The Slow Movement philosophy has gained certain momentum over time and has opened its doors to different areas, showing great versatility and implementing various applications aimed to thwart nowadays’ frenzied pace.
As we have seen before, the core of the Slow Movement was born from the food experience, as a clear opposition to the proliferation of the fast food culture imported by the United States. We should never forget that we are what we eat and although we are basically grass, because either we eat cereals, vegetables - fresh and in pods, or we feed from animals that eat these same elements, the art of cooking plays a prominent role within the Slow Movement.
To Slow Food, eating is no longer just a calorie-vitamin input. It is rather a true journey to the senses wherein time circulates around a cup of wine, a perfect company to a succession of dishes of protected designation of origin. Palate delight is the perfect vehicle to foster interaction and adds some intrigue while those at the table wait for the next dish wondering what is coming.
www.slowfood.com
There is a balance between modernity and tradition in Slow Cities. Their great contribution lies on around fifty promises to make daily city life easier and more harmonious.
In this way, historic sites are pedestrian-friendly spaces free form traffic buzz and noise, which allows for a peaceful stroll. Large commercial spaces are rejected in favor of small local retail stores to encourage the commercialization of autochthonous products.
All houses are of the same height, sharing the same lines in their facades, height and roofs. Restaurants cook traditional recipes based on local products, which are grown according to the mandates of ecological agriculture and stockbreeding. This is essential to preserve food taste and to favor the soil cycle depending on the season of the year. Time seems to stand still to enable their citizens and visitors engage in existential thinking.
www.cittaslow.net
As revealed in annual surveys, sex quality in the Western world has dropped as direct consequence of long working hours and built-up stress.
Once again, celerity’s long shadow invades a highly crucial territory: our intimate relations. When adopting Slow Sex positions, making love slowly becomes a very profound and pleasant experience. The key, again, is making love at a slower pace. Seduction as an art becomes meaningful when using time wisely and making use of games and surprises.
Likewise, creating the right setting is also essential. It can be done through the use of scented candles, insinuating background music and long preliminaries with massages and caresses.
Slow Work focuses on slowing down the pace of working days so as to improve workers’ productivity – though it seems a paradox- and on attaining some free time for workers’ own benefit.
We should not forget that work overload is the cause of some of the most worrying disorders in the Western world today.
Some leading companies, aware of the current situation of the work market, have decided to change their rules and have turned their facilities into more flexible spaces for workers where they can manage their time freely, enjoy generous vacation time, or even have a space with live music, a gym or a nursery service for their kids.
Slow Work share the idea that putting on more hours at work does not guarantee greater productivity, quite the opposite.
Now more than ever, children are stressed by the need of turning into premature adults. Many times, it is the parents who overburden their children with extra activities so they get used to the frenzied pace of today’s society since an early age. In other cases, it is the TV or Internet what help make our children more precocious.
Slow Schooling bets on encouraging games in an environment that favors interaction rather than competition. It also motivates children to rest and relax so they can order their ideas in a stable and creative way. It has been proved that slower teaching, based on learning to think and to find connections are much more positive and effective than devouring tons of information to be later puked over exams.
