In Praise of Slowing Down
Using Platforms to Live Deliberate Life
Let me start with a Three Book recommendation for you to make more sense of this newsletter- In Praise of Walking, In Praise of Slow and Why We Sleep.
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DTW
During the Week, Apple released Time to Walk, an inspiring new audio walking experience on Apple Watch for Fitness+ subscribers. This has been created to encourage Apple Fitness+ users to walk more often and reap the benefits from one of the healthiest activities. In fact, ever since the lock down was lifted , Archana & I have been walking very regularly and when she decides to run, I continue to walk to catch up on all the podcasts as well as thinking about this newsletter topics.
Pandemic and subsequent lockdowns/ WFH set-ups have forced us to evaluate our fast paced hurried lives and reconsider the cost-benefits of always-on status.
There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”- Mahatma Gandhi
Platforms have as usual have helped us in slowing down during this reset times to include pause in our lives. Personally , I have seen an increase in mindfulness or consciousness of about our being or simply being deliberate about our actions/life. . These profound changes have happened through four interfaces of Food, Sleep, Relationships and Leisure.
We have lived the last few decades in constant fast moving lane of cooking or getting food faster enabled by quick service restaurants and 30 minutes pizza delivery strategies. But of late, there has been a push to slow down food in terms of processing, cooking and eating. Platforms like Conosh are reducing the rush to finish a meal at restaurant and are enabling chefs to host gathering over food at their respective places.
Sleep is so under-appreciated in current times that I am amazed every time I read parts of “Why We Sleep”. Other than the scientific studies, we have seen an increase in number of apps/platforms which help us in meditation, relaxation and mindfulness. Digital platforms like BetterNight help in sleep conditions and also allow users to access telemedicine and remote patient monitoring through the platform. Multiple others apps and platforms can help track trends in our sleep so that we can better understand and improve it.
Talking about mindfulness beings us to the important aspect of relationships with our loved ones and even with self. Many platforms like Think Right aim to be “a wonderful companion on your journey of self-transformation” through an interactive guided affirmations. This must start with efforts to reduce distractions mostly digital. We must get out of the constant influx of dopamine provided by umpteen notifications on our digital devices. Almost all operating systems on laptops and smartphones offer some version of tracking time spent on various activities.
Pandemic forced us inside our homes for the larger part of 2020 and thus created new paradigms of leisure. Lot of my friends ended up taking stayactions and platforms like AirBnB have promoted local experiences over international travel. They are also promoting longer stays with local hosts curating long term experiences for the guests including in-depth food and culture trips. AAGAAS Federation at Pipalkoti, Chamoli Garhwal in Uttarakhand has pioneered community based voluntary non-profit making bio-tourism initiative to promote deliberate living.
Kudos to Neelesh Misra for being a pioneer in Slow Movement through his path breaking Slow Interviews, Slow Experiences and of course Slow Bazaar. We need more such experiments and it feels good that some of the early green shoots are in the vicinity of my village in Dehradun district.
I would also like to invite you to my own personal favourite 9-days Himalayan Trek in last week of May to “Disconnect with World and Reconnect with Self”. These self-organised Alpine Himalayan Treks have provided me along with family and friends with an opportunity to unwind and relate to each other in a more intimate manner and emerge out of it refreshed.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I did my first 10K timed run in over a year and it felt good to finish it with 6’11” pace. . Thanks to many friends who kept asking me about my running schedule hence kept the fire crackling! It also reiterated two key learnings from my rather short and slowly evolved running journey- Muscle Memory and Entourage Effect. Let me explain it in detail.
As we practice a certain activity over a period of time like cycling or swimming, we develop an intricate neuromuscular system of learning. In fact, these networks once formed are so strong that it would be almost impossible to do same activities if different neural or muscular paths are expected to fire. Watch this experiment asking people to ride a cycle with a small modification.
Muscle memory refers to the ability of body- mind and muscle- to reactivate those neural and muscle networks even after a substantial break. Of course, it would not be at peak performance but you would be able to survive. Good folks at OpenFace Media led by Pavan Atukuri have created a whole web-series hosted by Chaitanya titled Runner’s High. I was fortunate enough to feature in one of the episodes where I discussed my running journey and philosophy including my eternal faith in muscle memory.
Entourage Effect (commonly seen in CBD usage) is definitely in play during major running event. Runners would generally practice lesser distances with lesser intensity but I think their own effort coupled with raced day atmosphere in the presence of other runners create an Entourage Effect leading to much superior performance. So, even when I was running in an event after 12 months, I felt comfortable running at 6’11” pace and enjoy my 10K.
It was also remarkable coincidence because both Archana and I were running a similar 10K distance in an event after about 6 years of starting our running journey which was also a 10K in Nov 2014. I am hopeful of return to my favourite long distance training because even when I had a break from running , I still was consistently focusing on general health/fitness coupled with adequate sleep . See you soon at a nearby running event soon.
I Love You.
Shailendra
Something that has been on my mind recently, Slowing Down in this Faster Covid-19 afterlife. Not that WFH was slow, but, a much-needed boost to think over decisions now. :)
I hope to join you on the trek this year. Wishful thinking :)