Day 13: Resetting the Nervous System
This is a call to REST
Today, it’s time to turn the dial back a bit and breathe, connect, and release some resonant tension in the body.
Yesterday we talked about how you, as a human being, are a product of nature. You are a naturally occurring inhabitant of planet earth.
And, just as nature cycles through seasons, just as the moon has cycles of fullness and emptiness, you also have cycles of energy and rest.
Now, depending on when you meet this program, this cycle may be slightly different for you.
But as we are today, it is a new moon. And the new moon is an important call to rest – each and every month. It is a call to go inward, reflect, and let yourself be a little sleepy. It is a time to slow down and do less. Or maybe, do nothing at all.
Today, we’re going to begin 5 days of rest by introducing the two states of autonomic nervous system activation:
- Fight, flight, freeze – sympathetic nervous system
- Rest, digest, heal – parasympathetic nervous system
Over the next few days, you will begin to get a clear picture of what REST really means. You will do this by bringing the body from fight, flight, freeze (that’s the grit work you’ve been doing) into rest, digest, heal.
It takes practice, yogi. Do your best to be patient. Give the practice the time it needs to work.
And be willing to get bored.
Listen, you cannot be a whole, healthy human being without conscious, active rest. This process is incredibly important for the human body.
Without enough rest, your body will get sick. And I’m not referring to head colds.
Journal Prompt
You may remember back on day 7, when you journaled on the ways in which you rest. Today, I want you to go back to that worksheet and see what you wrote.
As you go through the following 5 days of rest, begin to keep track of the ways in which we practice, move, breathe, and restore. What do you notice about your body before and after class?
Was there one practice that felt nicer than the others? Write notes in your journal for the next new moon, or the next time your feeling that call to slow down.
