The current astrology (eclipse season) has been telling me (and maybe, you, too?) to rest. It’s been advising me to clear out the excess in my schedule and prepare for unexpected delays. No one would have to try very hard to convince me to take it easy. I DO know I need a lot of rest. I have worked very hard at resting more because I have come to understand my own flow of action and stillness more thoroughly. When I am in “go” mode, I can accomplish in a few hours what would take other people days. Not to say I’m the fastest in the west or anything, though who knows, maybe I am. I am, at least, sometimes the most precise-in-action in the room. And if nothing else, I can have some really fantastic bursts of creative and motivated prowess. As for the current astrological sky, I know this important rest has to do with some new offerings in the works for Ephemeral Movement (among some other channels). I’ve got a very serious creative and logistical mountain to climb and it’s one step at a time. For now, this time is for dreaming it up, laying it out, and laying myself out to go as slow as I possibly can before I take to the proverbial trails and ascend this new, uncharted territory.
This space I’m cultivating for rest will see not only my projects, but my overall health and wellbeing through to the other side. With that, my creativity is protected so that it is able to flourish. I speak of creativity as an essential need in my life, and ultimately in yours, because it is what drives humanity to connect with the world around us. And it brings a special something to our souls. A common and untrue sentence that devalues our self-worth is, “I’m not creative”. I’ve heard plenty of people say this throughout my life. This is NEVER true. We are all innately creative. Skill-craft, dance, song, storytelling, art were all culturally entangled into the daily lives of humans before the industrial revolution. What differs is where and how we focus our creative energy. What differs is how much we have cultivated our creative skills. Problem-solving is one of the most basic creative actions, and all of us, every day, in all of our different skills have to use problem-solving to get through our work, our passions, our meals. Take creativity beyond it’s daily necessity for survival and we enter the realm of creative expression. This is the realm of open possibility. One thing holding us back is a mind closed to change, to transition, to the natural unfolding of discovery. Another thing in the way is all the do-ing.
Why, then, can rest be suggested as a doorway to creative expression? We need to slow down and reduce stimuli to get to an integrated place where we are experiencing our mediums fluidly. In our modern culture we experience nearly constant stimuli and stressors. Having a pocket device that is an alarm clock, a planner, a computer, a camera, a phone, a game system, our social exchange, and more, means we never truly turn off. Most people I’m around have their phone ringer on at all times, and many have app notifications set to alert them as well. My husband has reminder sounds–so I have to hear that he’s gotten a text twice, if not more times, when his phone, watch, and iPad are all in the same room. Personally, that would drive me insane (and, for the record, it does). My phone is mainly (not all) just that: a phone. I have my ringer off and only accept notifications from an astro app I enjoy the mindful reminders from. But even I struggle with picking up my phone and mindlessly checking my email or social media. Supposedly, the average American spends 4.5 hours on their phone a day (I heard teenagers spend upwards of 7 hours a day).
FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. That’s 2 movies. That’s a seminar. That’s probably meal-planning and making those meals for a week. That’s how many chapters in a good book? That’s how many hours of your vitality doing what? That’s definitely an entire sewing project making a pair of pants. Just imagine what you could accomplish if you saved up all that time for something that puts your creative brain into flow state? It’s an amazing amount of time. What if that was just four and a half hours of rest throughout the day; 5 minutes to spritz the face and do some light facial care in the morning to wake up, 10 minutes of watching the light change out the window while you drink your coffee, 20 minutes of lazy journaling, 20 minutes for an afternoon nap, 45 minutes reading a book after lunch, 20 minutes of doodling and daydreaming, 10 minutes sipping a cup of herbal tea, 30 minutes of stretching and 30 minutes of exercise, 30 minutes for a dreamy phone-call with a good friend, and 20 minutes to listen to some of your favorite music while you lay on your back in the living room. That’s 4 hours. That is a speed of life that I know so many desire. How do we get it?
Can we really just reach out and touch a slower life if we put down our phones and stop scrolling? But, and how? When we get such an immediate dopamine high from a device and we feel we don’t have a lot of time, it’s the easiest fix. When there is always a project, chores, work, or someone vying for our attention, how do we say, “no, thank you, not today”? And if you’re a people-pleaser, this is probably exceptionally hard for you. Can we compartmentalize our people-pleasing? Maybe if we acknowledge we aren’t very pleasurable when we are feeling foul from being exhausted or we’d rather be doing something else.
It’s simple to suggest that it would be easy to take that time we spend on our phones or completing some fantasy-of-importance task and turn it into rest. It’s an interesting experiment to attempt. I’ve read over 6 books in the last few months because I’ve been trying this out (reading is typically my right before bed practice and was replacing TV time). That’s a record for me in the last handful of years. Of course, there are seasons in life. What season are you in? Are you ready to embody a more creative life? I wonder how rest would help you do so?
The month of April is about going slow to gather energy for the next big, life-changing to-do’s of the year. Empty the calendar where possible. Take a little off the plate. If you’re joining in this practice my only advice is to breathe into your roots and root into your resting. Whatever that means to you.
The following is a practice to try.
Root into Rest Practice:
Find a comfortable position, seated or laying down and take deep, relaxed breaths until you are naturally breathing comfortably on your own. Locate and elongate your spine. Envision there is a golden thread rooting downward through your pelvis into the earth and the other end is lightly lifting you up towards the sky, the top of your head floating effortlessly. Allow your tongue to sit relaxed at the top of your mouth, release any tension in your jaw and eyes. Breathe into this space you’ve created in your body. Imagine a golden, glowing light throughout and radiating outward. Each inhale you bring up through the earth and each exhale more golden glitter puffs out around you, dancing in the air like dust particles in the sunlight. Breathe like this until you and the space around you is well-dusted and immersed in the golden, glowing, glitter and you are comfortably rooted to this restful place on the earth. Be here as long as you like. When you feel done, take a few breaths to return to a more active body and witness the space you are in. Look around at it, releasing your head and body back to a pedestrian state. Maybe some toe wiggles, shoulder rolls, head tilts. When you’re ready, you can get up and go about your day taking this restful moment with you.
Ephemeral Movement 