DO have an injury, you can take your time working around it… flirting with its edges, deciding what to work with and what to let rest.
Slow practices also allow more focus on good breath work but also on different types of breath work. (If you’ve been in my classes, one example would be when we only move during suspended inhales or exhales.)
But beyond all of this (and I’ve really only started to touch on the physical advantages of slow), the slow in the Peony Method is about the emotional/mental/spiritual aspects of your BodyMind.
We hear our body’s messages more clearly. We hear where things might be stuck — whether old trauma, recent grief, or any emotion that is in need of your attention. It’s all in the body, of course.
We hear our heart's truth better when we slow down. The heart can speak in whispers and our busy, chaotic world is often too much for it.
We hear/feel our connections when we’re slower — whether to ourselves, our wiser self, something bigger, each other.
Truth, wisdom, the next move, the right idea… it all has the space it needs to arise and get your attention when we’re moving slowly.
This is not to say that faster movement doesn’t have its own set of pros. But our culture — including our movement culture — prizes FASTER, BIGGER, BETTER.
The Peony Method is the antidote to all of that.