I was just sitting on my front porch, mug of coffee in hand, skin soaking up the glorious sunshine. How good it felt to have this pocket of time just for me, BEFORE teaching yoga and seeing massage patients, this time to REST.

Let me let you in on a little secret: rest does not come naturally to me. It wasn't something modeled to me in my youth and it isn't something most of us are encouraged to do regularly. In a society that defines success by what we have and how much we do, rest is often looked down upon.

My upbringing on a dairy farm in Upstate New York meant ceaseless work. There were stalls to muck, cows to feed and milk twice daily, manure to spread, and hay to bale. In the winter, hair dryers thawed frozen pipes in the barn before they burst and sent water all over the concrete floors. During the academic year, my siblings and I would ping-pong between school, our house, and the barn to do our chores, day in, day out.

On Sundays, my mom would prepare a large mid-day meal--"Sunday dinner"--and then took a break from food prep until Monday morning. Often, with bellies full and bodies tired, the house would grow quiet for an hour or two after this feast, one of the few pockets of time each week we'd stop moving and just be.

Today, the demands on my time look and feel different than those of my childhood. Being a solopreneur and divorced mom challenges my focus even when my energetic tank is full. There is always something that needs doing.

On the days I'm running close to empty, the doing feels so much harder. While is hasn't always been easy for me to prioritize, taking rest is how I fuel myself for what is next.

During periods of rest, our nervous system has space to integrate life experiences. If we are constantly throwing more external stimuli at the brain, at some point the circuits short out and shut us down, perhaps with forced rest via illness or injury.

If you glean one piece of wisdom from my words today, it is this:

When we CHOOSE rest on a regular basis, we are taking empowered action toward our good health. We are showing our body and nervous system care as we give ourselves permission to slow down.

If your gremlins just started whining to the tune of, "But I don't have time to rest," take a deep breath and allow me to clarify what rest might look like.

Rest does not necessarily mean sleep, although I am never one to poo-poo a 20 minute power nap! Rest might be logging off the computer for 15 minutes to walk around the block. It could mean easing your body into a few of your favorite stretches or taking 5 minutes to sit quietly and notice your breath. Rest can also look like a half day of unscripted hours where you live intuitively, asking your body what it needs in the moment.

As with any choice, you get to name and claim how you rest. If resting is new to you, begin with a tiny rest step. Notice what shifts in your brain and body after you take a pause.

For a guided slow-down this week, my virtual yoga classes will meet Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. ET and Thursday at 7:45 a.m.

For all the chronic doers and over-givers reading this, repeat after me: "I cannot give from an empty cup." Say it again. Say it until you start to believe it. And then, take rest.

Rock (and rest) on friends,

Jennifer (she/her)

Are you struggling to prioritize rest?

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