Slow living gains steam in Bengaluru

It is a global movement to do and enjoy things at a leisurely pace

Restaurants and farms in and around Bengaluru are adopting ‘slow living’, a global movement that encourages people to do things at a leisurely pace and enjoy the moment.

June 19 was World Sauntering Day and serves as an annual reminder for people to slow down in this fast-paced world. Metrolife spoke to businesses that have embraced the philosophy and why.

Everyone has their own approach to slow living, we gathered. Reema Gupta left her corporate job to start The Slow Farm, a line of a sustainable home, food, and lifestyle products.

Slow living to her means practices that are sustainable, local, organic and wholesome. Through slow living, you can find happiness in nature and learn to coexist with nature, without harming it, she says. A three-floor restaurant, Maya opened in Jayanagar this January to promote slow living.

“Our goal was to create a calm space, so customers can forget the rat race the moment they enter,” founder Sumukh Tallam says.

Its operations are “95% plastic-free” currently and the plan is to go zero-waste by 2023. “The city crowd is appreciative of the efforts we’re making,” he informs.

For Nidhi Nahata, co-founder of JustBe Cafe in Sadashiva Nagar, slow living is about being mindful of the food one eats.

Launched in 2017, the plant-based and oil-free cafe focuses on clean eating and conducts workshops and classes to promote slow living.

Clean eating forms the core of slow living for her. “When you make a conscious effort to eat healthy, it not only reflects on your body but also on your mind,” she explains.

Achyutan Eswar, co-founder of Malleswaram-based Sampoorna Ahara, agrees as he says, “Every thing you do has repercussions and slow living makes you aware of this. That’s why be it the millennials or the older generation, people are making a conscious effort to put the right food into their body.” The cloud kitchen serves plant-based meals and snacks.

‘Reduce screen time’

These practitioners urge people to take a break from their screens from time to time.

“With the click of a button, we order food. We do it so often that we forget what cooking or what touching raw vegetables feels like,” says Nidhi.

Reema, who conducts slow living pop-ups in Bengaluru, concurs: “On the Internet, the world seems so dynamic and fast-paced that it becomes impossible to slow down.”

5 ways to adopt a slow living lifestyle

Consume local, seasonal and organic produce, and homemade meals.

Read up about eco-friendly products.

Take a break from digital media occasionally.

Raise a small garden and grow microgreens and herbs.

Observe your surroundings.