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Blog - Sacred Rest

As we officially begin to pass over the threshold into the darker months of the year. This is the time in which we “fall back,” manually adjusting our clocks an hour behind to try to catch just a little more light on shorter days.

It is very likely that with these changes in the seasons, you may also experience seasonal shifts within yourself. Perhaps you notice yourself feeling tired and ready for bed hours earlier than you did in the summer, or maybe when the alarm goes off in the morning it can be a struggle not to hit the snooze button three or four times due to your room still being dark and your bed feeling extra cozy this time of the year.

This is a completely normal thing to experience, and matter of factly, it is our biological design.

It is important to remember that considering the span of human history, our modern industrial way of life is truly but a blip on the time scale. While we may be in the age of rapidly advancing technology that makes our lives much easier and wildly different than those of our ancestors, our biological makeup is still essentially the same as humans who lived thousands of years ago.

The reason we tend to feel more sleepy this time of year is due to several factors. Firstly, it is because the light changes have an impact on our circadian rhythm, which is our body’s attunement to a 24-hour cycle and regulates many of our bodily functions, including that of our wake-sleep cycle and works in alignment with the day-night cycle. Therefore, as we experience more night versus daylight, our body wants to sleep longer and requires more rest. However, if we think about how our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have lived, the winter would have been a harsher time for survival with food being more scarce and the body needing to fight harder to regulate body temperature. Spending more time in a restful state would have been highly beneficial in conserving precious energy during darker and colder months.

Even more interesting, according to a German study, it has been found that despite the fact that we live in a world where we experience a lot of artificial light, which can disrupt sleeping patterns due to the fact it suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone needed to maintain our internal circadian “clock,” our bodies still adjust to a seasonal variation in our circadian rhythm. The study, “which detailed sleep recordings of 188 patients who lived in urban settings and suffered from disturbed sleep patterns, found that even when exposed primarily to artificial lights, the participants experienced seasonal variations in REM sleep, which is directly linked to our circadian rhythm. In fact, the participants slept an hour longer in December than in June.”

However, while this may be our biological design, our modern culture and way of life may not always be in alignment with our natural rhythms. In a time where productivity is prized, we are often discouraged from slowing down or allowing ourselves to rest. We are expected to still maintain high levels of energetic output throughout every season, which can make us feel disconnected from our body throughout the winter.

But what would it look like if we choose to prioritize rest, or even make it a sacred act? A beautiful act of devotion to our self care and nourishment as we move through the dark half of the year? While we acknowledge that complete and total hibernation during the winter is not necessarily realistic (though we wish!), we invite you to explore with us how we might weave sacred rest into our day to day lives so that we may live in alignment with this season.

Photo by Derek Liang on Unsplash

Tending to Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue, which is an umbrella term to describe symptoms often linked to chronic stress in the body and impact the ability for the adrenal glands to balance hormones. Being exposed to artificial light not only can disrupt our circadian rhythm, but it can also contribute to adrenal fatigue due to sleep disruption, which can add to our body’s level of stress.

One of the primary factors of adrenal fatigue is due to elevated cortisol levels, which are hormones that support the body in managing stress. If we find ourselves in a constant state of “fight or flight,” which is often the case in our modern society when we are constantly juggling a plethora of tasks throughout the day with minimal support systems, are chasing deadlines, or are always on the go, this does not allow our body to release cortisol. This can lead to such things as increased anxiety, burn out, or chronic fatigue, and can impact our overall wellness.

Adrenal fatigue is very common these days, and when we continue to maintain high levels of productivity and energy output in the winter months, this can keep us in these high stress levels. However, as the beautiful adage states, “a flower is not expected to bloom year-round,” so why should you be?

A way to bring an act of sacred rest into tending to adrenal fatigue is through the sacred act of saying no. Give yourself the gift of removing things from your plate, to make more space for rest and prioritizing your own self care and allowing cortisol levels to decrease.

Photo by Ann Danilina on Unsplash

Tending the Lymphatic System

If our body is in a constant state of stress and fatigue, this can also break down our ability to fight off illness and infection, which of course is more prevalent to spread in the winter months. One way we can keep our body in tip-top condition throughout the winter months is by tending to our lymphatic system, which is responsible for helping our body remain in a state of homeostasis. This is done through a system of lymph nodes, which act as little filters throughout the body to help remove waste, and also fight off harmful pathogens or bacteria that may enter the body.

Juicy tending of the lymphatic system can be a beautiful act not only of self care, but of sacred rest as well. Here are a couple of ways:

  • Warm and Cold Therapy: Shifting from warm to cold, such as a cold shower before a sauna (or even better, moving from a cold pool to a warm pool at one of the beautiful hot springs around our state!) is deeply restorative to the lymphatic system. This is due the fact that these support the body in reducing inflammation, helping reduce lymphatic fluid build up, relieving pain, improving circulation, and so much more.
  • Lymphatic Massage: Sometimes our lymph nodes need a little extra help moving fluid and build up throughout the body, and massage can be supportive for this! Make this delicious and sacred by perhaps infusing your own herbal oil and asking the herbs to be your allies in your intention for deep rest and care. You may also consider investing in a gua sha, which can be a gorgeous tool for helping drain the lymph nodes in your face and neck, and it also feels amazing!
  • Breath Work: Never underestimate the power of your own breath. This can be deeply helpful for helping us to feel grounded, and move chi, or life force, throughout the body. Taking deep breaths can also help oxygenate the blood, which is supportive to our lymphatic system in helping maintain homeostasis.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

A Wind Down Practice

Finally, an aspect of sacred rest is making it routine and integrated into our daily lives.

So often we move from one thing to another throughout our day, such as work, to taking kiddos to practice, to whipping up dinner, etc, essentially being “on the go” from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed. While it can be tricky to weave in elements of rest in our busy lives, we wanted to offer a few ways to support incorporating the act of “winding down” before going to sleep:

  • Sacred Pause: Sometimes we can’t help the fact we have a long to do list each day, and it can make it difficult for us to truly carve out time to focus on rest. So take it in bite size chunks – can you take a minute or two to take some deep breaths before beginning a new task? While at your child’s baseball practice, can you take a moment to pause and truly feel your feet grounded on the earth, or listen for a bird song before we enter the quiet months? Where can you take a few moments to just pause and allow deep presence?
  • Creating the Environment for Rest: By being intentional in building space for rest, this can allow us to sink into it more deeply. This can be done by supporting our circadian rhythm by doing things such as turning down lights in the evening, or avoiding blue light after dinner. Perhaps we take a walk to enjoy the sunset and start signaling to our body it is time to move into rest. We also covered ways in which to incorporate more coziness into your life in our September Post!
  • Working with Herbs that Promote Rest: We can again turn to our herbal allies in creating sacred rest practices. Perhaps part of your wind down routine could be sipping on nervine or sedative herbs that help shift us into a state of quiet and calm. This can even be done more ritually, paired with quiet meditation and reflection. Some herbs that can be supportive for rest include: Hops, Tulsi, Lavender, Damiana, Skullcap, and Passionflower. We made our Time for Bed Tea and Restful Sleep tincture formulas to help support your sleep, give them both a try.

In today’s culture, engaging in the act of sacred rest may be considered radical, but it is so important. You are worthy and deserving of self care, and deserving of restoration and nourishment. We hope you find this supportive in creating your own sacred rest practice, and send big hugs as we move into the winter months! Thank you for reading and allowing us to support your wellness goals.

 

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