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In her foll0w-up to Pause, Rest, Be, activist, rest coach, and yoga teacher Octavia F. Raheem quietly yet powerfully draws you into an alternate world. Rest Is Sacred: Reclaiming Our Brilliance Through the Practice of Stillness comprises “sutras” composed of poetic musings that not only remind you to come back to yourself but compel you to do so. Her insightful murmurings are designed to be read in seconds yet profoundly influence each of the minutes, hours, and days that follow. It’s advocacy work of the highest order that’s defined not by shouting but rather whispering just loud enough for something unnameable within you to hear.
These are the words of someone who knows what it takes to quiet the demons of busyness. And these are the intentions of someone who knows that change is made on a far more integrated level than logic. Rather than preaching, she empathizes. Rather than instructing, she invites.
As the title asserts, rest is sacred. And so are Raheem’s words. —Renee Marie Schettler
1.1
Where do you start with surrender?
You don’t know,
so you place your one hand into your other hand,
you sit in the dark,
you don’t move.
You notice your breath.
When I teach, I often ask people to consider
Who or what is breathing you?
What is the breath within your breath?
So you consider who or what is breathing you,
what is the true source of your breath.
You notice the chair is holding you.
You feel the steadiness of that embrace.
You do this for one minute,
and that’s one minute of refuge.
1.2
That’s where you start.
A moment of surrender.
A walk through the labyrinth of time.
A glimpse of the center
the acceptance that this path
and journey are not linear.
It is a spiral.
Healing is not a straight line.
1.3
Find or make a way to be gentle
with your life
and self.
Find a way
to release your grip
from the handle of always doing.
You have pushed enough.
You have done more than enough.
Gather your strength.
Place it on the altar
in service to your softness
in service to surrender
in service to lying down.
1.4
To lie down is a power,
a place to fall apart
and be knit back together.
Come here
and be undone.
Be woven, made new.
Stop hiding in that coat
labeled I’m too busy.
See that you
you are a holy body.
Release the sweater of fatigue.
Be covered by supple and sturdy threads,
untangled and brilliant.
This is who you are meant to be.
1.5
You have been waiting for you
to lie down, get tucked in,
and say to yourself that’s enough for now.
No one else in the world can say that for you.
Besides, you would not believe them.
Soften your gaze
Take a full breath
Release your shoulders
again and again.
Tell yourself what you most need to hear.
Give yourself permission to rest.
From Rest Is Sacred © 2024 by Octavia F. Raheem. Reprinted in arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc. Boulder, CO. www.shambhala.com.
