Hello Beautiful Rest Friends,
First, if you've always wanted to dare to rest with me, or teach the beautiful practice of yoga nidra, check out what's coming up in 2020 at Daring to Rest at the bottom of this email. I look forward to "sleeping" together this year :)
Yesterday I had the pleasure of discussing with women in the Daring to Rest Academy what I think is one of the best rest books there is: Dr. Rubin Naiman's Healing Night. We love on this book a lot in the Academy. I don't believe you can be a yoga nidra facilitators and talk about rest without it. In Healing Night Dr Naiman says,
"Allowing ourselves to honor the call to rest not only supports healthier sleep but also opens a mysterious portal to the rich inner world of dreams, including the waking dream. If, as classic psychodynamic theory has long believed, depression is about the loss of our dreams, rest is a sensible treatment."
I couldn't agree more. It's daring to rest not just because our friends, family and others judge people who rest as weak and unproductive. It's daring because the moment we rest deeply the portal to our inner world of dreams opens, and this nourishes the waking dream. Again and again, I've seen how getting consistent deep rest - and dreaming again - effects our mental and physical health. (And, yes, sometimes we need more than rest. But rest, as Dr. Naiman points out, "is a universal and critical ingredient in virtually all approaches to healing.").
Sometimes I think there's a misunderstanding when people hear that I wrote a book called Daring to Rest. The book is not just about learning to power down and do nothing. Daring to Rest is about learning how to get the best rest of your life and then, from this embodied, rested place, Daring to Rest helps you remember, reclaim, and possibly re-imagine your dreams.
Daring to Rest is about the rest and the rise. Our soul wants both. Only through WAY too many dark nights of the soul did I finally realize that the current culturally dictated equation that I'd been following to rise, rise, rise (aka do, do, do) and then rest only when at the stage of total, utter collapse (aka burnout), was not only unhealthy - it was wrong, and violated a sacred soul oath to be good to ourselves. The book Daring to Rest was written to help us re-write this equation. To help you make a commitment to rest and rise from a rooted place. That's a well-rested woman.
I knew how to be a busy-all-the-time leader. It doesn't matter whether leadership is at work or staying up until 2am making 3 dozen cookies for your child's class. (I've been there). What I have found is that without a commitment to rest, even successful leadership becomes another form of counterfeit energy. It's like that drink of a soda or eating a candy bar. You get energy from it so you keep going back for more. But at the end of the day, when the "sugar" high wears off, you're an exhausted empty mess.
I'm human, and I suspect so you are, which means sometimes I forget the equation and I end up an exhausted empty mess. It always seems easier to go with the tide of busy people. It's like I forget how empathic I am (aka highly sensitive) and then without rest - boom - my circuits are blown. It's hard, in a world of people who all seem to keep going, to stop.
I created Daring to Rest to help you, and me, remember to stop. But not to stop dreaming big. I've been amazed how quickly dreams return when we do nothing for even a short while. I'm committed to helping you rest and rise differently. And what I know for sure is that it's easier together.
As the DECADE winds down, first I want to thank all of you who have participated in our rest revolution at Daring to Rest. We are creating a well-rested world. Like all movements, it's happening in communities - the grassroots - and trickling up. Our Daring to Rest facilitators have created yoga nidra offerings this year around the world that have blown my yoga nidra mind. Just last week Ali Barker, a Daring to Rest facilitator in the UK, shared about her powerful new Whole Mama Rest Circle membership, and another Daring to Rest facilitator, Sarah Eiler in Atlanta, shared how she spoke in front of 400 teens about yoga nidra and then guided a small class of 18 in yoga nidra for exams week, and how she has been invited back to teach more classes next week during breaks in exams. "I want every student facing exams to know about this deep rest medicine," Sarah shared.
My point is that we're is changing the world with rest and it feels good and aligned with these inflamed times.
It's not always easy, but that's when my community organizer spirit kicks in and says, "who care, the only way to change the world is to do something other people think is crazy."
If you want to be rest-crazy with us next year, check out what's coming up in 2020 below.
And if you're thinking of a unique, life-changing, and some say "life-SAVING,' gift for the holidays, consider giving an exhausted friend or family member the book, Daring to Rest. It comes with a link to download three yoga nidra meditations. You can get the Daring to Rest book here as part of a 40% off sale by Sounds True. The Daring to Rest audio program is also 40% off.
For a really big Gift of Rest, you could give them (or maybe yourself!) the book for the holidays and gift them the upcoming online 40-Day Daring to Rest program or a retreat with me (mentioned below) so they will have my guidance to find their way back to their Well-Rested Woman.
Here's to Daring to Rest,
chucking perfect,
and the rise of your Well-Rested Woman.
With yoga nidra pompom shakes,
xo
Karen
Here's What's Coming Up in 2020 at Daring to Rest
(more may be added!)
The Daring to Rest Academy
Starts January 28th/ online. Want to teach yoga nidra meditation and learn the Daring to Rest method? Our next training inside our Academy starts next month. We are changing the world with rest together. The Academy is for anyone who identifies as female and has a passion to make a difference with yoga nidra. Earlybird enrollment starts in early January. We begin with the 40-Day Daring to Rest program for personal rest-empowerment, then move into a 12-week online training, and after that we stay with you for an entire year (and more if you chose) to help you implement what you learned. Get on our Academy waitlist to be the first to know when enrollment opens in January. "So grateful for everything Karen has taught us in the Academy to allow us to share this rest medicine far and wide. It has changed my life and my work and I feel so in alignment with life now." - Ali Barker, Daring to Rest facilitator, UK, Whole Mama Rest Circle membership
Women Dream: An online 40-Day Daring to Rest Program
Starts January 28th / online. Learn yoga nidra, set an intention for the new year, and dream into the new decade. We'll be following the 40-Day Program outlined in the book, Daring to Rest. This is the first year that we're opening up enrollment to the public. (Women in our the Daring to Rest Academy and our NAP membership receive this program for free). Enrollment starts soon - watch your email for the announcement. Led by Karen with special guests. "If you have the Daring to Rest book and want to feel the full benefits of yoga nidra, this program is it!" - Julia Wink
Yoga Nidra, Writing and the Wild Woman
March 15-20. Join Karen for a deep dive into rest, writing and the stories of Clarissa Pinkola Estes. You'll practice lots of yoga nidra, and listen to, tell, and write stories from an embodied place, calling forth your wildest, most alive self. Come step into your Well-Rested Woman Writer. Location: Kripalu Yoga and Health Center. Lenox, Massachusetts. For more details go here.
1st Annual Daring to Rest Well-Rested Woman Retreat
Late August/ early September. (We're finalizing the date soon!). A 3-day Daring to Rest immersion for women led by Karen. Think yoga nidra meets women's empowerment and dances with Clarissa Pinkola Estes in the Land of Enchantment. Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico. If you're interested in coming, get on the waitlist here.