Hidasta

Hidasta, “slow”, or hidasta elämää, “slow life”, describes a way of being in
the world. These Finnish words invite us into a new way of experiencing,
and responding to, life’s increasingly fast paced demands, moment to moment.

Learning to slow down,
learning to become more fully present,
right where we are,
to be awake in the world,
is no small feat.

Yet developing such a practice is actually possible and can bring a subtle
and powerful shift within, returning us to a simpler, slower, and saner way
of living life more fully.

Unfortunately, life on our planet right now seems on every hand to be doing
quite the opposite: speeding up, filling us up with escalating information
overload and constant sensory bombardment that can feel debilitating.
How are we to cope?

The practice of Hidasta springs out of current hard science, research that is
helping us understand how wellbeing is a skill no different from learning to
play a musical instrument or learning a new sport. But we must slow down
enough in our lives to experience it!

Through practicing and developing new skills— “the pause”; listening
without an opinion; noticing; simply paying attention in this present
moment, on purpose, to whatever is arising, without judgment—we
cultivate a new relationship with ourselves and our world.

Learning to replace old ingrained habits through increased awareness of
them, creates a new space in which we have more choices and options. It
changes us in real and meaningful ways.

It is not magic, though it can seem so at times, because as we change,
everything else also changes. As we slow down, and awaken, we discover
we are intricately connected to everything else, and that we abide at the center.