Slow living is a growing lifestyle movement centered around stepping back from the break-neck speed of our daily lives. People who follow the slow movement focus on slowing down and living fully in each moment that life brings. Slow living might look like sitting quietly to enjoy a cup of tea with no distractions or pairing down a travel itinerary to be able to spend time getting to know a place, a community and an experience.

Adopt new habits

Embracing slowness in your life can start small or it can spread to every aspect of your daily life. You can live slowly by simplifying your wardrobe to allow you more space to live and breathe and feel, or you can explore a meditation practice that takes you off-line and into your own body for a period of time every day.

Connect with nature

Each choice to slow down will bring you closer in touch with nature. If you choose to eliminate unnecessary purchases, you will find yourself living a more sustainable life without waste of fuel to transport packages or plastic to wrap and store items. Each mindful, slow breath you take brings your awareness to the basic elements of nature and brings you closer to the connectedness that surrounds all living beings.

Explore new destinations

Slow travel brings connectedness to nature to the next level by incorporating exploration and discovery into your slow living practice. Slow travel means choosing connection over convenience—like choosing to drive to a place you might normally fly to. Choosing a slower pace allows you to experience the journey to get there in a completely new way.

If you choose a slower pace, you can explore your destination even more fully, with the context of the journey adding to your understanding of the place and its culture.

Allowing yourself to move and plan slowly lets you experience a culture more fully and creates flexibility to wander and explore. You never know what you might find.