Slowing Down In A Fast World
“When you know how to slow down and be present,
you experience life more deeply."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
As we begin this new year, many of us feel that we’re already behind before we’ve even begun. The world continues to speed up, our nervous systems are overwhelmed from years of living at an accelerated pace, and presence is becoming harder and harder to access.
I keep noticing how rushed many people feel. And, how even when nothing urgent is happening, the body can feel keyed up. Breath is shallow. Attention is scattered. There’s more anxiety, more worry, more fatigue, more discontentment, and a sense of disconnection from ourselves and from one another. These are all signals to slow down from a nervous system that rarely gets to rest.
Slowing Down Matters
In the December Newsletter: The Gift of 1o% Slower, we ended 2025 with an invitation to slow down. Throughout 2026, in both the newsletter and our monthly mindfulness and MBCT drop-in group, we’ll build on that foundation, learning ways to bring the practice of moving 10% slower into the lived moments of daily life.
In the Buddhist tradition, we’re invited to view our actions through the lens of whether they lead to benefit or harm. Moving more slowly, in this sense, becomes a practice of being care-full—full of care, attentive, intentional, and awake to what’s here.
The invitation for 2026 becomes less about setting goals and more about developing awareness.
As the year unfolds, we’ll explore why slowing down matters and how we can meet our lives with greater presence, care, and intention. Before we can change our pace, we need to notice it. Do you find yourself hurrying? How does that feel in the body? What does it affect—your mood, your relationships, your ability to listen or rest?
Slowing down doesn’t mean doing less or withdrawing from life. It means bringing more care to how we move through what is already here. When we slow the body, even slightly, the nervous system can begin to settle. Breath deepens. Attention steadies. We become more available—to ourselves and to one another.
Mindfulness offers a practical way to work with slowing down in daily life. In Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), we learn to notice the habits of rushing, tightening, and speeding up as they arise in the body and mind, and how to meet them with awareness rather than judgment. By turning toward present-moment experience with curiosity and care, we begin to interrupt patterns of stress, anxiety, and reactivity, creating more space to respond thoughtfully rather than automatically. Over time, this gentle shift supports steadiness, clarity, and a more compassionate relationship with ourselves.
In our first drop-in group of 2026, I’ll offer an overview of how we can work with the six senses—sound, sight, taste, touch, smell, and thoughts (which in Buddhism are understood as a sense)—as gateways for slowing down and coming home to the present moment.
In the months ahead, beginning in February, we’ll explore each of these senses more specifically and in greater depth. You’ll learn ways to experiment with what it might feel like to move just a little more slowly, and to carry that quality into your daily life as the year unfolds.
The Practice: Notice Your Pace
This month, I’d like to offer a simple practice. The goal isn’t to change anything—yet. Rather, it’s to begin noticing and tracking the speed at which you’re moving.
Once or twice a day, gently pause and notice your experience right now.
Stop. Look inside your body and around you.
Just that very action might be enough to slow you into more presence.
You might notice yourself speaking quickly, moving through a conversation without really listening, driving too fast, or rushing through time with someone you care about. There’s no need to judge or fix this. This practice is to simply notice it.
Awareness itself is a powerful beginning. Over time, small moments of noticing create space—space in the nervous system, space in the mind, and space in how we relate to our lives. And, it’s within space that we are able to gently and slowly create change.
As we move through this year together, we’ll continue exploring how “care-fully” slowing down can support steadiness, presence, contentment, and connection in everyday life. Together, we’ll practice living with more spaciousness within a world that continues to ask us to keep up.
I want to express my deepest gratitude, appreciation and love to each of you.
Thank you for your presence—I’m so happy that you are here!
May you be filled with warmth and kindness.
May you be happy, healthy, and safe.
May your heart know peace.
Wishing you presence, slowness, softness, and strength as 2026 unfolds.
With warmth,
Karen
Save The Dates: 2026 Monthly MBCT Gatherings
When: The second Tuesday of the month (January - May 2026)
Time: 6:30–7:45 p.m. ET
Format: Online, live on Zoom
If this speaks to you, you might mark your calendar—even if you’re not yet sure you’ll attend. Sometimes just holding the space is the first step.
You can learn more about the group sessions on the mindfulness meditations sessions page on my website. To register, or if you have questions, please contact me directly at karen@drkarenwalant.com.
8-Week MBCT Online Course
Spring 2026 Registration Is Now Open!
Do you want to meet difficult thoughts and emotions with more clarity, kindness, and ease? Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) offers supportive ways to pause, soften, and skillfully relate to your inner world with more spaciousness and compassion.
Over eight weeks, we'll explore practices that help you recognize unhelpful patterns, stay grounded in the present moment, and navigate stress, anxiety, low mood, and self-criticism with increased steadiness and choice. Through weekly sessions, guided meditations, mindful self-inquiry, and a half-day retreat, the course invites you into a more friendly, accepting relationship with your mind, emotions, and body.
Spring 2026 Session: March 5 – April 23
To learn more, visit the MBCT Course page on the website.
To register or ask questions, contact Karen directly: karen@drkarenwalant.com
If you know of anyone interested in deepening their mindfulness and meditation practices, please forward this email along and invite them to join as well! All are welcome and can sign up for the newsletter on my website.
About Dr. Karen Walant
Dr. Karen Walant is a psychotherapist with more than three decades of experience grounded in mindfulness, Buddhist psychology, and contemporary clinical practice. She holds an MSW and PhD in Clinical Social Work from New York University, has presented multiple times at Harvard’s Cambridge Health Alliance, and has lectured nationally on attachment, mindfulness, addiction and recovery, and compassionate relationships. A longtime meditator and teacher, Karen is a graduate of Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, a certified Mindfulness Meditation Mentor, and a graduate of the Institute for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. She is also a certified Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) teacher through Brown University, where her 8-week MBCT course is recognized as eligible for entry into their Foundations training. Karen is the author of Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self.