When I thought about starting the Resilience Rising Podcast, I had an initial list of people I wanted to approach as guests. It was long, and it has been added to many times since, but on that first list was James Reeves.
He is a yoga nidra teacher I came across a few years ago, and during lockdown, his monthly nidra and teaching on a Sunday evening was such a piece of calm, in what was a very turbulent time for us all. I am a yoga nidra teacher, and offer it in my work, but there are plenty of people who have never come across it before. I start by saying ‘it’s yoga but you don’t move’, so it’s often not what people expect from yoga. It’s a structured rest, like a meditation, lying or sitting in a comfortable position. It’s only a small part of what we discuss in this episode though.
James invites you the listener to just stop and do nothing for 5 minutes.
What comes up for you as you read that? Could you simply stop and do nothing? We talk about what might come up, the need for distraction, making a drink or checking your phone. We also talk about the feeling of not having the time for it, of it being lazy or unproductive. But James raises another barrier he sees, the fear of facing ourselves.
If you would have asked me to do this 10 years ago, I would have had such issues, I am sure. I was living life so fast-paced, taking barely any breaks in my work, no evenings off, and not even may weekends. It was unsustainable, and I reached burnout (which is the topic of episode 21).
But now? I have been forced so many times to stop that now I make it part of my day. I notice if I don’t. It’s not always long periods, maybe just those few minutes of pause between tasks. Maybe taking a break on a dog walk to sit down and stop. It gives me space and a clarity I can’t find in the rushing.
Last week I spent hours doing nothing. I went to the Lake District and stayed in Duddon Valley. I had a wild camp on the fells but in a spot with no phone reception. No phone, no wifi, no music, no distractions. I read two books, but I also spent hours just sitting immersed in the countryside. My thinking brain tried its best to keep telling me all the to-do lists I had, what I could be doing, the book and writing I could be editing. But I resisted its temptations. Most of the time I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking, just sat in the space of being.
I thought it would be easy to bring that new pace back home with me, but the reality is this week I slipped quickly back into old habits of the to-do lists, the measures of productivity, my phone next to me… it’s been hard to find the peace and stillness I enjoyed last week.
My invitation to you is to listen to the episode and then sit and do nothing, for 5 minutes. How did that feel?
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