I coach busy women using yoga nidra meditation, a sleep-based guided meditation technique that helps them get the rest they need and wake up. Wake up to their leadership, to the unique contribution they want to share with the world, and ultimately to the truth of who they are.
Many of these women feel they have more mastery at doing than being.
They're nervous about showing up for themselves, trusting their choices, and making mistakes. They're often sad, nervous, feel they're carrying everything on their shoulders, and secretly refer to themselves as exhausted wounded women.
They're desperately seeking to return to their sweet spot. They want more energy and more satisfying relationships.
They want to have their brains back.
But at the crux of it all, most women today are deeply, profoundly exhausted.
They don't feel they have permission to rest and just be.
They can't just go to a coach and get their life back on track because they're too tired. Their ability to dream big and think clearly is weighed down by a chronic cycle of fatigue and they don't know how to get out of it.
I was this woman. And then I found yoga nidra meditation, called 'an antidote for modern life', and for the first time in my life I became the well-rested woman.
The Well-Rested Woman prefers authentic to perfect. She try to get good sleep but sometimes she knows that sometimes, like in those early days of motherhood or when a deadline for a project is near, it's not practical -- and that's okay, she doesn't sling self-hatred her way for not getting enough sleep. Instead, The Well-Rested Woman lives by a set of principles that help her feel more rested and allow her nervous system and life to stay in balance.
The Well-Rested Woman appreciates the power of lying down and when she practices the art of lying, she uses this time to check in instead of check out.
Yoga nidra meditation is the art of conscious relaxation. It takes you to sleep consciously which is why I like to call it "meditation with a cherry on top" for women because you sleep to wake up; to live to your full potential. The full bodied yum.
I've been taking field notes for years on the art of the well-rested woman. Below are my notes.
1 Pray From Your Heart. Way too often women who do a lot are in overwhelm mode praying from their heads. "I desire to get fit" or "to loose weight." Bring it down, sister, to your heart by asking yourself how you want to feel. What's the deeper hunger inside of you that wants to be nourished? When you listen to your heart that's when you can be your most authentic self. Yoga nidra invites you into a relationship with your heart, calming the overwhelm of thoughts in your mind, and pointing you to an inner peace that's unshakable.
3 Be Brave. What scares you? Go there. Our lives are like onions. Every layer reveals a truth. Don't ignore your layers and hide from your truths - like anger, fear...and even joy. I know it's scary. Yet if you're going to step into your full potential you have to be willing to be brave. There's no halfway road. Either you're in or not. Yoga nidra teaches us that whatever we're willing to be brave about we can go beyond.
4 Welcome Everything. Think of all the hours you live in an either/or mentality. Real transformation comes when you can drop the false idea that you're separate. If you're angry, try welcoming both anger and the opposite of anger at the same time. This will give you a direct path back to unity, harmony, and oneness. We all crave oneness. That's why we love orgasms. An orgasm is that place where you release your separation and say "Hell Yes!" to it all. Yoga nidra meditation is an invitation to live in this "Hell Yes!" spot.
5 Follow Your Full-Bodied Yum. Ultimately you have to ask yourself do I want a full bodied yum or yuck life? Brave women who welcome everything just as it is intuitively know when their life is a yuck or a yum. Why not follow the yum? Following your full bodied yum is an everyday practice. When you feel yuck you've got to be brave enough to shift gears and follow the yum. The mistake women make way too often is staying in yuck to please others. Being the Good Girl. Believing your not worth the full bodied yum. The full bodied yum is your true nature. Yoga nidra is a pointer to your true nature, like a whisper reminding you that you're worth it.
6 Create Sisterhood. A circle of women offers a safe space to remind you of the importance of coming home to your true nature, that full bodied yum spot. Because it's so easy to forget. To think: what was that yum again? Sisterhood support helps you sleep better and reduces anxiety. But be careful, too often women gather with other women who aren't like-minded. Your sisterhood must be committed to the same cause: permission to rest. The Well-Rested Woman sisterhood reminds you that rest is the remedy, the first level of surrender to the full bodied yum. Sisterhood gives you a posse of women to make mistakes, celebrate victories together, and be wild with.
7 Put Your Oxygen Mask On First. Too often women feel like they need a permission slip to rest. We tend to put the needs of everybody in the universe before our own. It's understandable, but ridiculous, unsustainable, and exhausting. We are needed. I'm talking big beautiful authentic game-changing work of giving to our families, communities, and the world. But we can't do it if we're depleted and burnt out. So please, make sure you put your oxygen mask on first. Then you can serve others from a place of fullness. Ultimately yoga nidra teaches us that when we serve ourselves we serve all others.
Please, talk to me in the comments below. I'd love to hear what field note resonates with you and how you're trying to be a more well-rested woman.
Be good to yourself,
Karen