Slow Movement for Rest, Mobility, and Balance

Slow movement is often mistaken for easy movement. It is better understood as movement with the intensity removed so that attention has somewhere to go — and for a tired body, that is frequently what is needed.

Work within a comfortable range. Discomfort is information; sharp pain is a signal to stop. Check with a clinician if you are managing an injury or condition.

What it is for

Three things at once: releasing held tension, maintaining range of motion, and practising balance, which quietly declines when it is not used. None require effort or equipment.

A twenty-minute sequence

Settle (3 minutes). Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat. Let the exhale lengthen. Nothing else.

Spinal waves (4 minutes). On hands and knees, alternate arching and rounding the back with the breath. Slowly, without pushing the end range.

Open the hips (5 minutes). From kneeling, take one foot forward into a low lunge with the back knee down. Support your hands on blocks or books. Two or three minutes each side, breathing into whatever you find.

Balance (3 minutes). Standing, shift your weight onto one foot and lift the other slightly. Use a wall or chair. Thirty seconds each side, twice. Wobbling is the exercise working, not failing.

Rest (5 minutes). Lie down, legs up a wall or bent over a cushion. Stay longer than feels necessary.

Making it stick

Attach it to an existing point in the day — after work, before bed — and keep a short version for bad days: settle, one hip, rest. Ten minutes most days will do more for how you move and sleep than an occasional long class.

The goal is not flexibility. It is a body that feels available to you.