What is Slow Living?
Before we dive in, think of slow living as a toolkit for understanding and nurturing your emotional, physical, and mental needs. It’s about listening to what your body and mind truly want and learning to honour that.
So how do you apply the slow living practice to fitness & well-being?
I’d love for you to read about my journey, where I share how slow living has transformed my relationship with fitness. But to give you an overview, here are a few key takeaways.
Guidance on Starting a Slow Living-Inspired Fitness Journey
- Focusing on what my body can do and what it feels like rather than what it looks like
- Surrounding myself with a community focused on fun rather than fitness metrics
- Understanding rest and recovery is just as vital as movement
- Shifting to health and comfort rather than the no pain – no gain mentality
- Acknowledging and celebrating small wins fosters a more enjoyable and fulfilling fitness journey, reinforcing the value of slow, sustainable progress.
The Weight of Expectations
I remember my first PE class in high school vividly. Picture 11-year-old me – unsure of her long clumsy and chubby limbs in a borrowed, ill-fitting swimsuit from lost property (because I ‘forgot’ mine), standing awkwardly at the back, trying to hide from the boys who were sniggering as the girls nervously lined up to jump in the pool and eyeing up the more ‘attractive’ older girls…
This was a far cry from the carefree egg-and-spoon race in primary school!
I went on to dodge every fitness-related lesson with fantastically forged sick notes! Sorry, not sorry.
Even when I was home-educated, mum could see it wasn’t for me.
Navigating body image
In my early adult years, when it seemed everyone had a gym membership, I joined in every January and drifted off 6 weeks later. I could never quite stick at it as I didn’t want to.
I still remember how awkward I felt when my trainer wrapped a tape measure around my problem areas—arms, hips and thighs, and told me about the “much-needed cardio” I’d be doing to fix them. In defiance, I rewarded myself with a pastie.
The idea of exercising for myself was completely foreign. No one ever asked me what I wanted from my body. It was just assumed we all wanted to fit into whatever was trendy at the time. I remember feeling sad and discouraged as a family member told me I was a tad too heavy on my feet to be a dancer, or I didn’t have quite the shape to be a gymnast. That family member didn’t really know any better than what was shown in the media at the time…
Growing up, many of my friends struggled with eating disorders. As a 17-year-old, and spending a lot of time with a friend who struggled with her eating, I spent a year living on just toast because I too wanted to have a fashionable body, and binging whenever she wasn’t around, sadly it ended up in lots of fainting spells in college.
As an adult, I found myself surrounded by people constantly dieting, apologising for their weight, and denying themselves the joy of living generally.
An Act of Rebellion…
Although I didn’t know any different. It didn’t feel right and so I found myself searching for an alternative.
I eventually found and embraced the plus-size movement.
In my spare time, I became a fitting model for a catalogue (tho I was repeatedly told I was either too small or too big,) organised and participated in plus-size fashion events, and supported the few brands that celebrated body diversity.
But even that world had its own rules and toxic culture. I thought I felt empowered, but I was still obsessing over my weight, comfort eating, and struggling with my body image and self-esteem.
It affected so many areas of my life, especially my relationships.
Looking at Fitness from a New Angle
Coming to think of it… It started with a camera. I’ve always loved photography, so I treated myself to a preloved Nikon. I would spend my free time wandering through my new neighbourhood, taking pictures of landscapes—nothing professional, just something that brought me peace after long days spent behind the screen. As I grew more confident behind the lens, I started exploring further, climbing hills to get ‘the’ picture.
Before I knew it, I was walking regularly—often up steep inclines, just for the joy of capturing a beautiful sunset.
That’s when I realised something: how my body felt and what it could do mattered way more than how it looked. If my legs were strong, I could reach those views before sundown.
Beyond the Gym
It took me years to fully embrace this idea, and my journey into yoga played a big part in shifting my mindset. But let me tell you, my first yoga class was a disaster—I hated it! It reminded me of being back in the gym, being told how I should and shouldn’t move my body. I left the class and didn’t look back.
Thank goodness for YouTube! I discovered Yoga with Adriene, and her philosophy of “finding what feels good” was a revelation.
The idea of listening to my body rather than fighting against it—felt alien.
Fancy trying a touch of silent and slow yoga with me?
Choosing Function, Fun & Feeling over Fashion
I finally found myself surrounded by a new group of people who loved being outdoors. They were into running, walking, camping, and swimming—but none of our conversations were about fitness or body image which was refreshing! Everything was about having fun.
When I combined that sense of function, feeling, and fun, I realised I’d found my secret sauce to the toxic fitness industry that had preyed on my younger self. From that point on, whilst I worked on myself, I avoided anything that focused on how my body looked because I found it sent me spiralling into hating on myself.
I even avoided mirrors and stopped wearing makeup.
It still wasn’t easy. I often avoided group activities because I was usually the one lagging behind which triggered my insecurities about not being ‘fit enough’. I wasn’t interested in marathons or joining the super flexi yoga clubs; I just wanted to enjoy the view along the way.
Slowing Down to Avoid Burnout & Injury
On the occasions where I did try to keep up with others and ignore my body, I suffered injuries – one which put me out of action for quite some time!
These times were special (it didn’t feel like it at the time) as they allowed me to do some much-needed innercise and here I discovered the importance and art of rest.
Embracing rest in all forms
Rest can be a frustrating concept when you really want to do something but you’re physically unable too! But rest was a critical part of my slow and sustainable fitness journey.
I’ve never wanted to push my body to its limits, not like an athlete so I found leaning into it much much easier. The challenge for me was gathering enough confidence to try again!
I also encountered using exercise and movement as a form of distraction so things like guided meditation and breathwork helped me to find rest in other ways.
Practice Listening to your Body: a Key Slow Living Concept
I was beginning to have a greater awareness and understanding of my body and my needs I was able to recognise when to push or rest.
I decided to navigate a path which allowed me to choose exercise based on how I felt rather than what was expected of me.
That meant no gym memberships, strict training plans or diets.
My inner voice would jump for joy when it finally released,
“Hey I’m an adult – I get to choose to do anything I want with my body!”
I chose to reject the ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality and instead prioritised mindful and nurturing exercises and little by little it gave me the confidence to keep on moving in my own ways.
It’s important to recognise that as you read this, I am describing my journey through the decades – it didn’t happen overnight!
Building Patience: Long Term vs Short Term Fitness Gains
My long-term goal was focused on function and feeling: improve how my lungs felt.
As a child with asthma, breathing was always a struggle, and my lack of exercise made that worse.
I learned that aiming for a flat stomach or toned thighs wasn’t enough motivation for me. But being able to breathe comfortably while walking to snap a photo of the local hills? That was far more motivating.
Celebrating the small wins and gradual progress made the journey much more enjoyable.
Eating in Harmony with Slow Living
Food has always been a problem area of mine. I comfort ate as a child as a way to cope with my parent’s relationship breakdown. It’s a huge topic (our relationship with food) but during lockdown in particular I went back to comfort eating.
I gained about 4 stone and was probably the heaviest I’d ever been. These days, I’m always careful to think and talk about physical appearance because it’s never been my motivating factor – if anything it demotivates me.
It was impacting my physical needs. This time, I felt confident I could put what I’d learned over the years into practice.
Mindful Eating
The focus was to drink much more water, chew more and stop eating after 8 pm. All felt within my control and manageable.
I mostly ate all the colours of the rainbow and ate at least one meal without the TV/radio on or during any conversation to be fully present.
And there was no denying or restricting myself.
Shifting the 4 stone felt good but not as good as being happy during the process.
And that’s what stuck with me…
This idea of ‘I’ll be happy when…’ only delays what you really want.
Remembering The Power of Slow Progress
There were an incredible amount of changes in the years to follow like becoming a Yoga teacher and a Stand-up Paddleboard instructor, loving aerial hoop and joining a burlesque troupe (another story for another day maybe).
When I embraced slow progress, I gave myself the grace to grow in my own time.
There’s a quiet power in choosing a path that’s steady and sustainable.
Rather than racing toward a quick fix or burning out on unrealistic goals, I got to explore each small step and notice the little victories along the way.
Slow progress taught me patience, allowing me to celebrate the strength in my body, the calm in my mind, and the joy in every bit of movement I choose.
With each gradual improvement, I created a fitness journey rooted in resilience and self-acceptance—a journey that feels entirely my own.
It’s only in the last year I’ve found myself in heavily fitness-focused environments where I don’t feel like I want the floor to swallow me. I may not feel like one of the crew but I can do my own thing and still enjoy it.
As ever, it’s a work in progress,
Thank you for your time and attention
Love Chelsea x
