Prostrations - slowly or quickly?

[nirmal]

]Bhante said,"Suppose a man were condemned to death by a kind king and he came to ask him for a reprieve. Quickly, urgently, he would bow down at the king's feet." "You are quite right," said the yogi.

Should our prostrations be done quickly or slowly?

[Chaz]

]Bhante said,"Suppose a man were condemned to death by a kind king and he came to ask him for a reprieve. Quickly, urgently, he would bow down at the king's feet." "You are quite right," said the yogi.

Should our prostrations be done quickly or slowly?

I do my prostrations as quickly as I can, BUT ......

I have a bit of arthritus coming on, so that's not as quick as some others might do them. At my practice instructor's direction I do half-prostrations (heath concerns) and because I'm doing Ngondro, I have a short 6-fold refuge formula I recite with each prostration. In practice that means a prostration or "P"-Rate of about 100 P/hr (I timed my protrations a couple days ago to see if a 108-prostration ngondro practice session would be possible within the schedule of my chosen retreat center).
I'm no teacher, but I believe in quality before quantity. I'm carefull to recite my Refuge forumla precicely and if I screw it up I do it over again. When I do my prostration I make sure my forehead always touches the ground before getting back to my feet. As my PI feels very strongly about the importance of visualization of the object of refuge (a lineage /refuge tree) I work very hard on that as well.

This may mean that my prostration/refuge/bodhichitta practice will take years to complete, but that's okay. I want to focus on the practice itself and not the completion of it.

[dakini_boi]

I think we should do them gracefully and sincerely. I usually start out slow, but pick up speed as I get warmed up mentally and physically.

[Malcolm]

]Bhante said,"Suppose a man were condemned to death by a kind king and he came to ask him for a reprieve. Quickly, urgently, he would bow down at the king's feet." "You are quite right," said the yogi.

Should our prostrations be done quickly or slowly?

However you can.