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Resting with your eyes open
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Most of us count rest in hours of sleep. There may be another kind we don't.
In the yogic view, rest is a state you can be in while awake, not only while asleep. Moment to moment, you might be restful, restless, or somewhere flat in between. Some people find that as restfulness grows through the day, the body settles into needing a little less sleep.
What does rest feel like when you're not asleep?
What you'll need
- A few check-ins across an ordinary day
- Nothing to change, just notice
- A word for how you feel: restful, restless, or flat
Method
A few times a day, pause and read your state. Restful, agitated, or heavy and inert?
You don't need to fix it. Be aware of it.
Notice what tips you one way or the other. A walk, a breath, a screen, a rush.
Give it a week, and notice when restfulness comes most easily for you, and what tends to pull you out of it.