October 1, 2025 • 16 mins
Rest doesn’t have to mean sleeping in or finding a three-hour window for a nap when time is not something you have in excess. We reframe rest as a spectrum of accessible practices that fit into busy, real lives—rooted in the nervous system, informed by your inner wisdom, culture and community, and designed to restore capacity without adding pressure. Drawing on a polyvagal perspective, we explore how to move from shutdown or overdrive into “safely still,” and why even 90 seconds of breath, grounding, or time in nature can create real change.
We walk through eight kinds of rest—physical, mental, restorative, emotional, social, creative, sensory and ancestral/cultural/community—and show how each can be a part of a comprehensive, replenishing daily support to our systems. You’ll hear a few simple, repeatable ideas, with more practical suggestions to come in the next episode. We discuss how honoring intergenerational exhaustion can allow space to reclaim rituals, community practices, and collective stillness as a way to support individual rest practices and that also heal backward and forward through our lineages.
This episode invites a new, expanded definition of rest as a conscious choice that can be made to allow a meaningful, mindful connection to your Self, your body, your ancestors and the greater world so that you have increased capacity to live the life you want to live.
If this conversation opens something for you, follow the show, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs gentle permission to rest. Your one small step can shift your week—and maybe seven generations.
- If you and your partner are ready to co-create the roadmap to the relationship of your dreams, join us for the next in-person "Getting the Love You Want" Weekend Couples Retreat!
For support in how to have deeper connections and better communication in the relationships that matter most in your life, follow the host, Trish Sanders on Instagram , Bluesky or LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the When Depression is in
Your Bed podcast.
The conversation today continuesabout rest, and in this episode,
I will invite you to begin toexpand your definition of what
rest means as a way to take astep towards thinking about how
you can incorporate more restfulpractices into your daily life.
I'm your host, Trish Sanders,and I am delighted that you are
(00:22):
here.
Let's get started.
In the last few episodes, I'vebeen talking about the
importance of rest from abiological perspective, even
though our society often tendsto discourage restful practices,
at least for many people.
And I've also spoken about restas being political because
policies and practices andsystemic structures influence
(00:44):
who really have access to rest.
And I've been having theseconversations really in hopes of
trying to move towards having aconversation about how more
people can have more access torest.
And what I noticed as I wasthinking about all of these
ideas is that if you think aboutrest as going to bed earlier or
(01:04):
sleeping in late or being ableto take a three-hour afternoon
nap, then you may never even tryto begin to incorporate more
restful practices into your lifebecause those options are very
limited and not reallyaccessible to most people.
If you have a job, you have tobe there at a certain time, or
perhaps late at night is youronly time to reconnect with
(01:25):
yourself.
And most of us don't have threehours in the afternoon where we
can just take a nap, at leastnot in the US.
That is not a part of ourculture, generally speaking,
here.
And so I want to start to expandthis idea of what rest can mean
so that you can begin to thinkabout how to incorporate these
much needed and much deservedpractices into your everyday
(01:48):
life so we can really haveeverything that we need to be
able to manage and respond toand navigate our incredibly busy
lives that many of us tend tolive.
As I start out talking about theidea of physical rest, physical
rest is of course incrediblyimportant.
Being able to sleep seven tonine hours every night and being
able to go to bed at a decenttime or sleep in until a decent
(02:09):
time.
Although, like I said, I knowthat that can be really hard
depending on what your lifelooks like with your job, with
kids, with pets or other thingsthat need to be taken care of in
the morning.
But of course, physical rest isincredibly important.
And when you start to thinkabout how to incorporate more
restful practices in your life,I certainly encourage you to
think about how to increase thenumber of hours of physical
sleep and rest that your bodygets every day.
(02:30):
But I know that that's a realchallenge for many, and we will
be able to start talking aboutthat a little bit more and why
that is and what to do about itin the next couple of episodes,
but I won't focus on that fortoday.
What I want to do today is tohelp us really think about rest
in many different ways.
And in addition to physicalrest, many of us also have a
concept of having mental rest,being able to lay down our
(02:51):
mental load and be able to takea break, whether that means take
a break from work or maybe takea break from thinking about all
the household responsibilitiesthat we have or caregiving
responsibilities, or just kindof like figuring out the
day-to-day tasks of life, beingable to take a little break from
that is also incrediblyimportant.
And certainly, just like withphysical rest, can be very
(03:12):
challenging when there's so muchthat needs to be done and
there's only so many hours inthe day.
It can feel challenging tofigure out how do I take a break
from all that actually needs toget done.
While taking mental rest is alsoincredibly important, physical
rest and mental rest are not theonly two types of access that
our body, our hearts, our minds,and our souls need when we think
(03:32):
about actually incorporatingrestful practices into our
day-to-day lives.
There's also practices which Iwill call restorative rest.
And when I think aboutrestorative rest from a nervous
system perspective, and this isfrom polyvagal theory that I've
talked about many times, whichis the work of Dr.
Stephen Porges and thenclinically of Deb Dana.
And from a nervous systemperspective, when the dorsal
(03:54):
vagal part of our nervoussystem, which is our rest and
digest part of our nervoussystem, when it's dysregulated
or when we're in survival,that's also the collapse,
withdraw, avoid, freeze responsethat we have.
But when it's regulated, whichmeans that it has ventral
energy, which is the ventralvagal state of our nervous
system, that's actually theentire parasympathetic branch of
our nervous system.
(04:15):
When those are working together,when they're both present, we
have an experience that Deb Danacalls safely still.
I am thinking about that safelystill experience as restorative
rest practices.
And that might includemeditation, it might include
time in nature, it could includewalking barefoot through the
grass and grounding yourself.
(04:35):
It certainly could includedisconnecting from devices and
screens to be able to giveyourself that break that your
mind and body need that's moreslow and peaceful and mindful.
And I think that restorativepractices can really be very
accessible to people.
I know a lot of people say theydon't like meditation or they
don't know how to meditate orthey don't like breath work as a
(04:58):
practice, which is another typeof restorative rest.
But there are so many differentoptions.
Meditation and breath work donot have to be a specific thing.
There's not only one way to dothose practices, and they also
could be very brief practices.
You could spend 90 seconds doingbreath work or 90 seconds
walking in the grass in yourbackyard, and they can actually
(05:18):
have a really positive impactand they're a lot easier to
start to weave into yourday-to-day life.
I'd also encourage you to thinkabout emotional or psychological
rest and what that means to havespaces where you can just let it
go, the pressures, the supposedto's, the have-to's, the mask
that many of us wear in order toget through our day, who we
(05:39):
think we need to be in thisworld or how we have to show up,
and be able to have spaces wherewe can be soft and vulnerable,
perhaps in the presence of otherloving, supportive people, or
perhaps just space where wealone can let go of all of these
incredible pressures that somany of us carry.
And being able to give us thatlittle breath, that little bit
of space to be free of thestriving.
(06:02):
And again, from a polyvagalnervous system perspective, that
sympathetic drive, that fight orflight energy can be very push,
do, make happen.
And really to rest, we need tobe able to let go of some of
that pressure and that striving.
And so being able to createpractices and whatever that
means to you, to be able to putall that down can be an
(06:23):
incredibly restful practice.
And I think that it's somethingthat many of us truly need,
especially in today's society.
I also would encourage you tothink about what social rest
means to you.
Many of us are replenished andrenewed by interacting with
people.
And yet many of us need to havesome downtime from those kinds
of interactions in order toreally replenish our energy
reserves.
And no matter what kind ofperson you are, having a little
(06:45):
bit of that downtime,particularly from, again, as I
mentioned before, screens, whichcan be very connecting for many,
but also very disconnecting inmany ways.
But also in thinking about thetypes of social relationships
that we have, we sometimes mayneed to really consciously take
a break from depleting ornegative relationships that we
have in our life.
And of course, sometimes this ishard to do.
(07:07):
Sometimes it's our family or afriend we've had for a long
time, or a boss or coworker, orsomeone else in a space where we
are regularly.
So consciously thinking abouthow I can take a social break to
restore and replenish when a lotof the drain is coming from
certain people or certain typesof people and being able to slow
down in such a way that you candisconnect from that and plug
(07:29):
into something that feels bettereven for a little while.
I would also encourage you tothink about what creative or
playful rest could look likebecause we do think about rest
as again, napping or slowingdown or disconnecting.
But rest in a creative orplayful way can mean engaging
with beauty and joy and musicand art and playful things,
(07:50):
having unstructured time to justbe.
It could just be sitting with apiece of art or a piece of
poetry, or even thinking aboutcreating something yourself.
And that kind of break can beincredibly replenishing when you
think about the reserves that wehave depleted in our day-to-day
lives.
Being able to consciously chooseto allow space for you to be
(08:14):
creative and to play can beincredibly beneficial.
And I would definitely put thatin the category of rest.
Certainly, there's types ofcreativity and play that may
feel less restful, that may alsobe very energetic.
I don't feel the need to makehard lines on that at this
particular moment, but justthinking about what kinds of
creativity and playfulness feelrestful for you, feel
(08:35):
rejuvenating for you.
We also live in a society wherethere's a lot of sensory
overload.
So I would encourage you tothink about what sensory rest
means for you.
Again, I've mentioned screens.
Certainly, this is one placewhere that could definitely
apply.
But also, if you think about thebright lights and the loud
noises that we have or theclutter, the physical clutter
(08:57):
that we surround ourselves with,sometimes being able to dim the
lights, lower all the noisinessin our life, maybe clear out a
little bit of a space for us,you know, maybe just clear off a
tabletop or something like thatcan allow a lot of easy
breathing, allow a lot ofrelease and relief to come with
that practice.
(09:18):
When you move into somethinglike decluttering, that could
sometimes feel veryoverwhelming.
But if you think about, well,how can I just do one small
piece that creates relief?
Like how can I stay in thatrelief space?
Again, I'm not talking aboutthis is active decluttering,
although that certainly couldsupport wellness in a lot of
ways.
But to think about, okay, if Ifold this blanket or put this
pillow nicely on the couch andmaybe clear off my end table or
(09:41):
something like that so that Icould sit in this space again
with that sense of relief, thatcould be a really beautiful
restful practice.
And if you consistently dothings like that, you may find
that over a long period of time,you actually may be able to
clear out some of your space andcreate more restful physical
spaces in your home.
And then the last type of restI'll be talking about, at least
for today, is what I'm thinkingof as ancestral or cultural
(10:04):
rest.
And I've touched on this in thelast few episodes about the
epigenetics of trauma, that weknow that trauma is carried
generation to generation and theexhaustion that many people
feel, many different cultures,particularly cultures where
their ancestors' labor has beenneeded for their ancestors to
(10:25):
survive.
So there's a drive that's innatein many cultures that I have to
keep working in order to keepgoing.
Otherwise, there might beactually some sort of life
threat that is in some of ourDNA.
And that can make rest reallychallenging.
And there's also ways toreconnect and create
generational healing.
Of course, there's generationaltrauma, but there's also
generational healing.
There is a both end there toacknowledge the pain and
(10:48):
suffering that we might becarrying, and also to empower us
to move towards being able toheal that and becoming conscious
around what can create ancestralor cultural rest for you and
your culture and where you comefrom.
Certainly, it's very unique toeach individual person and their
history, but I think it's reallyworth thinking about.
(11:08):
And some ways to do this mightbe to reclaim rituals from your
culture.
Maybe it's something that yougrew up doing, or your
grandparents orgreat-grandparents grew up
doing.
You heard about, maybe you neverpracticed it.
Uh, maybe it's something youactually had an aversion to
growing up, as a matter of fact,but now you're starting to think
about, maybe you're starting towonder now if it has a place in
your life.
(11:28):
That's a really beautifulpractice.
And also just the idea of namingthat this exhaustion that many
people carry with them is real.
And it's because of something weknow there's evidence, there's
research, there's proof.
As if we needed all that proof.
I think that people carryingthis and seeing this in so many
places and so many people and somany cultures and so many
(11:49):
communities is proof enough.
But now we have evidence thatthis is something that's
happening and to be able to namethat and that it's not that
somebody is crazy or lazy ormentally ill.
It's not that something is wrongwith somebody.
It's actually that we arecarrying these generations and
generations of pain and traumaand suffering.
(12:10):
And rest is one of the ways ofhealing those things, and being
able to name that and allow somemore space for rest that doesn't
just help you, but actuallyhelps your ancestors.
And they say it goes sevengenerations back and seven
generations forward, which Ifind to be a very heartwarming
statistic.
Uh, statistics not alwaysheartwarming, but to think that
something that you could dotoday for yourself heals that
(12:32):
many people in your lineage backand forwards, I think, is a
really beautiful thing.
And I also think aboutcollective rest, and this is
certainly in the realm ofancestral and cultural and
community rest that being ableto share safely still space with
others.
I recently had a reallybeautiful experience of this at
the polyvagal retreat that I wasat a few weeks ago.
(12:55):
I was invited to join someone insome sacred stillness and some
shared meditation practice, andit was really quite a beautiful
thing.
And there's many collectiveswhere that can happen in
different ways.
Like I said, meditationpractices and breath work
practices.
I'm starting a new training inthe new year for a breath work
practice, and they offer weeklycommunal breathing practices and
(13:18):
they talk about breathingtogether, which just sounds
truly delightful andreplenishing to me.
It's part of why I'm joiningtheir community.
I think it's a beautiful healingexperience and certainly
something that creates rest forme.
And you can think about whatcreates rest for you.
There's ways of prayingtogether, drumming together,
being present together.
That could be really healing.
(13:39):
And sometimes, if it feels lessreachable to think about your
own individual rest practices,sometimes joining a collective
or community practice could be areally beautiful place to start.
So in the next episode, I willbe talking practically and
giving ideas how you can startto incorporate rest into your
everyday life, even if takingnaps and sleeping late do not
(14:01):
feel like choices for you atthis very moment in your life
and they don't really fit intothe structure of your life right
now.
So I really encourage you tothink about rest as a conscious
choice, something you choose.
And it could be something youchoose to do, or something you
choose not to do, or somethingyou choose to get help with,
perhaps, that allows you to slowdown enough that you can be more
(14:23):
present and more attuned inorder to connect with yourself,
your body, your spirit, yourancestors, your community, the
greater world, so that you havean increased capacity to be able
to do all the things that youneed to do and that you want to
do.
Also, I think.
I hope.
As our time comes to a close, Iask you to keep listening for
(14:46):
just a few more moments becauseI want to thank you for showing
up today.
And I want to leave you with aninvitation as you hit stop and
move back out into the world onyour own unique wellness
journey.
In order to move from where youare today to the place where you
want to be, the path may seemlong or unclear or unknown.
And I want you to know that ifthat seems scary or daunting or
(15:10):
downright terrifying or anythingelse, that is totally okay.
Know that you do not have tocreate the whole way all at
once.
We don't travel a whole journeyin one stride.
And that is why my invitation toyou today is to take a step,
just one.
Any type, any size, in anydirection.
(15:30):
It can be an external step thatcan be observed or measured, or
it could be a step you visualizetaking in your mind.
It can be a step towards actionor towards rest or connection or
self-care or whatever step makessense to you.
I invite you to take a steptoday because getting to a place
that feels better, more joyful,more connected than the place
(15:52):
where you are today is possiblefor everyone, including you, and
even when depression is in yourbed.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, please subscribe so
you can be notified when eachweekly episode gets released.
I encourage you to leave areview and reach out to me on
social media attrish.sanders.lcsw.
(16:13):
Your feedback will help guidefuture episodes, and I love
hearing from you.
Also, please share this podcastwith anyone who you think may be
interested or who may getsomething from what I have
shared.
Until the next time we connect,take care of yourself and take a
step.
Hello, and welcome to the When Depression is in
Your Bed podcast.
The conversation today continuesabout rest, and in this episode,
I will invite you to begin toexpand your definition of what
rest means as a way to take astep towards thinking about how
you can incorporate more restfulpractices into your daily life.
I'm your host, Trish Sanders,and I am delighted that you are
(00:22):
here.
Let's get started.
In the last few episodes, I'vebeen talking about the
importance of rest from abiological perspective, even
though our society often tendsto discourage restful practices,
at least for many people.
And I've also spoken about restas being political because
policies and practices andsystemic structures influence
(00:44):
who really have access to rest.
And I've been having theseconversations really in hopes of
trying to move towards having aconversation about how more
people can have more access torest.
And what I noticed as I wasthinking about all of these
ideas is that if you think aboutrest as going to bed earlier or
(01:04):
sleeping in late or being ableto take a three-hour afternoon
nap, then you may never even tryto begin to incorporate more
restful practices into your lifebecause those options are very
limited and not reallyaccessible to most people.
If you have a job, you have tobe there at a certain time, or
perhaps late at night is youronly time to reconnect with
(01:25):
yourself.
And most of us don't have threehours in the afternoon where we
can just take a nap, at leastnot in the US.
That is not a part of ourculture, generally speaking,
here.
And so I want to start to expandthis idea of what rest can mean
so that you can begin to thinkabout how to incorporate these
much needed and much deservedpractices into your everyday
(01:48):
life so we can really haveeverything that we need to be
able to manage and respond toand navigate our incredibly busy
lives that many of us tend tolive.
As I start out talking about theidea of physical rest, physical
rest is of course incrediblyimportant.
Being able to sleep seven tonine hours every night and being
able to go to bed at a decenttime or sleep in until a decent
(02:09):
time.
Although, like I said, I knowthat that can be really hard
depending on what your lifelooks like with your job, with
kids, with pets or other thingsthat need to be taken care of in
the morning.
But of course, physical rest isincredibly important.
And when you start to thinkabout how to incorporate more
restful practices in your life,I certainly encourage you to
think about how to increase thenumber of hours of physical
sleep and rest that your bodygets every day.
(02:30):
But I know that that's a realchallenge for many, and we will
be able to start talking aboutthat a little bit more and why
that is and what to do about itin the next couple of episodes,
but I won't focus on that fortoday.
What I want to do today is tohelp us really think about rest
in many different ways.
And in addition to physicalrest, many of us also have a
concept of having mental rest,being able to lay down our
(02:51):
mental load and be able to takea break, whether that means take
a break from work or maybe takea break from thinking about all
the household responsibilitiesthat we have or caregiving
responsibilities, or just kindof like figuring out the
day-to-day tasks of life, beingable to take a little break from
that is also incrediblyimportant.
And certainly, just like withphysical rest, can be very
(03:12):
challenging when there's so muchthat needs to be done and
there's only so many hours inthe day.
It can feel challenging tofigure out how do I take a break
from all that actually needs toget done.
While taking mental rest is alsoincredibly important, physical
rest and mental rest are not theonly two types of access that
our body, our hearts, our minds,and our souls need when we think
(03:32):
about actually incorporatingrestful practices into our
day-to-day lives.
There's also practices which Iwill call restorative rest.
And when I think aboutrestorative rest from a nervous
system perspective, and this isfrom polyvagal theory that I've
talked about many times, whichis the work of Dr.
Stephen Porges and thenclinically of Deb Dana.
And from a nervous systemperspective, when the dorsal
(03:54):
vagal part of our nervoussystem, which is our rest and
digest part of our nervoussystem, when it's dysregulated
or when we're in survival,that's also the collapse,
withdraw, avoid, freeze responsethat we have.
But when it's regulated, whichmeans that it has ventral
energy, which is the ventralvagal state of our nervous
system, that's actually theentire parasympathetic branch of
our nervous system.
(04:15):
When those are working together,when they're both present, we
have an experience that Deb Danacalls safely still.
I am thinking about that safelystill experience as restorative
rest practices.
And that might includemeditation, it might include
time in nature, it could includewalking barefoot through the
grass and grounding yourself.
(04:35):
It certainly could includedisconnecting from devices and
screens to be able to giveyourself that break that your
mind and body need that's moreslow and peaceful and mindful.
And I think that restorativepractices can really be very
accessible to people.
I know a lot of people say theydon't like meditation or they
don't know how to meditate orthey don't like breath work as a
(04:58):
practice, which is another typeof restorative rest.
But there are so many differentoptions.
Meditation and breath work donot have to be a specific thing.
There's not only one way to dothose practices, and they also
could be very brief practices.
You could spend 90 seconds doingbreath work or 90 seconds
walking in the grass in yourbackyard, and they can actually
(05:18):
have a really positive impactand they're a lot easier to
start to weave into yourday-to-day life.
I'd also encourage you to thinkabout emotional or psychological
rest and what that means to havespaces where you can just let it
go, the pressures, the supposedto's, the have-to's, the mask
that many of us wear in order toget through our day, who we
(05:39):
think we need to be in thisworld or how we have to show up,
and be able to have spaces wherewe can be soft and vulnerable,
perhaps in the presence of otherloving, supportive people, or
perhaps just space where wealone can let go of all of these
incredible pressures that somany of us carry.
And being able to give us thatlittle breath, that little bit
of space to be free of thestriving.
(06:02):
And again, from a polyvagalnervous system perspective, that
sympathetic drive, that fight orflight energy can be very push,
do, make happen.
And really to rest, we need tobe able to let go of some of
that pressure and that striving.
And so being able to createpractices and whatever that
means to you, to be able to putall that down can be an
(06:23):
incredibly restful practice.
And I think that it's somethingthat many of us truly need,
especially in today's society.
I also would encourage you tothink about what social rest
means to you.
Many of us are replenished andrenewed by interacting with
people.
And yet many of us need to havesome downtime from those kinds
of interactions in order toreally replenish our energy
reserves.
And no matter what kind ofperson you are, having a little
(06:45):
bit of that downtime,particularly from, again, as I
mentioned before, screens, whichcan be very connecting for many,
but also very disconnecting inmany ways.
But also in thinking about thetypes of social relationships
that we have, we sometimes mayneed to really consciously take
a break from depleting ornegative relationships that we
have in our life.
And of course, sometimes this ishard to do.
(07:07):
Sometimes it's our family or afriend we've had for a long
time, or a boss or coworker, orsomeone else in a space where we
are regularly.
So consciously thinking abouthow I can take a social break to
restore and replenish when a lotof the drain is coming from
certain people or certain typesof people and being able to slow
down in such a way that you candisconnect from that and plug
(07:29):
into something that feels bettereven for a little while.
I would also encourage you tothink about what creative or
playful rest could look likebecause we do think about rest
as again, napping or slowingdown or disconnecting.
But rest in a creative orplayful way can mean engaging
with beauty and joy and musicand art and playful things,
(07:50):
having unstructured time to justbe.
It could just be sitting with apiece of art or a piece of
poetry, or even thinking aboutcreating something yourself.
And that kind of break can beincredibly replenishing when you
think about the reserves that wehave depleted in our day-to-day
lives.
Being able to consciously chooseto allow space for you to be
(08:14):
creative and to play can beincredibly beneficial.
And I would definitely put thatin the category of rest.
Certainly, there's types ofcreativity and play that may
feel less restful, that may alsobe very energetic.
I don't feel the need to makehard lines on that at this
particular moment, but justthinking about what kinds of
creativity and playfulness feelrestful for you, feel
(08:35):
rejuvenating for you.
We also live in a society wherethere's a lot of sensory
overload.
So I would encourage you tothink about what sensory rest
means for you.
Again, I've mentioned screens.
Certainly, this is one placewhere that could definitely
apply.
But also, if you think about thebright lights and the loud
noises that we have or theclutter, the physical clutter
(08:57):
that we surround ourselves with,sometimes being able to dim the
lights, lower all the noisinessin our life, maybe clear out a
little bit of a space for us,you know, maybe just clear off a
tabletop or something like thatcan allow a lot of easy
breathing, allow a lot ofrelease and relief to come with
that practice.
(09:18):
When you move into somethinglike decluttering, that could
sometimes feel veryoverwhelming.
But if you think about, well,how can I just do one small
piece that creates relief?
Like how can I stay in thatrelief space?
Again, I'm not talking aboutthis is active decluttering,
although that certainly couldsupport wellness in a lot of
ways.
But to think about, okay, if Ifold this blanket or put this
pillow nicely on the couch andmaybe clear off my end table or
(09:41):
something like that so that Icould sit in this space again
with that sense of relief, thatcould be a really beautiful
restful practice.
And if you consistently dothings like that, you may find
that over a long period of time,you actually may be able to
clear out some of your space andcreate more restful physical
spaces in your home.
And then the last type of restI'll be talking about, at least
for today, is what I'm thinkingof as ancestral or cultural
(10:04):
rest.
And I've touched on this in thelast few episodes about the
epigenetics of trauma, that weknow that trauma is carried
generation to generation and theexhaustion that many people
feel, many different cultures,particularly cultures where
their ancestors' labor has beenneeded for their ancestors to
(10:25):
survive.
So there's a drive that's innatein many cultures that I have to
keep working in order to keepgoing.
Otherwise, there might beactually some sort of life
threat that is in some of ourDNA.
And that can make rest reallychallenging.
And there's also ways toreconnect and create
generational healing.
Of course, there's generationaltrauma, but there's also
generational healing.
There is a both end there toacknowledge the pain and
(10:48):
suffering that we might becarrying, and also to empower us
to move towards being able toheal that and becoming conscious
around what can create ancestralor cultural rest for you and
your culture and where you comefrom.
Certainly, it's very unique toeach individual person and their
history, but I think it's reallyworth thinking about.
(11:08):
And some ways to do this mightbe to reclaim rituals from your
culture.
Maybe it's something that yougrew up doing, or your
grandparents orgreat-grandparents grew up
doing.
You heard about, maybe you neverpracticed it.
Uh, maybe it's something youactually had an aversion to
growing up, as a matter of fact,but now you're starting to think
about, maybe you're starting towonder now if it has a place in
your life.
(11:28):
That's a really beautifulpractice.
And also just the idea of namingthat this exhaustion that many
people carry with them is real.
And it's because of something weknow there's evidence, there's
research, there's proof.
As if we needed all that proof.
I think that people carryingthis and seeing this in so many
places and so many people and somany cultures and so many
(11:49):
communities is proof enough.
But now we have evidence thatthis is something that's
happening and to be able to namethat and that it's not that
somebody is crazy or lazy ormentally ill.
It's not that something is wrongwith somebody.
It's actually that we arecarrying these generations and
generations of pain and traumaand suffering.
(12:10):
And rest is one of the ways ofhealing those things, and being
able to name that and allow somemore space for rest that doesn't
just help you, but actuallyhelps your ancestors.
And they say it goes sevengenerations back and seven
generations forward, which Ifind to be a very heartwarming
statistic.
Uh, statistics not alwaysheartwarming, but to think that
something that you could dotoday for yourself heals that
(12:32):
many people in your lineage backand forwards, I think, is a
really beautiful thing.
And I also think aboutcollective rest, and this is
certainly in the realm ofancestral and cultural and
community rest that being ableto share safely still space with
others.
I recently had a reallybeautiful experience of this at
the polyvagal retreat that I wasat a few weeks ago.
(12:55):
I was invited to join someone insome sacred stillness and some
shared meditation practice, andit was really quite a beautiful
thing.
And there's many collectiveswhere that can happen in
different ways.
Like I said, meditationpractices and breath work
practices.
I'm starting a new training inthe new year for a breath work
practice, and they offer weeklycommunal breathing practices and
(13:18):
they talk about breathingtogether, which just sounds
truly delightful andreplenishing to me.
It's part of why I'm joiningtheir community.
I think it's a beautiful healingexperience and certainly
something that creates rest forme.
And you can think about whatcreates rest for you.
There's ways of prayingtogether, drumming together,
being present together.
That could be really healing.
(13:39):
And sometimes, if it feels lessreachable to think about your
own individual rest practices,sometimes joining a collective
or community practice could be areally beautiful place to start.
So in the next episode, I willbe talking practically and
giving ideas how you can startto incorporate rest into your
everyday life, even if takingnaps and sleeping late do not
(14:01):
feel like choices for you atthis very moment in your life
and they don't really fit intothe structure of your life right
now.
So I really encourage you tothink about rest as a conscious
choice, something you choose.
And it could be something youchoose to do, or something you
choose not to do, or somethingyou choose to get help with,
perhaps, that allows you to slowdown enough that you can be more
(14:23):
present and more attuned inorder to connect with yourself,
your body, your spirit, yourancestors, your community, the
greater world, so that you havean increased capacity to be able
to do all the things that youneed to do and that you want to
do.
Also, I think.
I hope.
As our time comes to a close, Iask you to keep listening for
(14:46):
just a few more moments becauseI want to thank you for showing
up today.
And I want to leave you with aninvitation as you hit stop and
move back out into the world onyour own unique wellness
journey.
In order to move from where youare today to the place where you
want to be, the path may seemlong or unclear or unknown.
And I want you to know that ifthat seems scary or daunting or
(15:10):
downright terrifying or anythingelse, that is totally okay.
Know that you do not have tocreate the whole way all at
once.
We don't travel a whole journeyin one stride.
And that is why my invitation toyou today is to take a step,
just one.
Any type, any size, in anydirection.
(15:30):
It can be an external step thatcan be observed or measured, or
it could be a step you visualizetaking in your mind.
It can be a step towards actionor towards rest or connection or
self-care or whatever step makessense to you.
I invite you to take a steptoday because getting to a place
that feels better, more joyful,more connected than the place
(15:52):
where you are today is possiblefor everyone, including you, and
even when depression is in yourbed.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, please subscribe so
you can be notified when eachweekly episode gets released.
I encourage you to leave areview and reach out to me on
social media attrish.sanders.lcsw.
(16:13):
Your feedback will help guidefuture episodes, and I love
hearing from you.
Also, please share this podcastwith anyone who you think may be
interested or who may getsomething from what I have
shared.
Until the next time we connect,take care of yourself and take a
step.
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