Saying YES to REST.
Jul 21, 2022
As I gear up for my summer break, I am noticing in small ways that my performance is suffering and that it is time to ease out of work mode. My mouth is getting clumsy as I try to record podcasts, my enthusiasm for my work routine is slipping, and I would rather spend more time in the pottery studio than anywhere else.
My summer break couldn’t come at a more perfect time and it gets me thinking of the small signs that we need to weave more rest into our lives. If you are familiar with the Mandala of Wellness, I prioritize REST as a significant long term wellness intervention.
A wellness intervention is a specific action that you take to interfere with the outcome or course of an illness, injury, ailment, condition, or process to prevent harm or improve functioning.
Wellness interventions can produce a specific or general outcomes and we know that a wellness intervention is successful if that particular outcome is achieved.
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REST INTERVENTIONS
A really easy place to start for most people is to make REST interventions. Making rest interventions is about giving the mind and body a break so that it can go into recovery mode. This might look like letting the mind settle or improving your quality of sleep so that you can heal mental and emotionally.
A good way to know if you need more rest interventions is if your performance in a particular area is suffering physically, mentally, or emotionally.
If you have a nagging injury that won’t go away, maybe take some time off from the gym or focus on a different body part. If your body isn’t recovering from an illness or issue, maybe work to enhance your sleep.
If you are suffering from a lot of symptoms of stress and overwhelm, figuring out how to introduce more opportunities for rest into your routine and day to day is going to be integral.
Which interventions to choose are going to be based on your needs but there are 2 categories of rest interventions: ACTIVE + PASSIVE REST.
Active rest is when you do some sort of action that is less intense than the regular action you are recovering from. This might look like taking a break from writing your dissertation to do an abstract painting. It shifts you out of a particular mental state and gives the mind a rest and you go into a creative state.
Active rest might look like taking a walk outside in the middle of a family gathering to give your self breathing room from the hustle and bustle of your family.
It could also mean engaging in specific activities that help to downregulate the nervous system activation like restorative yoga, breathing and movement exercises that stimulate the vagus nerve.
On the other hand, Passive Rest means doing nothing. It might look like taking a nap, letting yourself sleep in after a long work week, or hanging out at home for a few days after a long trip before jumping back into your normal routine. It could even be as simple as taking a bath at the end of the work day before jumping back into full on parenting duties.
Above all, passive rest is about your mind or your body doing NOTHING. It’s the days you spend in bed when you have a fever. It’s when you put your arm in a sling after breaking your wrist or using crutches after spraining an ankle to prevent the limb from taking load. It’s about giving the literal or metaphorical inflammation time to settle.
When thinking of which REST themed interventions to make in your own life, consider things that you already know, have access to, or could EASILY access. Remember it may be tempting to go in and rearrange our closet metaphorically speaking but we want sustainable transformation and if we are in one of the more first aid/after care stages of healing, expecting ourselves to learn a new skill of healing might not be realistic when we are in immediate need of care.
To help you brainstorm rest interventions, check out the 7 types of rest that every person needs by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith!
As a final note for you, I want to remind you that your rest is important. A way that we can practice rest is by practicing healthy boundaries. In particular SAYING NO and learning how to say no to stressful things. Remember that when you say no to something, you are really saying YES to something more important.
Say YES To REST.
Listen to this post on the Herbs + Ease Podcast for a more detailed educational experience!
Kristen Prosen