Rest and Restore
Rest as Medicine. Rest as Resistance.
Restorative Group Yoga
Every Sunday at Sol Wellness 6:45-8:00 PM
Reclaim the medicine of rest. Restorative Yoga is a completely passive practice, with little to no movement. It is a therapeutic style of yoga that promotes deep healing through the use of props to support the body. While in restorative poses, the more supported the body feels, the more the body can truly let go. Poses are held for extended periods of time to allow restoration and nourishment on a cellular level.
Payment Options
Community: $10 (discounted rate)
Sustainer: $15 (pays for you)
Supporter: $25 (pays for you and supports others)
Anyone 18+ is welcome to join
No prior yoga experience needed
Yoga mats and props provided
Space is limited // Must register in advance
What is Restorative Yoga?
Restorative Yoga is a completely passive practice, with little to no movement. It is a therapeutic style of yoga that promotes deep healing through the use of props to support the body. While in restorative poses, the more supported the body feels, the more the body can truly let go. Poses are held for extended periods of time to allow restoration and nourishment on a cellular level.
Restorative practices are deeply healing for the nervous system as they allow the body to relax enough to stimulate the ParaSympathetic nervous system. This process is often called the “rest and digest” state.
It is in these poses and nervous system states that we are able to access our body's own natural intelligence and medicine beyond the thinking mind, bringing nourishment to our body, mind, and spirit.
The rhythms and cycles of nature were once all the guidance we had as humans. The sun, moon, four directions, seasons, and elements all gave unique insight and purpose to our lives, uniting us in community and ritual. Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten that we are nature. We’ve lost our connection to our roots and our very beings, which are designed, like nature, to be met with periods of rest and stillness. Afterall, nature never hurries yet gets everything done. As modern humans, we haven’t been given the space to remember that our bodies are meant to experience relaxation and rest, not as something to be earned but as our birthright. Independent of the thinking mind, our bodies know how to heal themselves. During periods of intentional rest, letting the earth hold us, our bodies remember this inner knowing on a cellular level, and begin this magical process. The more space and time we give ourselves to nurture our beings in rest, the more we are able to experience healing from the inside out.
Intentions behind creating Rest and Restore: Rest as Medicine. Rest as Resistance
My intention behind bringing these classes to life is to share not only what I found to be the medicine for me, but to help you reclaim yours through the power of rest. This creation comes from my personal experience with burnout, nervous system dysregulation and finding refuge through slowness and the restorative arts. I feel passionate about spreading the message and mission behind restorative yoga that I see to be the missing link in our fast paced and capitalist society. I believe rest and experiencing pleasure in our beings through the medicine of softness is our birthright as humans, but one that can be easily and quickly forgotten. The restorative arts help us remember that we are nature. We have unique internal wisdom that guides us without words. Deep listening is this wisdom’s friend. It beckons us to find sweet surrender in rest, to experience the magic of simply being, and resist anything or anyone, including ourselves, that has ever judged our worth based on our productivity, rather than our rightful existence.
I intend to bring my authentic and vulnerable self to these classes along with my love, care, warmth, and soulfulness. These practices are near and dear to my heart. They’ve helped carry me through life’s hardships and sharing them with others is truly a gift. I have a deep passion to share the medicine of resting in community and hope to create a safe space for people to slow down, find support, and have the space to feel to heal.
These community practices are something I continue to find myself in need of and am honored to share and guide you through them. I believe on some level we all crave more rest as a society and culture, and now more than ever need more safe spaces to do so.
A little backstory:
Over the past 2 years, a bubbling feeling deep within me started to make its way to the surface. It was a deep yearning and desire to slow down, to come back home to myself in a deeper way. When I first started noticing it, I wasn't sure how to respond or even begin listening to it, so I ignored it and tried to shove it down. At the time, I was in a mis-aligned relationship and job. I struggled with anxiety, stress, and filled my time with work to avoid myself.
The call to slow down started out as a gentle nudge, a whisper if you will.
I would hear it in the back of my mind and sometimes try to listen. This would look like less work, more intentionality with my energy, or a slower morning yoga practice. At times, I’d indulge in a full slowed down practice. I’d hold comfortable and supportive positions that helped me breathe deeper into my belly where I could hangout for longer periods of time. I did these slower practices few and far between and would almost always cry at some point.
Sometime in 2022, I found a restorative sequence that I really loved and began engaging in a weekly restorative class that I actually looked forward to. I would gather all my props at home and find solace in these restful poses where I could put the world away and completely come into my body.
Fast forward some months later, these slow practices became what held me more than ever as I navigated various life changes and transitions.
During these transitional times, my practice went from somewhat structured, active and refined to messy, emotional, soft, and slow. A primal signal my body was communicating to slow down helped me begin to make necessary changes and shifts in my life. Restorative arts and practices have helped me experience safe, intentional rest where I allow my body and nervous system to heal from the inside out. These practices have helped me learn the language of my body and begin to have compassion for all the ways in which my body and being communicate to get my attention.
Slowing down has allowed me to hear these subtle communications and respond with more understanding and intentionality.
Restorative yoga continues to be a place of refuge for me during the stress of daily life and especially during challenging times of uncertainty and scarcity. Coming home to the wisdom and guidance of our own bodies is what I feel we are all lacking and yearning for as a society and culture. I am honored to provide a space to return home.