My Pilates Instructor Wouldn't Stop Saying "Slower"

And I realized it was actually a profound leadership lesson, for you.

I was on the Pilates reformer this morning, a whole different world from my usual HIIT training and weighted vest beach walks. (Side note: I’m about to run a 30-day experiment of Pilates and weighted vest beach walks only, just to see what it does to my body, my energy, my strength. I love to try shit on. Everything’s an experiment, including success in your business, but we’ll talk about that another day.)

As I was on the reformer, the instructor kept saying it. Slow. Move slower. Move even slower.

And as she said it, I kept thinking about you.

Because I know that despite your best efforts and intentions, you're still moving way too fast, being way too constant, carrying way too many things. And I don’t think you realize what that way of being is costing you, how much energy it actually takes to move through the world like that, how much energy it takes to create more success from that constriction.

My queen, it’s safe to slow down. It’s actually imperative that you slow down.
It feels luscious when you slow down.

I appreciate that slowing down will likely bring something up in you, something like, “wait a minute, do I deserve this?” or “if I slow down will the other shoe drop?”

Because slowing down, for a high achieving leader like you, resembles rest, and somewhere in your current programming, rest feels like something you have to earn instead of something that’s already yours (for the record, rest is a strategic business activity, and a requirement for enjoying your life).

And yes, even the resistance you feel to slowing down right now is the indication that slowing down is exactly what needs to happen next. It’s exactly what you get to do for yourself.

Here’s what’s interesting about so much of what’s circulating in the world about nervous system regulation. It actually misses the piece that matters most, which is the pace of how you do the things you’re already doing. The pace and energy with which you move through the day.

Even when you’re meditating in the morning and doing nervous system practices, but then in the predominance of your day, you’re moving fast, being constant, running a million miles a minute, talking fast, standing and eating your lunch, not going to the bathroom when you have to pee - I see you girl - scheduling yourself back to back even though you keep telling yourself you’re gonna take breaks, I’m here to tell you it is fucking your nervous system royally.

And until you choose to slow down, you will remain in a loop of dysregulation.

Slowing down is the yummiest part. Slowing down is what lets things land. Slowing down is the part that becomes the signal to your nervous system, the thing that tells it “we’re safe, babe.”

When you move slower, when you slow it down, you’re communicating and massaging that to your nervous system. Like a whisper inside your body - “We’re safe, babe. We’re safe”

Let that land for a second.

Slowing down brings an inherent state of regulation and the ability to enjoy your life. You’re more present. You’re more available. You’re more open. Therefore, you’re more creative. You’re more innovative. You are operating at a higher level of consciousness. And all of this is part and parcel to what it means to be an embodied leader.

Moving slow, taking it in, taking your time, taking up space. This is the place where your power lives. This is where you start to experience the present moment, which is the only thing we actually have.

To be clear, and as a reminder, because the other thing I know about you is you know, but just because you know doesn’t mean you do anything with that awareness: when you’re dysregulated, your prefrontal cortex goes offline. Your fear based brain, your amygdala, takes over. And now fear, lack, scarcity, and separation are running the show.

Ah, but when you’re regulated, that part of your brain quiets down because it perceives it’s safe, and your prefrontal cortex opens back up, and now you have conscious choice, awareness, creativity, innovation, discernment. You’re playing an entirely different game.

So even though this instructor was telling me to slow down purely so she could create crazy amounts of tension in my quads, as they were shaking for dear life, I’m bringing this message to you now so you can take it into how you lead yourself, your team, your family, your relationships.

Try this on:

Pick one ordinary moment today, eating, walking to your car, opening your laptop, and do it at half speed. Not as a break. As a signal. Notice what your body does when it realizes it’s safe to slow down.

More love,
Tracy