What is the connection between slow living and meditation?

Category: Pillar 2: The Art of Beauty

Both slow living and meditation are, at their core, practices of returning. Buddhist teacher Gelong Thubten describes meditation not as the clearing of the mind but as the moment of noticing that the mind has wandered and choosing to come back. The wandering isn’t a failure. It’s what creates the opportunity to make that choice. Slow living works the same way: it’s not the absence of distraction or difficulty, but the ongoing, gentle decision to return to what is true, what is nourishing, what is yours. The form can be anything. The quality of attention is what makes it a practice.