New Year's Rest-olutions
“Take a rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”
-Ovid
As we enter into 2021, I cannot help but feel hope for a better year. But the turn of the calendar towards a New Year doesn’t automatically bring change. True, change does come from forces around us, as we’ve all been compelled to learn in 2020, but it also comes from within, and it is that inner change that brings Transformation.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired after all that has happened in 2020. Among the chaos of the world, I also had a baby so my life was rocked on both a personal and collective level. I feel I don’t really need a New Year’s Resolution, especially one that I might not stick to because I’m too tired to really assess what’s needed.
The phrase, “I need to sleep on it” is relevant here. I might not actually need to sleep to get clarity on my intentions for 2021, but I do need to invite more rest into my days. My son is now 6 months old and it has occurred to me here and there how much I put into making sure he gets the sleep he needs. I often forget that, even if I don’t need as much sleep as an infant does, I still need regular rest.
In a yoga practice, rest can be a nap, meditation, restorative postures, or yoga nidra. Sometimes rest can be as brief as a few deep breaths, or even that little pause at the end of an exhale. The point is, to rest on purpose and with much love.
Here are ways I’ve been able to include these types of rest into my days:
Nap: schedule one or take a nap when the baby does.
Meditate: before anyone wakes up, after the kids go to sleep, or in the night when the baby wakes up. Sometimes I meditate during my mommy time, when my husband spends time with the kids.
Restorative yoga: practice one or a few poses for anywhere from 5-15 minutes.
Yoga nidra: there are plenty of free yoga nidra recordings online. My favorite are the ones at Yoga Nidra Network and I also just joined Uma Dinsmore-Tuli’s yoga community by supporting her movement through patreon.
I should also mention that sometimes, when I’m stressed, tense, and worn out, walking or some form of movement can make it easier for me to rest. When my stress runs high or I have some anxiety creeping in, a dance party with my 4-year-old, a walk around the block, or even dynamic housework like sweeping and vacuuming can burn off my built-up tension so that R & R comes more easily. Because anyone who has tried to have a regular meditation practice knows that sometimes just being still is not all that relaxing.
So I don’t really have a New Year’s resolution this time around, except to be more present, which is really an intention I renew all year long. Being more ‘in the now’ helps me to chill out, take care of what’s most important (which is often my own health and peace of mind), and remember that no matter how much a particular moment sucks, it will always pass. Here’s to a better year, or at least a better ME as I enter a year full of unknowns and the one single known that we always have: that change is inevitable. May I go with the flow where I need to and lower my anchor when I need to rest:)