Rest is Revolutionary

Jan 25

Written By Myesha

Two of the most potent recurring themes of 2020 for me have been to slow down and to rest. I have a struggle relationship with both of these concepts and practices, as many of us do. Here in the U.S., we are conditioned to stay busy no matter what. We are taught to see our worth as connected to our labor as defined by capitalism.

We habitually give ourselves to the world, even when we have nothing left to give. 2020 said not anymore. LOUD. AND. CLEAR.

After several panic attacks and a couple months of convincing myself that I was doing well with the changes the pandemic brought, my body forced me to slow down and rest. I felt violently yanked away from my communities and my routines. I treated Shelter-In-Place (SIP) as a vacation from the energies that often overwhelm and exhaust me. I was not capable at the time of feeling and processing the emotions I was experiencing at the sudden shift in the way we all do life.

Not having the tools to access the emotions I was feeling meant I kept them stored in my body.

I kept pushing them down to make room for more unprocessed emotions as the pandemic unfolded and the Black Lives Matter uprisings sparked again. Every day, I kept stuffing my emotions down in my body until they all came flooding out, uncontrollably and traumatically. I'm sure many of you can relate, as I've heard this story in slightly different ways reverberating throughout the world.

It was the wake-up call that would call me back to myself.

Reclaiming my breath

The first thing I did after that last wake-up call was to find a therapist! For real though! And then, all of the sudden, all of these resources about how to do the work of self-love, meditation and breath work started coming into my awareness. I began accessing resources from YouTube, Instagram and following healers that guide you through the practice of finding your breath. It was the first time that I intentionally worked with my breath to regulate and calm my body. This was the first time ever that I recognized the risks associated with being out of touch with my breath.

It was me recognizing the value the breath holds to my overall wellness.“Building and sustaining a mindful breath work practice has been proven to lower blood pressure, calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety, improve sleep and reduce symptoms of depression” (https://schoolbreathe.com/the-science/).

Many of us regularly hold our breath without realizing it. Many of us don’t take deep breaths often enough. My breath escapes me when I get nervous, when I think about past events that trigger trauma, and when I have to talk about or process complex emotions. In my first breath work class, I got dizzy andlight-headed giving so much prana (life force) to my body all at once. My body is so used to being denied sufficient oxygen, that the infusion of it almost made me pass out.