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In her foll0w-up to Pause, Rest, Be, activist, relaxation coach, and yoga trainer Octavia F. Raheem quietly but powerfully attracts you into an alternate world. Rest Is Sacred: Reclaiming Our Brilliance Through the Practice of Stillness contains “sutras” composed of poetic musings that not solely remind you to come back again to your self however compel you to take action. Her insightful murmurings are designed to be learn in seconds but profoundly affect every of the minutes, hours, and days that comply with. It’s advocacy work of the very best order that’s outlined not by shouting however slightly whispering simply loud sufficient for one thing unnameable inside you to listen to.
These are the phrases of somebody who is aware of what it takes to quiet the demons of busyness. And these are the intentions of somebody who is aware of that change is made on a much more built-in stage than logic. Fairly than preaching, she empathizes. Fairly than instructing, she invitations.
Because the title asserts, relaxation is sacred. And so are Raheem’s phrases. —Renee Marie Schettler
1.1
The place do you begin with give up?
You don’t know,
so that you place your one hand into your different hand,
you sit at the hours of darkness,
you don’t transfer.
You discover your breath.
After I train, I usually ask folks to contemplate
Who or what’s respiratory you?
What’s the breath inside your breath?
So that you take into account who or what’s respiratory you,
what’s the true supply of your breath.
You discover the chair is holding you.
You’re feeling the stability of that embrace.
You do that for one minute,
and that’s one minute of refuge.
1.2
That’s the place you begin.
A second of give up.
A stroll by way of the labyrinth of time.
A glimpse of the middle
the acceptance that this path
and journey usually are not linear.
It’s a spiral.
Therapeutic just isn’t a straight line.
1.3
Discover or make a method to be light
along with your life
and self.
Discover a approach
to launch your grip
from the deal with of all the time doing.
You’ve gotten pushed sufficient.
You’ve gotten achieved greater than sufficient.
Collect your power.
Place it on the altar
in service to your softness
in service to give up
in service to mendacity down.
1.4
To lie down is an influence,
a spot to crumble
and be knit again collectively.
Come right here
and be undone.
Be woven, made new.
Cease hiding in that coat
labeled I’m too busy.
See that you simply
you’re a holy physique.
Launch the sweater of fatigue.
Be lined by supple and durable threads,
untangled and sensible.
That is who you are supposed to be.
1.5
You’ve gotten been ready for you
to lie down, get tucked in,
and say to your self that’s sufficient for now.
Nobody else on the planet can say that for you.
Moreover, you wouldn’t imagine them.
Soften your gaze
Take a full breath
Launch your shoulders
repeatedly.
Inform your self what you most want to listen to.
Give your self permission to relaxation.
From Rest Is Sacred © 2024 by Octavia F. Raheem. Reprinted in association with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com.