Sensuality & Slow Living: A Match Made in Heaven
In a fast-paced world where we’re conditioned to constantly consume, juggle a million tasks and always be aiming to achieve more and more, going slow can seem counterintuitive.
In this episode we explore the concept of slow-living and infusing sensuality into our lives as a daily practice, not an afterthought.
This podcast is for YOU, so if you ever have any questions you’d like me to answer on the show, or topics you’d like me to cover – reach out to me on email here or over on instagram @eleanorhadley
Links & Resources
Start your journey to explore your own personal pleasure language with my free quiz, including a bonus worksheet with journaling prompts to help you dive even deeper. Take the quiz now: www.eleanorhadley.com/pleasurelanguage
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of The Sensuality Academy Podcast!
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Episode Transcript
Hello my loves, before we jump into today’s episode I want you to just pause with me for a moment. Close your eyes, if it’s safe to do so, take a slowww breath in….and out. Drop your shoulders down, soften your jaw, relax the muscles around your eyes. Open your eyes and just take a slow look around you. Find something beautiful. There’s always something.
How good does it feel to just take a moment to tune in?
Speaking of tuning in - it’s episode 20 of The Sensuality Academy Podcast - thank you so much for being here. I’m feeling so calm, grounded and relaxed as I record this because I just watched a very beautiful sunset. This episode is all about slow living and sensuality.
As you may know, I recently moved up to Byron Bay after a spontaneous decision to leave Melbourne before the state borders were shut and harsher Stage 4 lockdown measures were enforced. At the time I wasn’t sure if I’d just be away for a couple weeks or a couple months. Well, it’s been close to 6 weeks now and I’ve decided the move is more or less permanent. Though, knowing me I’ll be off overseas as soon as it’s a possibility. But - given the circumstances, this is where I am for now. I am incredibly happy and grateful to be here.
Being up here, in a place that is surrounded by nature - the gorgeous Aussie coastline with beautiful beaches on one side and the lush, tropical, evergreen hinterland on the other - I can’t help but be inspired to fully appreciate my surroundings every single day. It’s honestly the most perfect location for a sensualista like me.
This week I moved into a lovely home surrounded by green with views of the hills out the front windows. Every day as I drive through the hinterland I have to be careful to actually focus on the road because the scenery is that stunning.
All of this to say - I feel more inspired than ever to live a slow, simple and (of course) sensual life.
I want to be real with you. I never want to speak to you as though I am holier than thou and have it all figured out. I think too often coaches and people who teach or have any kind of platform can try to give the impression that they’re perfect and they have the magic secret to how to figure it all out. But honestly, we’re all figuring out this life thing as we go. I’m here to share what I’ve learnt so far, and what I’m in the process of learning.
I teach a lot about sensuality and embodiment. But I’m a human and I can get all up in my head as much as everyone else and completely forget to be present in my own life - especially as a solo business owner. I feel like this move has been a bit of a wake up for me. So I want to share that with you. If you’re feeling like sensual embodiment is a far off dream right now, I want to encourage you. It’s possible, and you can start now.
This year has been tough on all of us. Some more than others, and I’m currently sending so much love to all my Melbournians who are under another 6-week lockdown.
Today I want to talk about the concept of slow-living and infusing sensuality into our lives as a daily practice, not an afterthought.
If you’re anything like me, you probably spend far too much of your precious time consumed by social media, only to feel pretty damn shitty about how little you seem to be “achieving” in your life compared to the hundreds of people's highlight reels you just scrolled through. Maybe you’re constantly getting targeted ads showing up in your feed about the latest product that is definitely going to make your life better and so you think maybe that’s what you need too.
Honestly, I catch myself constantly in these comparison traps and striving for that product, that program, that qualification that will complete me or fill some kind of gap - often one that society has told me I have, but I don’t. I know its bullshit, and yet I still find myself there. I wonder if you do too?
It can be so easy to get caught up in this myth that we are what (and how much) we produce. And that more is better.
But you know what? That’s a lie.
I spoke about this in episode 12 about Productivity Pressure, so be sure to give that a listen if you haven’t already.
So, what is slow living?
To me, slow living is about living with presence and appreciation for your life and everything in it.
I did a little bit of research on the slow living movement and came across some beautiful definitions on sloww.co I want to share some of this with you.
"Slow living is about well-being and doing everything as well as possible instead of as fast as possible"
“Combining the wisdom of the past with a vision for the future”
“ A rejection of the status symbol of busyness”
“Taking the time to do things properly, and thereby enjoy them more.”
And from Kayte Ferris - "Slow living is just living slowly, in whatever and however way that means to you. It’s about knowing and passionately loving the things we value, and designing our lives to spend the most time possible enjoying them. It’s about having intentionality and consciousness in our activities, about escaping the mindless scrolling and unproductive multi-tasking and focusing on purposeful action. It’s about embracing the fact that you’re not doing it all – it’s about doing less, but better.”
And my personal favourite:
"Slow living is connection with yourself, those around you, and the world”
This one feels very aligned with my teachings, as I often talk about sensuality being a way to enhance our connection with ourselves, our bodies, our pleasure, our environment and within our relationships.
Some more words often used to describe slow-living are...
Purposeful
Fulfilling
Reflective
A State of mind
Nourishing
Savouring
Holistic
Conscious
Intentional
Mindful
Organic
Natural
Balance
Ease
Flow
All words which could equally be used to describe the pillars of sensuality that I teach.
So, naturally - sensuality and slow living go hand in hand.
I believe that to be sensual is to be truly of the senses, to be slow, intentional, to appreciate, luxuriate and savour in every moment.
It felt important to bring this episode out this week, given all that is going on in the world, and especially for the Melbournians who hold a very special place in my heart.
None of us know how to act in a pandemic. This isn’t business as usual, despite how many people in your newsfeed may be continuing on as though it is. This year has illuminated a lot of darkness in the world and I believe it’s caused a lot of us to reconsider how it is that we’ve been previously choosing to spend our lives. The work we’ve been doing, where we’ve been living, who we spend our time with, the projects we choose to focus on, the creative pursuits we may have put on the back burner.
So - I want to ask you today, my love, my dear listener. How are you spending your life? Are you trying to do everything at once? Are you juggling a million things, trying to prove that you can handle it all?
Let me ask you this, even more important question: are you truly enjoying yourself?
I know this is a tough one. And if you asked me no less than a couple months ago, my answer would have been no. And that’s okay. Because it’s what I needed in order to make a shift.
And it’s okay if your answer right now is no too.
So, how can we begin to live a slower, more sensual life? Let’s get a little practical here.
Start with your vision for your life. A description I loved about the slow living movement is "taking a long-term view of your own life and the world around you”
What’s your long-term view of your life? How do you want to feel each day? What do you need to shift and change to have those feelings. Remember, this isn’t about getting a new this or that. But instead focus on the feelings.
Now, how can you start to bring those kinds of feelings into your life today?
Another way to live a slow, sensual life is to savour everything. Make moments and experiences last.
Having a cup of tea? Slow down and enjoy it. Eating a meal? Don’t do it in front of your laptop or tv. Take the time to stop, take in all the colours and aromas and flavours in every bite. Try to fully embody your surroundings. Find beauty in everything. Savour time anywhere, anytime, always.
Same goes for conversations with people - be present and allow yourself to connect with people. I don’t know what’s more important in this world than connection with your loved ones. You can’t put a price on it, you can’t find it by aimlessly scrolling on social media and you can’t buy it online. Be present for your people. Prioritise your people.
Stop juggling. I know there's pressure on us - especially women - to juggle all the things. Maybe it’s a range of different sports or fitness styles. Maybe it’s reading 8 books at a time, maybe it’s diffusing your energy into multiple work or creative pursuits. Whatever way it comes up for you - stop trying to do everything. Particularly the things that don’t light you up, or the things you feel you’re expected to do.
Yes, I know there are still necessary things involved with general adulting and making a living - but I want to challenge you to reframe these things and consider what is really, truly necessary. You’ll probably find it’s not all needed.
Finally, focus on feeling. As I asked you before - how do you want to feel in your life? For me, I value freedom, spaciousness, inspiration, connection, creativity, impact, passion and purpose. A beautiful exercise that I often assign to my clients is to explore their personal values. I’d love to suggest you do the same, as this will give you a big indication as to how you might like to shift things to be more aligned with what matters the most to you.
Now - I hope you’re feeling inspired to live a slow, yet deeply intentional life. Remember, everything starts with a decision.
I’d love to hear from you if you choose to start moving towards living a slower life. Reach out to me on instagram and let me know what shifts you’ve made, it would make my day.
If you loved this episode and think others would love to listen, be sure to share it far and wide, take a screenshot and share it to your stories and don’t forget to tag me!
Thank you so much for listening, I’ll speak to you again soon my loves, and as always - stay slow and stay sensual.
