It’s Time to Meet Your Well-Rested Woman
Well-Rested Woman (n): a woman who has left behind exhaustion and living at her limit by committing to self-care practices that refresh and recharge her. She lives in fullness, so that even when life is challenging or depleting, she has the reserves and resiliency to be her best self – wise, compassionate, strong, and free.
Daring to Rest™ is a 40-day program to erase exhaustion and reclaim your power and purpose using yoga nidra meditation. As a Daring to Rest™ facilitator, I guide other women in recovering their well-rested woman. Interested? Sign up to be notified when our next Rest Circle is forming!
My Yoga Nidra Story
I discovered yoga nidra meditation eight months after my twins were born. I hadn’t slept through the night in over a year, many days only getting three or four hours of sleep total. To say I was tired is an understatement. I was not only physically and mentally exhausted, but I was less and less able to regulate my emotional state. Even when I had the opportunity to take a nap, I rarely could get to sleep because I was in a state of constant high alert and I wouldn’t have time for my mind to quiet down before a baby woke up again.
I began to practice yoga nidra daily as part of Karen Brody’s Daring to Rest™ program, a 40-day program for women to break the cycle of fatigue and reclaim their power using yoga nidra. The first thing I noticed was how refreshed I would feel after my afternoon yoga nidra nap (only 15 minutes a day at first). It helped me find the energy and mental clarity I needed to finish out the day. In a life now lived in service to my children, it felt significant that I was taking this time for myself – any inkling of guilt that I should be doing the dishes or cleaning up toys was soon replaced by my fierce determination to have my yoga nidra practice. It quickly became essential.
After beginning my yoga nidra practice, I soon noticed important shifts in my mood and overall well being. I felt more emotionally balanced, better able to respond instead of react; my problem-solving and creativity flowed more easily; I had more patience and humor with my husband and children; and I felt full of energy, happy to take on the tasks of the day instead of feeling dragged down by them.
Epilogue
In the span of less than three years, I had met and married my husband and our three children were born. I did my best in my new role as wife, mother, and homemaker, but I didn’t know how to properly balance self-care with the demands of my life, and as physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion took hold, I went into survival mode and could no longer see the blessings that surrounded me. My usual approach of “just push on through” was not working anymore. Yoga nidra offered me the thing I needed most – a place to lay down all that I was carrying until I was ready to pick it up again.
As I shed my worn-out woman, I rediscovered my better self. I may still have my tired and “off” days, but I have the strengthened inner resilience to move through them with greater ease.
Whatever is happening in your life – whatever transition you are navigating, whatever challenges and blessings life is throwing at you, however it is that you need support to move forward – yoga nidra offers a place to lay down what you’re carrying until you’re ready to pick it up again.