Reclaiming Rest: Why Deep Rest Is Just as Important as Growth
Through my yoga practices, I have learned that true healing is not necessarily about action, but about allowing yourself to rest deeply. A lot of people experience trauma. Think about it, would you consider anything that has happened in your life to be a trauma? Some people do not even recognize that they have in fact experienced a traumatic event. However, traumatic events cause us to have physiological and psychological trauma responses. Even years and years after it happened, you can still experience trauma responses. These can range from increased heart rate, sweating, muscle tension, sleep problems (waking up, trouble falling asleep), fight or flight, hypervigilance, and so. Much. More. There is no one size fits all for trauma because every trauma is different and so is each individual that is here on Earth.
One way that humans can cope with their trauma is by not allowing themselves to ever rest. This could be done consciously or subconsciously, but I feel like subconsciously is more common. The person just keeps moving from one task to another until they “crash out” either going to bed or even getting sick because they do not give themselves the time they need to rest. The body actually heals itself during sleep, but if you are running your body on empty then that sleep can only do so much.
Speaking of sleep, let's get into it. Tell me, what do you think you need to get a good night's rest? According to this Harvard study, (https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/water/), a good estimate is for you to drink one ounce of water per two lbs of your weight. Your body is made up of mostly water, so yes you do need to replenish it every day! If you get the proper amount of water then your organs will function properly and this will help your body to heal itself as you sleep. If you don’t like water then find a way to like it because there are so many different ways you can drink it and it has millions of benefits. You could add fruits or veggies like strawberries and cucumbers, you could add lemons, you could get different drink mixes (there are a billion out there), you could add a little honey, the options here are endless. Usually I drink my water plain, but I also use some Herbalife products (No, I do not sell these) that I found and really enjoy. You also need to ensure that your room and bed are cozy! Do you need new sheets? Do you love your pillow? Do you need more blankets? Do you have a sound machine? Do you need a diffuser? There are so many different ways you can make your room cozy. Personally, I choose a sound machine to sleep and in my brain I can literally feel the sound machine calming my thoughts down. I also have a pillow that I love and plenty of cozy blankets to ensure I sleep well. I am trying to implement a good night routine, but this is proving to be difficult for me to achieve. My ideal bedtime routine would consist of about twenty minutes of yoga and or meditation, twenty minutes of writing, and twenty minutes of reading. I think this would regulate my nervous system from the day and prepare my body for some good, deep sleep.
There are so many different ways that humans cope with their life experiences. There are good ones and there are bad ones. I am here to help guide you towards all the good ones that there are. We only have one life, and i truly believe that we should live it in a way that we absolutely love. I say absolutely love, but I think people get a misconception of what they truly love because of things like social media and influencers. Even other people in your life can drastically decide what you like and don't like or pretend to not like. It is your life and we only get one, so it is okay for you to take some time and sit with just yourself. Have you ever done that? How does that sound to you? What do you feel when I ask you to sit with yourself? I hope that you feel excited, that you feel like “Wow, I get the opportunity to talk to myself?!” and that you take that time to really see how you feel and what you’re thinking about and why. You need to love yourself because you’re stuck for life, baby!
Deep rest can look like a lot of different things aside from actual sleep. Yoga Nidra is a phenomenal way to deeply rest and it has been shown to improve sleep quality and promotes relaxation and inner peace. This practice can start out with some light stretching while the instructor begins to calm your mind by guiding you through what to think about, like your focus for the practice or something you want to let go of from your day. Now this is when it is super nice to have props. I use a mix of bolsters, buckwheat yoga blocks, blankets, and a cloth or eye mask. Once you are comfortable with your set-up, the instructor will guide you to Savasana (Corpse pose). So you are essentially just laying there on your back with the support of your props and you should be cozy! This is when your instructor will continue their meditation and you kind of start to drift into the space between sleep and wakefulness. You may actually fall asleep, you also may not feel like you’re asleep at all. Even if you don’t feel asleep, your instructor will continue with the meditation and towards the end they will begin to “wake” you up and slowly bring the practice to an end. The beauty of social media is that you can look up stuff to try for free, so get on YouTube and search yoga nidra and try your first practice right at home. You don’t even need yoga props, just get some pillows, blankets, and a cloth or eye mask and you all set. After you do this come back and let me know what you think!
