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Slow Living Column

Written by members from many fields, these articles share the everyday wisdom of practising slow living in words and pictures. Each one is an invitation — to slow down and meet yourself again.

After the screening of "種土", participants and the director pose for a group photo in front of the screen
Event RecapsEcology & Sustainability

Notes from the "種土" Screening: A Seed Worth Waiting For

A documentary screening in the school library brought students from the tea-making and mechatronics departments together with aunties and uncles from the community. Director 顏蘭權 spent eight years documenting the land and its people — and that afternoon, together, we planted a seed worth waiting for.

A broad meadow on the Taitung coast, looking out at the Pacific from under a large tree, with blue sky and white clouds
Slow Travel LearningSlow Living in Words | A Journey a Month

Slow Living with a Traveller — Travel with Care, and the Rhythm of Life Changes

This year's Taitung Expo is built around the "slow economy". Taitung, once called the place "left over for others to pick up", escaped over-development — and has become the top choice for a slow economy city. Travel with care, and it really will change the rhythm of your life.

Slow Living through Scent — June · Java Citronella: essential oil blends for itch relief, on-the-go protection, home protection, after exercise, air purifying and keeping bugs away
Body & MindSlow Living in Words | A Scent a Month

Slow Living through Scent — June · Java Citronella

June is hot and humid; it is easy to feel tired and irritable, and the mosquitoes come out. Citronella was once an important cash crop in Taiwan — let its freshness bring back a simple, pure sense of ease.

Illustration of the Doctrine of the Mean: a person walking the middle path, with "too much" on the left and "too little" on the right
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

Slow Living in Words — June · 中 (zhōng, middle)

When we think of 中, the Doctrine of the Mean usually comes to mind — leaning neither way, neither too much nor too little; in other words, "just right". The earliest 中 may have been the flag flying over the central army. And what does 中 mean in the Ghost Festival (中元節) and the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節)?

Participants close their eyes, holding scent sachets to their noses with both hands and breathing in the fragrance
Event Recaps

SEL at Miaoli Agricultural and Industrial Vocational High School, Class 2: No Comparing, No Rushing — a Gentle Conversation with the Brain

In the second SEL (social and emotional learning) class at Miaoli Agricultural and Industrial Vocational High School, making bamboo-slip books of Chinese characters, scent work and breathing practice helped students and staff understand emotions and learn empathy — moving forward slowly, step by step, without comparing or rushing.

Looking down from a grassy slope at the Twin Hearts Stone Weir on Qimei, Penghu: two heart-shaped stone fish traps lie quietly in the green bay, with a few small islands on the horizon
Slow Travel LearningSlow Living in Words | A Journey a Month

Slow Living with a Traveller — Being There Is the Hardest Thing to Schedule

From career soldier and globe-trotting international trader to running small tours and a guesthouse back home in Taitung, 楊導 discovered that simply being with the people he loves slowed time down and settled his heart. When did you last truly spend time with your family?

Slow Living through Scent — May · Taiwan Red Cypress: essential oil blends for before work, fresh mornings, poor sleep and relaxing massage
Body & MindSlow Living in Words | A Scent a Month

Slow Living through Scent — May · Taiwan Red Cypress

May is full of love and the scent of flowers. The quiet, steady woody fragrance of red cypress, with its slightly sweet finish, seems to remind those of us busy caring for others: it's fine to go a little slower, it's fine to rest.

Illustration: "The incense I bought in Hong Kong smells lovely" — the three 香 mean Hong Kong (a place name), incense sticks, and fragrance
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

Slow Living in Words — May · 香 (xiāng, fragrance)

香 is the first compound character in our series: 禾 (grain) on top, 甘 (sweet) below — the sweet fragrance of grain. From ancient fire offerings and fragrant wine to the incense of Song dynasty scholars — and did you know that the three 香 in "the incense (香) I bought in Hong Kong (香港) smells lovely (香)" are each pronounced differently in Taiwanese?

Slow Travel LearningSlow Living in Words | A Journey a Month

Slow Living with a Traveller — Living in the Moment

"Live in the moment" is how a no-menu chef sums up her own life. From international racing driver to no-menu chef in Taitung, she learned — by living slowly and breathing slowly — to let go and to be content.

Component card for 禾: an illustration of a rice ear, the zhuyin ㄏㄜˊ and pinyin hé, and how the form evolved through oracle bone script, bronze script, Warring States script, small seal script, clerical script and standard script
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

Slow Living in Words — April · 禾 (hé, grain)

"Hoeing the grain at midday, sweat drips onto the soil beneath." The character 禾 shows a ripe rice plant with its head drooping. Characters containing 禾 relate either to rice or to things that happen "at regular times" — and what character do you get when a right hand holds a stalk of 禾?

Slow Living through Scent — April · Taiwan ho wood essential oil: blends for spring awakening, emotional balance and a fresh start
Body & MindSlow Living in Words | A Scent a Month

Slow Living through Scent — April · Taiwan Ho Wood

Spring is here~ Spring isn't really a loud, intense season; it's more like slowly waking up after winter. The air carries a little more moisture, and the wind turns gentler and feels lovely.

Event Recaps

First General Assembly

On 21 March 2026 the Slow Living Education Society of Taiwan held its first General Assembly. You are welcome to watch the video of the day.

Body & MindSlow Living in Words | A Scent a Month

Slow Living through Scent — March · Taiwan Yellow Cypress

After the lively Lunar New Year, life slowly returns to its everyday rhythm. When a long holiday ends there is always a touch of "post-holiday blues" — wanting to stay in bed a little longer when the alarm rings, sitting at your desk without any energy, your mind still running on holiday time.

Component card for 木 — writing
Art & CompanionshipSlow Living in Words | A Character a Month

Slow Living in Words — March · 木 (mù, tree)

The character 木 is a tree. Throughout its evolution you can always see the trunk in the middle, branches above and roots below. When the ancients created characters, they highlighted distinctive features to tell similar characters apart…

Branches and tall buildings reflected in water, with the words: breathe slowly, be real slowly — all is well
Body & MindSlow Living Notes

Breathe slowly, be real slowly — all is well.

Festivals year after year, life day after day — within routines that all look alike lie incredible surprises. If we can slow down, we find that no moment is ever really a repeat.

Body & MindSlow Living Notes

Breathe slowly, fly slowly — all is well.

At the start of 2026, let us practise breathing slowly, letting body and mind grow still often, experiencing the calm that has always been ours to enjoy — and then throwing ourselves into life lightly and freely, as if flying.

Slow Living through Scent — February · Tea Tree
Body & MindSlow Living in Words | A Scent a Month

Slow Living through Scent — February · Tea Tree

All the cleaning before Lunar New Year always takes a little motivation and resolve. Clearing out the clutter, sweeping the dust from the corners — and packing away the year's weariness and worries along with it…

Body & MindSlow Living Notes

Breathe slowly, align slowly — all is well.

The east wind is coming, and with it a warm spring of countless blessings. Today is Major Cold (Dahan), the coldest time of the year and the last of the twenty-four solar terms. The period from Major Cold to the Beginning of Spring marks the turn from old to new in the year's cycle — a precious chance to tune the body, the breath and the mind.

On a long table by the library window, bamboo sieves are spread with dried herbs and spices; outside are the streets of Zhuolan and distant mountains, with red poinsettias on the windowsill
Event RecapsArt & Companionship

Zhuolan Senior High School · Slow Living · Breath of Fragrance

陳鵬文 visited Zhuolan Senior High School with breathing awareness, handmade herbal bath sachets, a shared "Little Flowers, Great Vessels" painting and blending incense powder, helping teachers and students find calm and settle body and mind at the start of the new year.