We all like the idea of rest, and we want to rest, so how come sometimes it feels so hard?

It's because there’s a lot of cultural conditioning around whether it’s actually okay to rest. 

Because of this ⬆️ Nervous system patterns often link productivity with safety, so learning how to rest involves unlearning social pressures and relearning a sense of safety in relaxation and rest.

This is where Soft Strength: How to Rest, comes in! 

This is the next course in my winter learning series. If you're interested in bundling it with the upcoming Train With Your Cycle course for a discount (they complement each other well!), there is information on that further down the page.

Resting sounds simple but there is actually a lot that our bodies are up against when trying to unwind.  

These are a few of the common factors that we'll be exploring in this course: 

• We may not know what kind of rest we need. Resting isn't just taking naps – though sometimes it is. Sometimes we need active rest, like the Active Recovery days in Ski Babes. Other times we might need space from stimulation, or social time to coregulate with others. We’ll explore how to recognize and access the type of rest that feels most supportive.

• Unlearning high activation patterns. A very common nervous system pattern that involves overcoupling (a body association) between activation and safety. The body feels most protected in a high activation state. The “up” side of the nervous system wave is fast and easy, but then the nervous system doesn’t feel safe coming down. Repatterning the nervous system so it feels safe enough to rest involves learning to ride down the “backside” of an activation wave. Here's an illustration: 

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• How to notice and complete incomplete stress cycles. Sometimes, before our body is able to rest, the nervous system needs to complete something—perhaps to complete a stress cycle or process the charge it’s holding. 
• Why rest sometimes feels unpleasant. We’ll explore this, along with how, while rest sounds lovely, it doesn’t always feel that way. When we take away our busyness and productivity, we’re often left with other things that have been active in the system, things we may not have paid attention to. Productivity can sometimes be a coping strategy for managing nervous system activation, so moving straight to rest can feel uncomfortable. We’ll discuss how to work with this, titrate it, and help the nervous system feel safe in rest.
• The magic that can happen after rest - when we can access rest and an internal orientation that feels safe in doing less, we free ourselves from the cultural pressures of constant performance and “go mode.” Amazing things often happen after rest.

Here’s the challenge: our modern world asks A LOT of us.

And we’re not making up the very real threats to our communities, our bodies, and the environment.

So how are we supposed to relax and take care of ourselves, when the future of our reproductive rights and wild spaces are at risk?

The key isn’t to stop caring or avoid these very real realities.

Instead, we learn how to: 

1. Land safety in the body when it is present – so that your animal body can release its hypervigilance and have more moments of relaxation and relaxed alertness. 
2. Corregulate with nature and others – so that your body knows it’s not alone and is able to attune to the support and resource it has around it.
3. Access your healthy aggression – so that your body knows it can protect itself if it needs to, and the flow of lifeforce can move through you. 
4. Learn how to ride the backside of a nervous system activation wave - so that we can experience regenerative rest and keep going without burning out or giving up.

Learning & practice

Course flow is designed to support your embodied integration of the concepts and give you lots of space this busy time of year. 

• Weekly Content uploads for 4 weeks
  • Tuesdays beginning December 3
  • New learning modules and guided practices added weekly

• One optional, live call to ask questions and/or receive support 
  
  • This will be on Tuesday Dec 10 @ 4pm AK/8pm ET  
  • Call will be recorded and posted 
• Bonus Pre-submitted Q&A recording to be released the week of Dec 16. 
• Online community space for discussion & integration
• Access in perpetuity to all shared resources