Witnessing The Self By Adorning - Day 3

Today I decided to adorn Slow through Bhootham. The Bhootham’s persona is empathy and I felt that being slow would be a befitting companion this persona.

What happens when I slow down? Where is my mind? Where is my body? Where are my thoughts? I wanted to witness this state of being by adorning Slow.

This was a journey unlike what I expected, my body was rushing, it was used to the ‘normal’ pace of things. I was trying desperately to control my body through my mind, but the body would periodically ’erupt’ as though it had a mind of its own. Actions I take for granted were wilfully slowed down, and in this slowing down I became aware of the acutely physical nature of my body - the muscles each responding in revolt, all they wanted to do, was move.

I provoked my fickle mind to pay attention to little things. On my daughters' study desk her everyday objects held my gaze, I witnessed them ( this was not an act of observation) By adorning Slow, I witnessed her little world, objects carefully placed to express their immediate importance to her. I would regularly rearrange her desk to make it agreeable to my world, but today I saw the order in her madness. I witnessed solitude in a painting made by my late father -in- law, he had called it a Walk In The Woods. I had always admired it for its simplicity and aesthetic, but today I witnessed it as living in the beauty and abundance of the present, as the road ahead is obscured.

Even while I was aware of my body, the deep sensations in my mind seemed to arise from paying attention, almost as if a new eye had opened as I was displaying a willingness to receive.

At the end of the act I was overwhelmed. I was fatigued. I felt spent.

I choose not to subtitle the video of this act. Slow ended with me experiencing a new, open world.

Documenting my experience-