In Praise of Rest

Rest is a most underrated activity!

Rest is about allowing ourselves to be inactive in order to regain our strength or vitality. We might know this, but none the less find it hard to, well, really rest. If we do sit down for a while, we make a list, watch Netflix, browse social media, make a few phone calls and so it goes on. While binge watching Game of Thrones or Orange Is the New Black may be one way of forcing yourself to sit still, it’s not necessarily deeply restful.

Resting is something I have been actively teaching myself to do over the last five or so years. For the 20-plus years before that, I worked in high-pressure environments where we were constantly under pressure to do more, and to do it more quickly. This scenario is probably familiar to many of you. Despite predictions in the 1980s that technology and automation would give us more free time, we all seem to be working harder and longer. This is especially the case in Australia.

It became extreme in my former workplace. ‘Busyness’ was used as a badge of pride. Colleagues would go on at length about how busy they were. Being really busy meant you were in demand, had high status. Looking or feeling relaxed at work was seen as an indication you were probably NOT DOING ENOUGH WORK or were not very important.

Some interesting research by Alex Pang, founder of The Restful Company in Silicon Valley, challenges the line that being super busy means you’re more productive. Alex discusses the idea of deliberate or active rest. Drawing on neuroscience, historical and other research he argues that productive, creative people use rest to make themselves more productive—to solve problems, invent and create new things. Deliberate rest and work are partners; they sustain each other and both are necessary.

Alex argues that the most important things we achieve in our lives we do indirectly and not necessarily by attacking head on. Deliberate rest is that restorative time that allows space for inspiration, regeneration and creativity to bubble. In other words, you get more done when you ease up.

His argument is persuasive but it raises a couple of problems. His definition of deliberate rest is centred on physical pursuits. The examples he gives to support his theory are a number of people who pursue active and sometimes extreme sports like mountain climbing in their spare time. Many of us can and do enjoy some form of exercise, but most of us would not find mountain climbing restful.

The other problem with Alex’s theory is that it puts ‘rest’ to work in the service of work productivity. I can relate to this … you know that feeling when you get stuck on a problem, you go for a walk, and you return with an idea of how to fix it. Yet it is the compulsion to be productive all the time (even in and through our rest time) that makes genuine rest elusive.

What I’m talking about is passive rest, idleness, of recognising and allowing to grow those extended periods of stillness in our breathing, thinking and being that we start to experience when we allow ourselves enough time and space.

Resting may provoke a range of feelings … guilt that you are not being more productive, that people will think you’re lazy, your status might drop, that you ‘should’ be doing this or that on your ‘to do’ lists. Being busy is our accustomed way of working and being. You may (like me) be trying to unlearn a strong task orientation that drives you to turn your entire day into a series of items that can be ticked off a list (but which may mask a deeper search for meaning). Or you may simply have forgotten how to rest.

How do we (re-)learn to rest more?

For me, yoga and meditation are key in learning how to rest. I am not an advanced yoga student but I have been doing it a long time. The instant I lie down on my yoga mat I start to feel calm. And while I sometimes do longish seated meditations on a cushion, I mostly do relaxation exercises and guided meditations either lying down or sitting comfortably on a chair.

Many yoga studios now run Deep relaxation, Restorative yoga or Yin yoga classes. All these classes are designed to bring about a deepened sense of ease and peace, to calm and unify the body and mind.

There is also a range of apps for your phone that can help promote rest. These apps have lots of different meditations and visualisation exercises recorded by different meditation teachers, to suit all occasions, whether it’s a rest during the day, getting back to sleep when you wake at 3 am, or dealing with anxiety or loss. I use an app called Insight Timer. The meditations range in length from three minutes to an hour (or more).

My favourite practice is Yoga Nidra, a deep relaxation practice from the Hatha Yoga tradition. In Yoga Nidra, the body sleeps, the mind rests, but consciousness remains alert and active. A half-hour guided Yoga Nidra is considered equivalent to two hours of high quality sleep.

Reflexology is also highly effective in inducing a profound sense of restfulness. Reflexology works on the central nervous system, releasing stress, settling the body, and calming the mind. Regular reflexology treatments can help you manage the effects of stress in your life, release tension that accumulates in the body, and generate profound feelings of wellbeing. There are very good reasons I called my practice Live at Ease Reflexology!

I find when I really rest, my ‘to do’ lists seems to melt away, to lose their power. Pretty much everything still gets done, just minus the tension and hype.

So in summary…

Acknowledge rest matters

Make rest part of your routine

Use the available tools

…

And give yourself the gift of rest today!