Infinite Slowness
By The Learning from the Land Collective
excerpted from the zine
Activity’s intentions: To give ourselves the treat of moving slowly and noticing the most intricate details. To break down the rhythm of our city selves. To practice attending to all of our senses while moving.
Setup: Choose a landmark where you want the activity to end. We use about 500m of trail for this game. Describe the route and landmark in lots of details before sending folks out on this slow-moving adventure. Lead from behind and give lots of time and space.
Facilitator’s notes: Invite your group to walk down the trail to a landmark approximately 500m away. Participants should reduce their regular walking pace infinitely, so that each step is a slow as can be while always moving forward. We suggest a pace half the speed of a slow sidewalk pace, and then reduce that by half again. Encourage folks to walk on the balls of the feet instead of back on their heels, as both a way of escaping our city stride and to move more stealthily. Remind folks to keep their senses on and open, remembering the creatures (fox, snail, deer, and owl) who help us connect with each sense.
Debrief: Invite the group to gather at the basecamp in a circle. Check in with participants by asking broad questions about their experience. It can be difficult to connect with all of our senses at once, or even to remember to keep checking in with some we don’t use often. It’s surprising how much you can take in at such a slow pace, and yet still feel like you aren’t seeing everything by continually moving, even slowly.