Resting my way to wellbeing
I decided to start September with rest.
It is part of an ongoing experiment in not getting to the end of the month/season/year exhausted.
It’s an acknowledgement that I cannot do ALL the things.
It’s a recognition that I need some time off the mental load of managing a household, a family, and my mother’s care.
So I went on a yoga retreat.
A restorative yoga retreat (run by Mel Skinner, one life’s wise women).
And I struggled. My mind was busy. My body held onto tension.
I had expectations of deep inner peace and clarity, but really I just started a process.
I opened up to some realisations about myself. I noticed how eager I am to please, and quick I can be to make assumptions about those around me. And I notice how peace and quiet attention allowed me the space to let that go.
It was both over too soon and I was pleased to be home.
I made some important discoveries….
I love that so many cushions, blankets and blocks are an essential part of restorative yoga.
I had a deep reminder that regular meditation, yoga nidra and practicing presence will help me with maintaining the gifts of the retreat. I do practice presence - with my morning tea, my early walks, my moments of stillness in the day. But there is scope for more.
I also learnt that I have a dampened down my creativity, and it’s looking for an outlet. Prompted by Mel’s cues I sketched what was around me and I wrote a poem. Neither worth sharing her but definitely opened an outlet of expression that felt like a release.
Rest and space are where I can gain the perspective and clarity I sometimes have trouble grasping in the day to day. I gave myself permission, with Mel’s help, to keep evolving, to allow myself to not be perfect but to be in transition.
I had hoped to leave fully rested, full of enthusiasm for my work and have renewed clarity on my coaching practice and intentions for the rest of the year.
But I didn’t need that. I needed to allow the space to see the value of rest throughout my life, not just one weekend. And to allow the space to keep learning, developing and evolving.
Nothing works well when I rush it.
And there were huge benefits to the start of term for the kids, for helping my mum get used to a new care package, to being able to take on some admin tasks I’d been putting off.
So. Expect to hear more about rest from me in the months ahead.
I think it is essential in our 40s and 50s to learn how we can rest to maximise our wellbeing. And boost our mood, our success, and our relationships along the way.
