The Surprising State Athletes, Artists, & Awakened Humans Share
Photo by Getty Images via Unsplash
If you follow sports—or even performing arts—you've probably heard people talk about what happens when the game slows down.
Athletes and artists alike describe moments of heightened awareness when everything seems to move in slow motion.
Sprinter Steve Williams once said that when he was running well, “ten seconds seemed like sixty.”
Baseball legend Ted Williams claimed he could see the stitches on a 100-mile-per-hour fastball, saying the ball felt like a “beach ball floating toward him in slow motion.”
In jazz, musicians often describe the same thing. In her research on creativity, Ashley-Rose Bailey found that players experience flow as a kind of spiritual immersion—where self-consciousness disappears, and they become one with the music.
These stories are usually told as peak states—reserved for moments of mastery or high performance.
But what if that's not true?
What if this state is available all the time—not just when you're performing, but in your daily life?
And what if it isn't a “peak state” at all?
What if it's your natural state?
One of my fantastic clients, Andrew Greenblatt—a thriving coach who works with leaders and creatives—recently sent me a voice message describing this very experience.
He said:
“In sports, they talk about the game slowing down when players mature.
And that's what's happening in my life right now.
It feels like everything's slowing down.
I can see my judgments rise and fall.
I have more space within myself—and that space makes me more present, more compassionate, more available to others.”
Andrew described it as subtle, but enormous—life-shifting.
And he's right.
Because when we slow down inside, our perception changes.
The mind quiets.
The nervous system settles.
And the space that opens up allows us to see more, feel more, and connect more deeply—with ourselves and with others.
When we live from here, everything we do—our coaching, our relationships, our leadership—carries more clarity and ease. Clients feel it. They sense the spaciousness in you, and it invites the same in them.
For coaches, this shift is everything.
When you're not speeding through sessions trying to “get somewhere” with a client, you start to feel more. You sense what's true beneath their words. You see beyond their stories because you're not tangled in your own.
Your presence becomes the transmission.
That alone changes the space you create for others.
And this work has broad implications—far beyond coaching.
People often invest in specific areas of life: a health coach to improve wellness, a business coach to grow income, a parenting coach to manage family dynamics. There's nothing wrong with that. Yet most programs focus on strategy—not on the inner, subconscious material driving our actions. And that linear approach can often speed up the mind and invite greater urgency.
The work of The School for Humaning Well isn't about improvement. It's about deepening into the kind of experience Andrew so beautifully described.
Imagine the impact of slowing down the game of your life—not just on your health, but also on your business, your relationships, your parenting, and more.
This is an indirect path—and yet it has exponential reach.
When you experience a slowed-down, settled way of being, you begin to see the conditioning that drives your actions and reactions. And without any effort, you can simply let it go. No analyzing. No judging. No fixing. It's just…clear.
Clear because you're connected to a larger awareness—one that already knows you're okay. From that grounded okay-ness, you can see the stories and patterns that once convinced you you weren't safe.
It's like Neo in The Matrix seeing the bullets slow down in midair. That same clarity and responsiveness is available in our daily lives.
Imagine:
noticing the insecurity that once drove you to pick a fight with your partner the moment it surfaced—and simply not following it. No blame or conversation needed.
reaching out to a prospective client from sheer joy and inspiration instead of fear or scarcity—because you widened your receiving capacity and are merely responding to life's guidance.
witnessing the self-judgment that says you failed because you didn't hit your goal—and watching it fly by like a bird in the sky—in awe of its beauty (aka the mind's function).
Can you feel the freedom in that?
This isn't about improving one area of your life. It's about returning to the root—you. Because you are at the center of everything in your life.
When your mind, heart, and body move at this pace—a whole new game unlocks—a game of spaciousness, clarity, trust, and aliveness.
And just to be clear—slowing down doesn't necessarily mean your outer pace slows down.
It means your inner pace does.
That's what Steve Williams meant when he said that when he was running well, ten seconds seemed like sixty. He was moving at incredible speed, yet inside he was still, deeply present, and in complete harmony with the moment.
This kind of slowing down is an inner spaciousness.
You might still be running your business, raising your kids, coaching clients, meeting deadlines—but your system isn't frantic. Your body is settled. Your awareness is open.
You're moving at the speed of Life, not the speed of thought.
If you want to live from this slower, wiser rhythm—not just in moments of insight, but as a way of being—this is on offer inside The School for Humaning Well.
We'll walk together through the terrain of identity, nervous system wisdom, and presence—so that this state becomes more than a glimpse. It becomes how you live.
If you'd like to talk more about whether this work is right for you, simply reply to this email and we'll set up a time to connect.
A Special Gift
If you missed the replay of the Guest Faculty webinar with Dr. Amy Johnson, you may not know about the special gifts available for those who enroll by end of day tomorrow.
Two Pre-School Connection Gatherings — a series of intimate, community calls where you'll begin to slow down, ground, and connect with others walking this path. (One in November & December.)
A Private Coaching Session with me — a one-on-one space to explore your unique questions, patterns, and possibilities, so you enter the program with clarity and support. (To be used before May 2026.)
These gifts are a way to deepen your journey now—to start settling into the rhythm of presence before The School for Humaning Well begins. Plus have a little support through the holidays!
Learn more → The School for Humaning Well.
With loving,
Amber
UPCOMING EVENTS
