We all want a slower, more enriched, more curious, more present life.
In slowing down we notice more, create spaciousness, anttentiveness and opportunities to be creative; we are all bursting with abundant ideas waiting to be brought into the light given the breathing space.
Slow looking at art
I recently had the pleasure of attending a session for creativity and wellbeing week with Limina Collective. I’ve done these session before. They are a wonderful way to spend some slow time. Limina Collective combines practising mindfulness with looking at art. Using mindfulness principles for observation, appreciation and reflection we really engage with art, our responses, our senses. This can be a transformational, enriching and uplifting interaction.
We looked at this painting by Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun of Madame Perregaux, part of the Wallace Collection. We explored colours, texture, light certain aspects of the picture such as the woman’s hands. It was a totally immersive experience.
Things you can only see when you slow down
Haemin Sunim became synonymous with slowing down, offering aphorisms built on Buddhist practice through his book Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down and then went on to write Love for Imperfect Things: how to accept yourself in a world striving for perfection. These are pocket size books full of little gems, which he says he writes not from a self expressive or artistic viewpoint but purely to help readers. Sunim, from South Korea, went to California to study film but soon became dissolusioned and at 25 became a Buddhist monk after studying religion at Princeton and Harvard. In South Korea he has opened – and funded – two healing centres he calls Schools for Broken Hearts for anyone navigating difficult times.
“We know the world only through the window of our mind. When our mind is noisy, the world is as well. And when our mind is peaceful, the world is, too. Knowing our minds is just as important as trying to change the world. What our mind focuses on becomes our world. Seen this way, the mind does not seem so insignificant in relation to the world out there, does it?”
― Haemin Sunim
The art of slowing down
Over 35 years of Buddhist practice, my training as a mindfulness teacher, a Qigong teacher and a career as a Creative Health professional I have found ways to lead a slower life with more space to nourish and flourish.
I do this through:
the art of slowing down through meditation and mindful movement
the art of creativity through reading, writing and art to help cultivate curiosity and invite wonder
the art of connection through being in nature, open to culture and working with the senses
I have worked hard to create conditions to pause, reflect, be present and be creative.
I have practised enriching my aesthetic life, creative life, connected and present life. And much of this is about noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary.
“There are many more ordinary hours in life than extraordinary ones. We wait in line at the supermarket. We spend hours commuting to work. We water our plants and feed our pets. Happiness means finding a moment of joy in those ordinary hours.” - Haemin Sunim
The Art of Slowing Down: Retreats
Recently I have had the opportunity to bring my practice together into some futur retreats and events called: The Art of Slowing Down. Later this year I will deliver the first of these days at the new Be Well Barn in Suffolk. And I am also talking to a friend who runs retreats at Nutsford House in Somerset about coming there and there are other opportunities bubbling too.
In these retreats or slow down days I plan to interweave meditation, mindful movement (Qigong) and mindful writing as well as moments of stillness and silence, bringing together all the elements of my practice to provide different ways into slowing down. If this is something you might be interested in, let me know. I can add you to my mailing list.
Gratitude
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Thank you for introducing me to Haemin Sunim. I will seek out his books. And the retreats sound great. Best of luck with them.