After the election I stayed busy for several days. It wasn’t intentional - at least not consciously so. My intention was actually to take some time to rest and feel my feelings.
I was reminded of Stacey Abrams’ quote after her narrow loss in the 2018 governor’s race: “I sat shiva for ten days. Then I started plotting.” This quote moved me when I read it - so much that I remembered it for six years.
Despite my intention to sit shiva for ten days, I planned and hosted a “happy hour for sad people” which was a lovely gathering of like minded friends and neighbors. It wasn’t until the party was over and I’d eaten all the leftover brownies that I gave myself space to really feel.
The main thing that I feel is tired.
In yoga nidra, there are five layers of being, called bodies or koshas - the physical body, the energy body, the emotional body, the wisdom body, and the bliss body. We are made up of all five, and all five are interconnected.
We usually associate tiredness with the physical body. Have I been going to bed too late? Overexerting myself? Sometimes I can be sleeping just fine and still feel fatigued. That’s when I know I am feeling depleted at a deeper level - in a more subtle body.
In this moment I suspect I feel fatigued at the energetic and/or emotional level. I know that practicing yoga nidra will likely benefit me. Despite this knowing, and despite the fact that all yoga nidra requires me to do is lie down and press play on one of Karen Brody’s Daring to Rest meditations, it feels like too much trouble right now.
I will do it, though. 🙂
I also have a more uplifting post I want to write about the election. Hopefully I will find the energy to write it next week. Until then, take care of yourself! I will be resting.
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