Recipes for Rest
Today’s post is an extract from the manual provided with my course on Leading Simple Yoga Nidras. Free subscribers get the introductory paragraphs, paid subscribers get a full list of guidelines for making the practice radically accessible and some further resources. This course runs only once a year or so and is always popular. This year it is running in person at Yoga Reading in June, then online for Nourish Yoga Training in September. Book early if you’re interested!
Leading students into a state of rest, however simple it may seem, is a subtle, profound art. It is also a skill that can be learned. When we understand the roots, development and structure at the heart of practices like savasana and yoga nidra , we can hold a much safer, inclusive space to welcome our students into resting well together. This is an act of kindness, and at best, one of justice.
For much of human history, the experience of resting safely has been denied to many. Many of us, no matter our level of personal privilege, education and resources, have trouble resting. Whilst yoga nidra is a practice that can lead to experiences of transcendence, healing and insight, one in which we can meet gods, ancestors and our deepest selves, I truly believe that the simple act of rest itself, offered in a context of reverent care, is both the most simple, and the most transformative practice of all.
Access to a high quality of rest, and the opportunity to dream well, in safe, nurturing settings, is everyone’s birthright. The barriers to accessing modern yoga that affect marginalised groups such as people of colour, disabled people, and the underpaid, can also be a factor in accessing high quality rest, and yoga nidra practices. To be clear, if you are working hard, not paid a lot, can’t lie in a traditional savasana, or just don’t feel welcome in yoga studios, you might also have disturbed rest, a need for more rest than others, and also find many yoga-related rest practices to be inaccessible. I believe we can do something to help. But like most justice-related teaching skills, this depends on our willingness to sit with the diversity and inequity of our students’ experiences, to listen to their stories and their needs, and to get creative and humble about serving them.
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