106: The Power of Rest with Octavia Raheem

Much of a yoga practice can, from the outside, look like very little is happening. In a meditation practice it might look like we are just sitting there, but as we all know, that “just sitting there” can be a wild experience and a potent place to make friends with ourselves.

Pausing in an asana practice to rest in Child’s Pose can look like a lull in the action, even though we know the space between is sometimes the most powerful.

Resting in a restorative yoga pose can look like an extra cozy nap… And while it can be that, Octavia Raheem (she/her) is here today to tell us why deep rest can serve as a tool for courage and resilience!

Octavia is a mother, author of Gather, activist, and an experienced yoga teacher and practitioner. She began practicing yoga in 1999 and has been teaching since 2007. Octavia founded Starshine & Clay, an online and retreat space for Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color to rest and restore. Octavia has received national attention for her work training yoga teachers and diversifying the yoga and wellness industry.

Born and raised in Gainesville, Georgia, her spirituality encompasses the universe and is very much anchored in the heart and soul of the sacred community she was raised in: Greater Timber RidgeBaptist Church.

Octavia has a distinctive voice. One that is wise, otherworldly, and also familiar. Her teaching is grounded in her roots and real-life experience as a woman learning to love herself as well as center her well-being and transformation via yoga, rest, meditation, and Yoga Nidra.

You can listen to our previous conversation here– 47: How To Hold Space with Octavia Raheem.

In this episode you’ll hear:

the many barriers to rest in our current culture
why it makes sense to open a story with an ending
how rest, and specifically restorative yoga, has supported Octavia through some meaningful endings
why the space between is so powerful, and the yoga pose that best holds that potency
how the creative process of writing this book has changed Octavia
some final thoughts about the moment we find ourselves in as a yoga community, and what we hope to see moving forward

Learn More From Octavia:

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