Relief Of Resting

It is a relief to lay down our daily life obligations and activities and simply rest. I recorded this after resting under this tree at the side of a lake on a hot summer day in July. Bring to mind a time when you were able to fully rest and enjoy this guided resting practice.

Transcript

Now bring yourself into that, Noticing that you're here. And what does that feel like? And it feels different every time, And it feels different moment to moment too, Of course. Our experience five minutes in or ten minutes in is different from when we're just signing on or when we're ready to finish the practice. And notice how you know how you feel. It's such an obvious thing, Well of course I know how I feel. To break it down sometimes is helpful. I know I can notice what I'm feeling in my physical body. Have I taken the time and the care with my body to get comfortable? Do I want to move a little bit as I'm starting? Am I really settled in? And then we notice the energy, Our subtle body, Our prana, The energy body. This will be an invitation and inquiry into resting. One of the obstacles to deep rest is our mind. Another is our nervous system, That kind of edginess. You might feel it in your body as some kind of contraction or tightness. Our nervous system responds, And then when we have that happen day after day and year after year and decade after decade that we're responding to threat, We're tightening up, Holding our breath. It creates certain patterns in our body, In our energy body as well as our physical body, And in our mind. We bring the history of our whole life into this moment. Through our body, Our breath, Our mind, The thoughts in the mind. And even though we experience time in a linear fashion, In our mind it's not that linear. Here comes this memory from age five, Here comes one from yesterday, Here comes another thought about what's happening next month. So time in our mind is not linear, And yet there's this base in our mind, Our body, Our nervous system. All of this collection of experiences informs how we come into a practice. And in our culture especially, We want to get the most out of things. We want to make it a really deep practice. As you're taking some deeper breaths, See if you could let your whole body soften. And come to rest. Tune into the muscles of your face, Your forehead and eyebrows, The muscles around your eyes. Notice what's happening in your mouth and jaw. Can you soften and relax and come still into your sense of speech as at rest? Sometimes we soften our tongue, We relax tension out of the hinges of the jaw. And that helps the mind to soften and settle a bit. And notice your neck, Your shoulders, Your throat in the front, The sides of your neck as they go into the shoulders, The back of your neck as it goes into the large muscles of your upper back. And let your body be at rest. Notice your arms and hands, Your legs and your feet. And as you breathe out, See if you can let yourself come to a resting state. Let go of worry and concern in our mind. Resting in the mind really involves some kind of stillness of thought. Resting in speech might be helped as we soften our jaw, Our tongue, Throat. And resting our body, A lot of that depends on the arms and the legs. Is there a restlessness, A hypervigilance, Our fight and flight responses? When we tune into our arms and our legs and we feel a softness or as we breathe out, We're able to relax. Let our body be supported either by the chair, The floor, However you're positioned. The body really does want to relax. The body wants to rest. The body's not the culprit here, So to speak. The body wants to rest. What's your experience as you consider that? My body wants to rest. You might even notice different words and thoughts. Well, Resting is for lazy people. I'll never get anything done. It's okay to come here for 20 minutes and rest, But I got things to do. Notice what thoughts come in about resting. Take a few breaths. See if you could let those thoughts go. We live in a very high pressure culture. It can lead us to feeling like we have to be productive all the time. It can lead to feelings of I need to be perfect, That our value is in what we produce. So if you could let all of that conditioning go, Just for a few minutes, It's okay for me to rest. Why is it that we come and do a resting practice? Our motives might be a little bit mixed. In part, We might be wanting some relief from compulsive thoughts in the mind, From contracted tight shoulders, From living in a nervous system that feels very anxious. And that's fine, Of course. Those are real benefits of resting. And we might also have a sense of, If I rest now, I'll be more productive later. Bodies have these natural rhythms of rest. If we don't have to wake up with an alarm, Our body will usually get into some kind of a routine, But it probably won't be as rigid as if we have an alarm go off in the morning. If I sleep really well at night, I probably wake up a bit earlier. If my sleep is a bit disturbed and I can't get back to sleep, I might sleep for an hour later. If you tune into your history with resting, Who comes to mind when you think about, I feel tired, I could rest? What do you generally do then? Do you lay down and have a nap? Do you get away from the screen and go sit outside for a while and just rest your eyes? What do you do when you feel like you could be resting or when you're tired? There's no right or wrong here. Try not to shame yourself as well. We're not making resting kind of the gold standard of, I should rest all the time. It's more just to see what are our thoughts and feelings and experiences around it. One thing that might come up is realizing how much we've pushed ourselves. For me, I can see I did that a lot more in certain times of my life. And sometimes we have a lot of responsibilities, Especially if you have young children. It's not like we have the opportunity always to rest exactly at the right time. It doesn't really work that way. But on an overall basis, If you were to look back and go, Oh my gosh, I can really see I've pushed and pushed and pushed. Notice that for a moment. And if you were to make a practice now for the next while of not pushing, What might that look like? It would have to start, Of course, With noticing, With witnessing. So when you're aware that you're pushing yourself, There's some kind of urgency. What might you experiment with at that time? And to let some of the deep unconscious drives come forward to be seen as well. They could be conditioning around productivity. I'm not really worth anything if I'm not whatever it is. And that doesn't necessarily mean a job. It could be the one in your family who always checks in on everyone, Make sure everyone's okay, Even if you're tired. There's so many ways that this operates in your life. What would your life be like if you stopped pushing? If you were more attuned and went more with the natural rhythms of your energy. And at least some of the time, If you could just let things arise and follow them. Instead of having another cup of coffee mid-afternoon in that kind of energy slump to lie down and sleep for 10 minutes or do a Shavasana practice, Notice what comes to mind. Does that feel appealing? Is there an inner critic in there at all commenting on it? Let your mind come back to stillness. Notice your whole body. Notice if it feels okay right now in this moment to fully soften, Relax, To rest your mind, Your body. Let your breath be a soothing anchor. Maybe to let yourself feel how tired you are. Again, We can notice fatigue on the physical level, The energetic sensations in our body, The thoughts in the mind. And we can be many places on that continuum. Sometimes we're deeply exhausted. We're really tapped out. And then what might we do? How could we start to work with that in a way that's more nourishing, More respecting of the rest that we need? Come down out of your thinking mind if that's what's answering that question. Come into the heart. What does your heart know? What does your intuition know about this? To cultivate a curiosity about that. And then let go of the inquiry completely. Notice your whole body again, Head to toes. Let your attention anchor to your body and to your breath. That smooth, Continuous rhythm of breath, The belly relaxing and softening. You come to the end of the exhale, Then just moving right into the inhale. Take some deep, Nourishing breaths.

Reviews

I want to express deep appreciation for the wonderful guided meditations you create. Your thoughtful approach to trauma sensitivity truly shines through, making every session feel like a safe, welcoming space. What stands out most is how you seamlessly weave practical guidance into each meditation, adapting to a variety of real-life circumstances—making your work not only accessible, but deeply helpful across different moments in time.
This meditation is no exception; it exemplifies your unique ability to blend compassion, insight, and practical support. You consistently rise above the crowd by honoring each listener’s needs and experiences. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts and offering such meaningful meditative support to all who need it.

🙏🏼🌺love all meditations and lectures on this channel.Soothing voice, pace, content, no sticky esotalk, bells and music, down to earth, emphatic. Very helpful!

Beautiful inquiry and guidance settling my system with self compassion, allowing space for much needed rest. 🙏