How to stop treating rest as something you have to earn?
✦ 2 min
1. Stop constantly asking yourself: "Have I done enough today?"
Instead, start asking more often:
"What does my body need right now?" And if it's rest, it doesn't have to be a reward for a predetermined amount of productivity.
2. Plan rest the same way you plan your duties
And just as you hold yourself to the tasks on your to-do list, remember that rest is also your duty
3. Change the narrative in your head that says rest is laziness in the form of "doing nothing"
Sleep, a nap, "doing nothing", a walk, a longer savasana, looking out of the window: that's not "doing nothing", it's the space in which the body can regenerate.
4. Don't wait until you're exhausted
You don't have to be at your limit to take a break.
Rest is also prevention.
5. Replace "I've earned a rest" with: "rest is my duty"
Remember, you don't have to earn rest in any particular way. If you are a living being, you have already earned it.
6. Don't fall into the trap of turning "rest" into more tasks to complete
Not every walk has to be a workout, and you don't always have to hit a certain number of steps. Walk, breathe, be in nature.
Not every bath has to be an elaborate beauty routine. Put your hands on your belly and breathe into them.
7. Notice what happens in your head when you rest
Does guilt show up? Restlessness? The thought that "you have to be doing something"?
Don't judge these thoughts, just notice them. That's how you get to know yourself.
8. If you can't rest, start with small doses of rest
- 5 minutes without your phone.
- A few calm breaths into your belly.
- a longer Savasana after practice
- a walk in nature
- a cup of tea and "doing nothing"
You can teach your nervous system that rest is something safe.
Please don't wear yourself out :)
You are a living being: rest comes with your basic settings :)
