Ep #22 – The grace of slowing down w/ Claire Bradshaw

I’m excited to share another solo episode from me where I talk about the grace of slowing down.

This is a topic close to my heart as I have been that ‘busy’ person trying to fill up my calendar for weeks in advance, hardly allowing any breathing space in my life. With all the busyness and the doing, I lost sight of where I was going and why and what was truly important to me.

Only by slowing things down and being with the present moment did I begin to put the pieces together. Only then was I able to listen to my soul calling, to my intuition, to my body’s wisdom and bring myself back to a state of balance and homeostasis.

So in this podcast you’ll hear my tops tips on how you can begin to slow things down in your life.  This truly is where the magic is at.

1. Slow down your walk, your talk, your eating (chew your food) eat at a table, eat slow food – not fast processed food. Appreciate the food you eat – where it came from, how much energy from the earth went into growing it.

2. Slow your reactions.  When things don’t go your way – someone annoys you, you get cut off in the car, the train is late, or you drop your dinner on the floor. Can you stop and breathe before you react. Create that space and allow clarity to come through before you respond from a calm place.  This takes practice but can make the world of difference to how you feel and the impact it has on others.

3. Breathe. Take mindful breaths. Can you put an alarm on your phone to remind you to check in with your breath during the work day. Can you take conscious breaths before bed or in the morning before you start your day. Take the time to check in with yourself. Notice when you hold the breath and how your shoulders and neck feel

4. Morning routine. Start slow. Avoid looking at phone/computer for a few hours. Make it ‘me’ time.

5. Take time for a cup of mindful tea.

6. Take time for mindful movement – yoga/tai chi

7. Write a list of everything in your head. Work out what things you can say ‘no’ to, delete from the list, delegate. What’s important to you? Focus on that.

8. Clear your calendar of commitments.  What things are you saying ‘yes’ to from a place of obligation, how many things have a ‘should’, ‘must’, ‘have to’ attached to them? Create some time in the week to be alone. Schedule it in your diary – time for nature/ reading/listening to music/journaling/exercise/creative project.

9. Meditate. This is so important to put the time aside for.  When we’re busy we feel like we don’t have any time to meditate, we’ll make a gazillion excuses. The thing is, meditation actually give us more time.  By slowing down the monkey mind, we create some much needed space, release tension and stress and we are much better able to focus on one thing at a time.

A form of meditation is yoga nidra – yogic sleep.  This is a deep relaxation and settles the nervous system entirely. This is done lying down under a warm blanket and the objective is to remain awake and aware but completely relaxed. They say that 30 mins of nidra is the equivalent of 2-3 hours of deep sleep. If you’ve never tried it before I have you covered with a recording I did for you.  Click here and msg me and I’ll send it to you. You’ll feel the difference!

These are things we can begin to incorporate into our daily lives.  Maybe we start with one thing and make it a part of our morning routine. And then add another thing. Trial them our for a few weeks and see how they go. How we feel.  

Because small things added up over time lead to big results and changes in our lives.

The best and most worthwhile things always take time.

All my love

Claire x

To connect, go to:
Website: www.claire-bradshaw.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairelouisebradshaw/
Instagram: @_clairebradshaw_