Mindfulness and the Art of Riding Slow

Discover the surprising power of slowing down in a world obsessed with speed. While anyone can twist a throttle and go fast, the true art of motorcycling—and living—reveals itself when we master the delicate balance of going slow.

Riding at a crawl demands exceptional skill and mindful awareness. That perfect balance point where you can come to a complete stop at a stop sign, then moving forward again, all without putting your foot down? It requires practice, patience, and presence. This mastery on two wheels mirrors the challenge we face in our daily lives: not just slowing down from frantic to a bit slower, but achieving genuine presence and intentional movement.

Next time you're riding, find a quiet stretch of road and practice the art of going slow. Feel your breathing align with your movement. Notice how your awareness sharpens when you're not rushing. Experience what it means to ride like you're "meditating on two wheels." This mindful approach to motorcycling doesn't just make you a better rider—it connects you to that peaceful, easy feeling we're all seeking on the road and in life. After all, true mastery isn't found in how fast you can go, but in how present you can be at any speed.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Is there a common thread between motorcycling,
mindfulness and meaning?
I'm so glad you're here todaybecause we're about to talk
about something that seems sosimple.
But it isn't Something thatlooks easy.
But it takes real practice,mindfulness and what I would

(00:40):
call the art of go slow,recorded in beautiful Loveland,
colorado.
Welcome to Peace, love Moto thepodcast for motorcyclists
seeking that peaceful, easyfeeling as we cruise through
this life together.

(01:00):
Are you ready?
Let's go?
Going slow is hard.

(01:24):
Anyone can twist a throttle andgo fast.
That's easy.
Beginner riders can go fast.
They may also crash and diewhen they miss a corner and hit
a tree.
But yeah, going fast is easy.
But riding slow, really slow,now, that takes skill, it takes

(01:48):
patience, it takes practice.
Going slow is an art, and Idon't mean just going slow on a
motorcycle.
Sure, getting really good atriding where you can cruise up
to a stop sign, come to acomplete stop for a moment, then
gracefully move forward, allwithout putting a foot down.
Yeah, that takes some realcontrol, but it's the same, I

(02:14):
think, in life too.
We hear it all the time fromour friends and our loved ones
You're going too fast.
You just got to slow down, ron,slow down, relax.
It's one thing to slow down inlife, but it's another thing to

(02:39):
go slow, because those are notthe same thing.
Oftentimes we hear slow down,stop being so frantic, but
that's just to a lesser level offast.
Sometimes I don't know if I'mdescribing that well at all
Probably not, but I think youknow what I mean.
You see, going slow doesn'tmean reacting slowly or thinking

(03:01):
slowly at all.
Going slow means really beingfully present, grounded, calm.
It means moving with intention,just enough, no more, no less.
You see, when you ride slow,truly slow, well, that's an art.

(03:25):
It does take practice, but intime it begins to feel natural,
almost like breathing.
It's fun, it's something youcan show off in front of your
friends.
How in the world can you go soslow and stay balanced and under
control?
Well, that brings me to aquestion then Can you go so slow
and stay balanced and undercontrol?

(03:46):
Hmm, well, it brings me to aquestion.
Then let's see if this isrelated.
How many breaths did you takein the last minute?
Any ideas?
Probably not.
I mean, we don't usually count,but we know this when we're
stressed, we breathe faster,when we move faster, and that

(04:11):
sometimes opens us up foropportunities for mistakes due
to stress, due to our mind goingtoo fast, or maybe our body's
going too fast too Can lead tomistakes, which adds to the
stress, right.
But when we're calm, we breathemore slowly, we take time to

(04:35):
assess what's going on around usand we respond deliberately.
And that breathing that I justmentioned, automatic as it is,
comes from signals in our brains.
Our bodies know how to respondto your state of mind, even if

(04:58):
we don't consciously realize it.
I once heard Jay Leno say thathis favorite motorcycle rides

(05:20):
are those where he's ridingbetween 30 and 45 miles per hour
.
Yeah, I get that.
Just last evening, beforesunset it was about 70 degrees,
no wind, just perfect Headedover to a little community
called Masonville, if you wantto call it a community.

(05:40):
It's just a little speck in theroad, but out there I just
stopped, got off the bike andtook a picture of the sunset, of
the foothills, of the clouds.
There were deer off in thedistance too, experiencing their
own peaceful world, maybe theirown mindfulness moment.

(06:09):
We human beings living in ourfast-moving world social media,
the 24-hour news cycle, sirens,schedules, deadlines, traffic, a
lot of noise and sure stresshas always been a part of life,

(06:32):
I suppose since thesaber-toothed tiger thousands of
years ago chasing us downtrying to eat us maybe.
From that to Monday morningmeetings and deadlines, and
deadlines that aren't going tobe met these days.
Yeah, it's a lot of stress wecarry and we probably create a

(06:53):
lot of our own stress.
We chase for more money, formore attention, for more
productivity.
We convince ourselves thatfaster is better, that speed
equals success, but you and Iknow it really doesn't.

(07:30):
From the business world, I heardan interesting story once An
efficiency expert was hired tocome and observe the workers in
a company to see how thingscould be improved.
When the efficiency expert cameback to the manager of the
department, he said I passed byan office of this one man and

(07:50):
every time I passed by he wasjust sitting there reading a
book.
Now how is it that you're goingto be paying this man a high
salary just to sit there andread a book all day long?
Well, the manager responded bysaying this.
He said oh, I know who you'retalking about and I have full

(08:11):
support for him sitting thereand reading a book as long as he
wants, because you see aboutevery few weeks that man will
come up with an idea, and thatidea in most cases, will make
our company millions of dollarsBecause no one else thought of
it.
So, sir, that man can sit andread a book as long as he likes.

(08:37):
I love that, at least in myexperience in the corporate
world.
It's those folks who candemonstrate that they are
slowing down, allowing theirminds to be free and open to new
ideas, those are the folks,again in my experience, who come
up with the greatest ideas.
There's a big differencebetween working hard and coming

(09:01):
up with great ideas.
So maybe it's the same to you,maybe it's just a need for a
good book, a comfortable chair,your favorite beverage and, most
importantly, time, time to slowdown where you can breathe,

(09:21):
just breathe, breathe.
I'll close with this idea.

(09:57):
I think that it's the slowingdown that brings peace of mind,
the opportunity to show up.
That's why I love riding kindof slow from time to time, just
like what Jay Leno suggestedmaybe 30, 45 miles an hour out
in the country.
Slowing down when I come up toa stop sign, coming to a brief
stop with all without putting afoot down and beginning again.

(10:18):
Can't always do it, but it suredoes feel good when I do,
because when I'm moving at thatpace, when the world is still
buzzing all around me, but I'mjust gliding along, it's like
time just opens up.
I'm not reacting, I'm justbeing.

(10:41):
And that, my friends, I thinkis mindfulness.
So here's my invitation to you,my fellow writers, seekers, my
friends Next time you're out onthe road, find a safe, quiet
spot, take a minute and justride slow, see what it feels

(11:09):
like to be fully present, tobreathe and know that you're
breathing, to move with graceinstead of speed and force, to
ride like you're meditating ontwo wheels, because that is
peace and that is love, and thatis love and that is moto.

(11:31):
Get it, as always.
Thank you so much for listening.
I do wish you peace and I wishyou love, thank you.