7 Types of Rest: Physical Rest

For the next seven days we’ll be talking about the seven different types of rest and why you might be struggling even though “you’re taking care of yourself.”

Author Saundra Dalton-Smith outlines each in her book, “Sacred Rest.” There’s creative, mental, emotional, social, sensory, spiritual and physical rest, all of which serve a different purpose in your self-care toolkit.

Let’s dive into Physical Rest here.

Dalton-Smith defines PHYSICAL REST as “the chance to use the body in restorative ways to decrease muscle tension, reduce headaches, and promote higher quality sleep.”

This may be the type of rest we’re most familiar with, and most likely to turn to when we’re feeling a bit run down.

You can have moments of physical rest throughout your day (a 15-minute stretching session as soon as you get out of bed, taking a break to meditate before you make dinner, etc.)

However, I know that one of the biggest areas SuiteHearts struggle with is getting a good night’s sleep.

I can recommend a good weighted blanket or some herbal tinctures that make good, deep sleep only a few moments away. But the reason why so many of us struggle to get the rest we deserve is because we can’t let go of the day’s challenging moments that we replay over and over in our minds as we wait for sleep to overtake us.

A tip:

When I'm struggling with something heavy that threatens to interfere with my sleep, my therapist taught me to ask, "Who can hold [this issue] while I rest?"

Honey, it changed the whole game.

Sometimes the answer is God. Sometimes it's a best friend. Sometimes its the pages of your journal. Sometimes it's the promise of an upcoming therapy session.

The point is to consider yourself as part of a collective moving through the universe.

I recognized that I tend to carry everything I'm feeling by myself (the whole reason I was *in* therapy) and when my therapist gave me permission to set everything down...I felt so free. I damn near floated out of that session.

Here’s the full exercise, if this sounds appealing to you:

• First, select three “life guides” who you can imagine walking this journey with you. This can be an ancestor, a fictional character you feel drawn to, or a religious figure.

• Then hold the troubling/challenging thought in your mind. Is it heavy? Does it feel a bit overwhelming?

• Now imagine your guides (either just one or all of them) standing beside you with their arms out to hold whatever you give them. Imagine them whispering to you, “I am strong enough to hold it.”

• Relax your body as you imagine the transfer of the problem to their (figurative) shoulders. Know that they are working on the problem as you rest. Keep your eyes closed.

Good night.

How did this exercise hit your spirit?

More in the REST series: