Why is resting so difficult to actually do? A peaceful weekend remembering how to slow down!

"Rest more and take things easy for a while" is advice we have probably all heard or given at some point in our lives.  My GP told me recently to ensure that I rested while still recovering from a persistent virus and bronchitis.  I listened to her words of advice with a deep sense of relief, as if permission was being given to do what my body needs.  But simultaneously I wanted to ignore such advice and keep going as "normal".  I have a deeply ingrained habit of pushing on through, no matter how I feel, to get something done.  If I rest, I won't "progress" or "keep up" and will miss out on things.  Someone has to hold everything together I say to myself, that someone being me!  If I rest, the world could actually fall apart while I'm relaxing somewhere peaceful?

Sound familiar?  Having ignored my body's natural need to slow down and rest for decades, I now find myself being forced to pay more attention due to my health.  If I overdo things, bouncing from one activity to the next all day long, I start to cough and feel "virusy". Fortunately in the scheme of post-viral issues, this is counted as "mild" and for that reason, it is tempting to ignore.  But having circled around a health issue for years, maybe my lack of rest is a factor?

Last weekend I went away locally to a Quaker House (Claridge House) to join a wonderful yoga teacher, Leah Barnett, who teaches gentle, calming and restful yoga.  It is such a peaceful haven, with the Quaker atmosphere supporting my need for quiet.  The lush gardens full of summer colours and a tiny patch of woodland provide a sanctuary in nature's healing balm.  As I looked at the timetable for the three days, with four yoga sessions each day plus meal times full of conversation, I did wonder when I was ever going to "rest" under a tree and read my magazine? 

But somehow the days felt long and spacious.  With my phone turned off for the whole time, I found that I wasn't spending precious time checking things that didn't matter.  And without meals to cook and jobs to get done, I could be outside and lie in the woodland.  My magazine hardly got read as there was so much to watch and notice around me.  Ladybirds crawled onto my blanket, pigeons entertained me overhead and the sound of leaves rustling in the trees made me feel totally zen.  At four pm each day, I would hear the clinking of china, as afternoon tea was poured into cups out on the terrace.  Even more exciting was the selection of cakes to go with the tea.  I actually felt a sense of being nurtured which I realised was something that has largely felt absent from my life in the last two years of pandemic life.

It is easy to not notice the accumulated effects of living through recent times.  Leah's yoga was so gentle, it finally helped me unwind my body from its normal state of slight tension.  During some sessions, we did breathing exercises or some restorative yoga which means "doing" very little and focusing on "being".  Rather than complicated yoga postures, Leah encouraged us to make smaller movements which felt so nourishing.  Each day I felt myself relax another notch and by the end of the weekend I felt much closer to my relaxed-self.  My busy mind was still fairly active, but I felt like I had landed back in my body with ease.  The combination of turning off technology for three days, lovely conversations with interesting women, good food and restful yoga all worked as medicine.  

I'm still not totally sure about how resting fits into my everyday life, but I'm starting with some baby steps and taking moments each day to just stop and breathe.  And when my tendency to be busy kicks back in, I will remember to steer myself to a spot in nature which helps me to relax once again.

"Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all. 

Laugh, rest and slow down"  Anne Lamott

 

Photos taken at Claridge House except for top photo by C. Newton with permission.