Choosing Rest Before You Need It

Can I say something with love?

Please don’t wait until you are completely exhausted before you decide your body and mind deserve rest.

I say this knowing full well that I do it too.

So many of us wait until we are running on empty. Until the week has been too much. Until we’re tired, overwhelmed, irritable or simply done.

And then we rest.

But what if rest was something you chose earlier?

Not because you had reached your limit.

Not because you had earned it.

Simply because rest is part of looking after yourself.

That's where SURRENDER & REST came from.

But I do rest…

I know.

You sit on the sofa. You watch Netflix. You scroll your phone. You have an early night. Maybe you spend Sunday afternoon doing very little at all.

And I’m certainly not suggesting there is anything wrong with any of those things. I do them too.

But there is a difference between not working and intentionally creating space for rest.

You can be lying completely still while your mind is doing overtime.

Scrolling, reading, watching television and answering messages might feel physically restful because your body isn’t doing much, but your attention is still being asked to process, respond, consume and move from one thing to another.

Sometimes what you need is less input.

Less doing.

Less deciding.

Less needing to be anywhere other than where you are.

And that’s what restorative yoga offers.

Restorative yoga is not about stretching

This is something I think is really important to understand.

Restorative yoga isn’t a slower version of a normal yoga class.

You don’t need to be flexible.

You don’t need yoga experience.

And you’re not coming along to see how deeply you can get into a pose.

Quite the opposite.

In restorative yoga, the body is supported with bolsters, blankets, blocks and other props so that you can settle into a position without needing to hold yourself there.

Rather than asking:

How far can I go?

The practice begins to ask:

How much can I let go of?

And I think that is a very different experience.

You might spend quite a long time in only a handful of postures because there is nowhere you need to get to.

You settle.

You breathe.

You notice.

You rest.

And sometimes you discover just how unfamiliar that actually feels.

Two hours sounds like a lot. I know.

Once a month, I offer SURRENDER & REST, a two-hour restorative yoga practice followed by Yoga Nidra meditation.

And whenever I say two hours, I know that can sound like a big commitment.

Two whole hours?

But I challenge you to have a little look at your weekly screen time.

Not with judgement. Just curiosity.

Because you may discover that the time is already there.

It is simply being used differently.

Two hours a month works out to around 30 minutes a week.

And there is something quite powerful about deciding that, once a month, you are going to protect that little pocket of time.

Not squeeze it in.

Not multitask through it.

Actually protect it.

And then there is Yoga Nidra

Toward the end of SURRENDER & REST, the physical restorative practice moves into Yoga Nidra.

Yoga Nidra is sometimes translated as yogic sleep, although you don’t actually need to fall asleep for the practice to be beneficial.

You are guided while the body remains completely supported and still.

There is nothing to achieve.

Nothing you need to remember.

And no requirement to be “good at meditation”.

You simply listen.

Sometimes you remain aware throughout the whole practice. Sometimes you drift. Sometimes you realise you haven’t heard a word I’ve said for the past five minutes.

That’s okay.

The invitation is simply to receive the practice rather than perform it.

Crystal singing bowls may also be woven into the experience, allowing periods where there are no words at all.

Just sound.

Stillness.

And space.

You don’t need to arrive calm

This matters to me.

You do not need to walk through the door already relaxed.

You don’t need to have had a peaceful morning.

You don’t need to leave your thoughts in the car.

And you definitely don’t need to know what you’re doing.

You can arrive exactly as you are.

Busy mind and all.

There is no pressure to perform, to be flexible, to clear your mind, to talk or share, or to create some profound experience.

Some months you might sink deeply into the practice.

Other months your mind might wander all over the place.

Both are still practice.

Because SURRENDER & REST isn’t about forcing yourself to relax.

It is about creating the conditions where rest is possible.

There is a difference.

Perhaps rest doesn’t always need to be earned

I think somewhere along the way, many of us have become very good at justifying why we can’t stop.

There is always something else that could be done.

Another load of washing.

Another email.

Another job.

Another person who needs something.

And if you wait until absolutely everything is finished before you allow yourself to rest, you may be waiting a very long time.

SURRENDER & REST is not about escaping your life.

It is about making a little room within it.

Two hours.

Once a month.

A space to put the phone away, allow yourself to be supported and stop asking your body and mind to continually move on to the next thing.

You don’t have to be exhausted first.

You don’t have to justify it.

And you certainly don’t have to earn it.

Sometimes you can simply choose rest because rest matters too.

SURRENDER & REST is a women-only monthly practice at Tiroana Meditation & Yoga Collective, combining supported restorative yoga, Yoga Nidra meditation and crystal singing bowls.

Come exactly as you are.

And for two hours, allow yourself to do a little less.

Shona x