When you receive this I will be halfway through a yoga retreat in Mexico … my first unplugged vacation in about 8 years! Yikes 🙈 (and yay!).

As I write to you now, I’m actually still at home in Oakland in the midst of packing and details before I leave, so I thought I would invite us all into a practice of rest and play. Those are two of my intentions for my retreat, and if I could have a wish for my future, next week, self it’s that she is experiencing both of those things when you receive this (I’ll let you know on the flipside).

I wanted to extend that invitation to all of you too … to rest and play … they are so important for daily life, not just vacation life. Will you join me?

I’m not sure about you, I seem to be more practiced in remembering to rest. I forget to play way more than I’d like to think about. It’s really natural that we may be more oriented to one over the other. Perhaps we can bring some balance in and let them both share the space this week.

What are some of your favorite ways to play?

Rest is an interesting one too … it doesn’t actually mean pushing and pushing and “resting” when you finally crash. That is crashing, and if that’s you (it’s definitely me sometimes), I wonder what active rest feels like to you. Is that more sleep or is that taking a walk or a creative project, or something else entirely?

I love this quote from Octavia Raheem:

“A rested body is a free body.
A rested heart is a liberated heart.
A mind at ease, is a mind that can change any paradigm.”

Seems worth it to me. Like really really worth it.

My invitation to you is to find at least one way to practice rest and one way to practice play this week. Be creative. May it bring you joy and offer some nourishment to your heart. If you’re called to share, hit reply, I would truly love to hear your ideas.

With joy and love from the jungle 🌴