The Yin and Yang of Well-being
We all know that movement is medicine! Or as the physiotherapist at my practice says, “motion is lotion”. If physical activity was a tablet we would all be on it!
But what of rest? Where does that fit into the mix?
Often when patients have viral respiratory infections (common cold for example) we can focus on not prescribing antibiotics and forget to mention rest.
Rest, should not be confused with sedentary behaviour.
Sedentary behaviour is “a distinct class of behaviour characterised by little physical movement and low energy expenditure in a sitting or reclining position for a prolonged period of time”.
Rest is not lazy and at times is necessary. Time out for body, mind and soul. However, resting can take on different forms at different times in our week and at different times in our lives. Our individual lives have stress points that are unique for us all.
What format does rest look like for me?
- Friday nights are not the party fuelled events of my 20s or even 30s. I am usually duty doctor on a Friday afternoon and when I come home I am pretty spent. I usually eat, watch a little bit of “bubble gum for my brain” TV and have early night. This pattern has changed a lot since I stopped drinking. I used to have a couple of glasses of wine on a Friday night. I no longer miss the impact that has on my Saturdays. I wake early and often have yoga very early.
- For others, the social interactions from going out and spending time with others is an equally valid form of a break and rest. Connections and Laughter are forms of rest too – break from the weariness.
3. Sunday mornings are my favourite slow days and again more enjoyable with no alcohol to detox from. I love a “hurkle durkle” on a Sunday.
4. In fact I love the rest, ritual and calm of my mornings. My coffee moment. The weekday morning “coffee calm” is not long but enough to daydream, pause and gratitude journal (not every morning). This is a short rest, a pause before the day begins.
5. Alone time – quiet time simply not talking. Sometimes it’s nice to sit and be alone with your thoughts. Today I went for a coffee by myself, my “CEO meeting table for one” and my journal.
6. Yoga time -Yin Tuesdays. Holding for time. In yin or restorative yoga – we hold postures for time. This quiet repose can be both challenging and restful simultaneously. Our bodies can be still and our minds might be shouting or chattering. Over the course of an hour it can quieten down and become more restful.
7. At other times, particularly when mental rest is required, movement might be better. One of my dear friends likes to get out for a stomp in nature to clear her mind. I remember going on the cross trainer and it took me 15 minutes to come out of my head and become aware of the activity itself. Similarly, recently discovered that cleaning and tidying the home – can rest and declutter my mind as well as creating a restful environment at home. The ritual and familiar poses of a dynamic, vinyasa style of yoga – combines movement and connection of body mind and soul. This movement brings my snow globe of mental chaos to stillness – I find rest here.
8. Moving rest can be fleeting too – like standing up, taking your eyes away from the computer screen for one minute. Breaking the sedentary behaviour and resting the eyes.
Life has become super charged and we empty our barrels of emotional and physical energies quicker than we can restore them. We run on empty – all the time. Sometimes the “rest” needs to take on larger types of projects. I recall once in Edinburgh, walking through St Andrew’s square with a friend and was feeling drained by the lifestyle I was living at that time. I wanted something different, a new direction. It was almost as though I was Marie Kondoing my life – what I was doing was no longer giving me joy. The “rest” was letting go of one version of me and embracing a new one.
So Love You:
What is in your rest first aid kit?
What fuel do you need?
What type of rest do you need at different times in your day and week?
Does your rest give you zest?
Love you: Health and Well-being with Lorraine 