There is an idea in sports that a player can “slow the game down”. I don’t remember the first time I came across this idea but I know that it immediately captured my attention: how can a person make the game slow down, and why is that a good thing? Eventually I came to understand that “slowing the game down” meant that a player can experience what is happening on the field or court in a way that gives them more time to process all of the information that is rapidly coming at them.
This state of “slowing the game down” has also been described as being in a flow state, or a state of hyper-focus. Whatever you call it, what is happening in the body is that the mind is able to filter out all of the unnecessary sensory inputs and put all of its attention only on the inputs that are relevant to the tasks of the game. Without things like noise from the crowd, distracting thoughts, internal expressions of self doubt, the mind is able to, through enhanced concentration, make it seem like things in the game are moving slower, or at least like the player has more time to assess those things. The batter, in a baseball game, can experience a 100 mph fastball as moving slower, the quarterback in a football game can determine where all of the players are on the field, and the basketball player can make split second moves without rushing or losing control of their body.
Though I am not a professional athlete, the world right now is giving all of us the chance to navigate a space where it feels like balls and bodies are flying around at 100 mph. The world itself seems to be moving extra fast. Days feel very long and weeks rush by barely noticed. It’s easy to get caught up in a sense of overwhelm just trying to keep up. With all of the inputs we have to reckon with, our brains might be doing a week's worth of processing in any given hour.
One thing about living in such a fast paced world is that our bodies adapt and start moving more quickly. We ask our minds to take in more information and to process it faster. We push ourselves to try to keep up with the fast pace and in doing so we make the pace around us even faster.
In moments like this I think of the athletes who have mastered the ability of “slowing their game down”. I think about what we could learn from them. I think about what it would take for me to develop that ability, the ability to slow the world down, to quiet some of the noise - be it external or internal. In some ways our instincts and habits in these times are exactly the opposite of what the athletes do. They slow the game down not by matching the speed of their external circumstances, but by creating in themselves the inverse condition. They slow themselves down. They clear out the noise of the crowd, they focus all of their attention on the singular task in front of them. They create calm inside their bodies and stillness in their minds.
If you watch a baseball player step up to the plate, the first thing they do is survey the field, looking to see where the defenders are positioned; then they assess the conditions, checking how the weather or the wind might impact their approach; finally they take a deep breath and settle themselves into their stance.
I wonder what would happen if we took this approach to stepping out into the world today. What if, before we acted or reacted to the fast paced chaos that we find ourselves in, we took a moment to survey the field, assess the weather conditions, and then take a breath as we settle into our stance?
The breath is the key. I have found that by breathing slowly and with intention I can slow the world down; I can experience what is happening around me in a way that gives me more time to process all of the information that is rapidly coming in. I can quiet the external noise, ignore distracting thoughts, and release my internal expressions of self doubt. By taking a breath and settling into my stance, I give myself the time I need to find the next move I have to make.