Worthy of Rest with Octavia Raheem

Episode with Octavia Raheem

Octavia Raheem: [00:00:00] If we take care of the teachers, we are taking care of the students. And then if we go up to the district level, if we are taking care of the leaders and the admin, we are taking care of the students.

Dr. Asia Lyons: In a world where the recruitment of Black educators dominates headlines, one question remains. Where are the conversations with folks who are leaving education?

Introducing The Exit Interview, a podcast dedicated to archiving the untold stories of Black folks who We have departed from traditional education spaces. I'm Dr. Asia Lyons, and I'm embarking on a mission alongside my esteemed guests. Together we shed light on the challenges, triumphs, and experiences of black educators aiming to inform and empower communities, invest in understanding the crucial issue of retention and education.

Welcome to the Exit. Interview a podcast for black educators. All right. Welcome back to The Exit Interview, a podcast for Black educators with me, your host, Dr. Asia [00:01:00] Lyons. Today's guest, I'm fangirling a little bit. I can't lie. Octavia Rahim is here to talk to us about rest. We're going to get into all the whys about why I'm fangirling a little bit, but I do want to read her bio to you all.

Octavia Rahim is a wife, mother, author of three books, Pulse, Rest. And B, which is award winning, gathered in her upcoming book, Rest is Sacred, which will be in our show notes. She is a rest restorative coach, yoga and meditation educator, and former wellness studio owner. She is the creator of Devoted to Rest, a transformational rest focused experience for visionary women leaders making a high impact in their fields.

Within her rest and work, she threads time tested practices, depth skills, and knowledge about what supports rest and what doesn't. Wisdom rooted in black American southern traditions and intuition into a blanket of experiences under which individuals can gather, rebuke stress, [00:02:00] fatigue, and burnout, and I love that, rebuke it, amen.

Her offerings lead driven, inspiring, creative, and purpose centered individuals and companies to awaken. the fullness of their potential and power through rest. Thank you so much for coming on our show today. I'm delighted to be here and just listening.

Octavia Raheem: I'm

Dr. Asia Lyons: like, Oh, she's talking about me. I am a hundred percent.

I am talking about you. Yes. So this is very fitting. You were in K 12 before you were doing the work that you do now. So I'll ask you the question that I ask all of our folks. Just quickly tell us what helps you decide that. This is a while ago now, though, but what helped you decide that education was for you?

What was your journey into education? And then what was the thing or the situation that caused you to say, maybe it's time for me to transition to doing another form of teaching?

Octavia Raheem: Thank you for that question. And what I can say is that, one, as I was listening [00:03:00] to you, I thought, I should add that I am a former public school teacher and that I was an educational non profit director to that bio.

And how I got to the place where I was in the field of education, K through 12, is I was raised by a preschool teacher. And, a family of women who educated formally or informally and also grandmothers who either fought for their education or were denied for their like just basic K through 12 education.

And I was raised with this real clear awareness from early on that education is a pathway to freedom for Black Americans. And has been. And I have an eight year old and I tell him just about every other day, I'm like, I need you to understand that it was illegal for us to read and write. Yes. And I need [00:04:00] you to think in your own eighth grade critical thinking way, just to be curious about what is the power of reading and writing that it would be denied to us.

And so that early awareness led me to be like, well, I want to do work that is liberatory and education is a pathway to liberation. So the second part of your question was, and why'd I leave? Yes.

Dr. Asia Lyons: Yeah. A little bit of like how long you were in a traditional education space. Yeah. What was the decision like?

Octavia Raheem: Because I'll jump to the end and say, in a really real way, I am clearly still in the field of educating and liberating. It is less traditional, and a lot of the leaders I serve are leaders in the field of education. So in 2003, I was a Teach for America Corps member. When I meet new Corps members, they go, that was the Stone Age.

I'm like, what? 2003 is Stone Age now? Right. That was just a [00:05:00] couple years back for most of us. Yeah. And though, unlike at the time that I was a Teach for America core member, a lot of core members didn't have a background in education. I also had a dual degree in English and education. So I was that rare Teach for America core member in 2003 that also had educational training.

And so, And Teach for America at the time, the question would always be, why do you teach for America? And I would look around at all the people who did not look like me, did not look like the communities that we were serving, and I would say, so one less person who's not of the community. could teach within a community.

That's why I went that path, even though I had, I could have gone a traditional path into education. I chose Teach for America for many reasons. And now looking back, I'm so glad I did, you know, though it was challenging, but part of it was, I'm like, I also understood the power of students seeing people who look like them and were really [00:06:00] from where they were from also leading in the classroom.

Teach for America is, at the time, was a two year program and I stayed at my home school of my assigned school three years in Phoenix, Arizona. And after that three years, I thought, it burns, right? Like, My entryway was not smooth sailing, whose is? And after those first three years, I thought, I think I've done what I need to do here in the field of education, K through 12.

And I wanted to do some non profit work, and I ended up supporting first generation, would be first generation college students in accessing a pathway to college. Really supporting the whole family in getting there, because we know it's a family endeavor when you're the first one. And that work was deeply important to me because I'm a first generation college student.

Right? You know, my mom was a preschool educator with an associate's degree, right? She didn't have, and I [00:07:00] had one cousin whose whole name I must say, Tracy Dionne Norman, who was the first person in my maternal family that I saw go to college, and he had gone to Savannah State College. And so that work of doing college prep, educational work and development work and supporting whole families and getting the child there was personal to me.

I was like, this is personal because I know what it means to be first generation. And now I know what it means to work for a nonprofit that is under resourced. underfunded and kind of choose people up and can't spit them out. And I'm not saying like that's that nonprofit is the only one that does that as part of the nonprofit industrial complex.

Often they can operate like that, right? It's a systemic issue. It's not what we can point a finger at one thing and be like, that thing has a problem. It's a systemic issue. So from after doing that work, I missed the classroom. [00:08:00] Nonprofit education and work made me go, I missed the classroom. And I was managing adults in that directorship role, and I really miss the student touch part of being in the classroom.

Yes. And so I ended up back in the classroom for five more years, teaching middle school, which they are still my favorite people to teach. my favorite young people to teach. And so all in all, that was about 10 years of devotion to the field of education in the classroom and then nonprofit directorship.

And ultimately those, it was the last three years in education where I watch colleagues have Illnesses strike, like we had people, I'm not laughing because it's funny, I'm laughing out of the discomfort of ambulance pulling up to the school because somebody's blood pressure spiked up. So many things that really speak to when the educator's not well, [00:09:00] we are in life and death situations that just made me think, what am I doing here?

I didn't feel like I could take care of myself and show up at the level that my work required at the same time, and I left to figure that out. And I felt something else calling me, right? So it's a little bit of both and, like, how could I take care of myself? in its position and I also was simultaneously being deeply called into creating spaces for well being, introspection, just somatic care on a different level, right?

So I hope that answers your question. Yeah, it does. How'd I land here? So a little choppy. And I guess what I wanted to say is that there was a real point where I'm like, I know now that I have really done what is mine to do in this [00:10:00] field. In this way, and I didn't want to overstay my welcome. Yes. And teaching middle school, I was often telling them, like, inviting them into dreaming, and dreaming big, and not shrinking themselves, and not denying their desires, and just this kind of stay within your imagination, and then go out and make it real.

Like, everything I was teaching them started to work on me. And I think educational work is deep work, it's expansive work, it is vast, it is noble. And for me, teaching and delivering these messages to my students made me realize that it wasn't those, it was no longer those things for me. You know, I'm saying it this way because I want to be clear that I don't think It's not small work, right?

It doesn't mean you're shrinking if you stay. For me, my time had come and it was time to go.

Dr. Asia Lyons: Thank you for sharing that. There's so many pieces, little nuggets I wanted to talk [00:11:00] about in that conversation. And I think the first thing is like you said, seeing people in ambulances leaving schools, right?

podcast, folks talk about not necessarily that situation, but crying in their car, feeling like they're going to have a heart attack. overeating, over drinking, just really being dysregulated in their body because the work is so hard, and not just the work of teaching, but that thick layer of racism and sexism on top of that for many of us, right?

And so this idea of stepping back and saying, I don't want that to be me, and saying, I've served my community well in this capacity and it's time to move on. I think it's so wise because I don't know how many folks have this conversation with themselves versus like, I want to retire and stick it out, right?

If I just want to do the 30 years or the 40 years instead of saying, I think I'm done and then actually being done. Yeah, and I love that you said, shout out to, first of all, shout out to middle school educators. I taught [00:12:00] middle school math to sixth graders for six years. My license, nor my patience, will let me go beyond sixth grade, right?

And so, I love that you said, that you were talking to your students about the dreaming and about the ways that they need to change, shift their mindset or expand their mindset and how it's working on you. I think this is a great transition to this conversation of from the classroom and from the non profit space back to the classroom, you've done a lot of different things.

but all around this, like you said, this healing and wellness practice. Tell us what that journey was like afterwards and what you're doing now.

Octavia Raheem: So one thing I want to say is that the journeys were happening simultaneously. The first yoga class I taught was in 1999 when I was in undergrad and in the school of education and being an English major.

And then I kind of put it down into my senior year [00:13:00] when I was student teaching and I was like, oh lord. And where my student teaching school was in Boston was around the corner from the yoga studio. This was 2003. So I would teach, feel like I was, in a real battle all day, not just feel like, but be, oftentimes, and then leave and go practice yoga.

And that was a rhythm I was in even before being a full time educational professional, right? And so what I will say is these practices that I now teach really help us to support body, body, heart, emotion, and it's like clearing away any gunk and it's a slow, intentional, deliberate process. So what I now understand looking back is that the practices I was engaging daily as a teacher were clearing and clarifying and also ultimately convicting me to be like, you're running adjacent to your actual path.

Me, Octavia Rahim, I'm [00:14:00] running adjacent, you know, I'm, I'm in relationship to it, I'm a few inches to the left or right to it, and I'm not fully on it, right? So I would say that that's the practice where supporting me, supporting my nervous system is still slow and steady. And so what was your question?

What's the, the mindset? Yeah,

Dr. Asia Lyons: how did the journey, and you're talking about this, right? The journey. It's multifaceted. So you're teaching or going to student teaching and then you're also figuring out how your yoga practice, your mental practice of all, not just the body, but the mindset, it's like, how did that get you from there to where you are now?

Yeah.

Octavia Raheem: So one drop at a time, one practice at a time, one choice at a time. One, letting myself look around and really see what was actually going on and not sugar coated internally at a time. And for me, having those practices and still having an anxiety attack in the middle [00:15:00] of, you know, a meeting with my assistant principal and team, you know, having some practices in place and being like, huh, there's so much going on here that this ain't working.

It's part of what made me be like, wait a minute, something's really off here. Whether it's systemically or in how I'm engaging with it or all of it. Right? And so what I'll tell you is, one day I was looking out my window, my classroom window, and then I looked back at my students, then I looked out the window, and I just remember this feeling of being like, this feels so constrictive to me, and they have communicated to me that it feels constrictive to them.

And thinking, well, what can I do about it? Like, I'm trying to teach them what to do about it and to create their own lives where they feel like they have a lot of options. And here I am, I feel like my options are shrinking by the day. And the thing that for me, so I'm doing my practices and I'm simultaneously, I start training to be a yoga teacher.

And then I start teaching [00:16:00] those classes in the evening. And I'm like, well, this is a teaching that's really waking up something inside of me in a different way. And I also feel like I can be well inside this sphere of teaching. And so just kind of practically speaking, I had another job that became the bridge that I walked over to get to the place that I am now, right?

So I think a lot of teachers, unfortunately or fortunately, have multiple things they're doing at this point. They might have a day job and a part time job or some teachers might teach in the daytime and then have some kind of tutoring they do or some consulting they do. And then they start to realize, I'm still serving.

I'm still doing something really meaningful. And I like this a little bit more. You know, this could be something else or this is showing me another way to have impact. whatever it is. And so for me, it was this combination of being like, how [00:17:00] can I really be well? How can I abide by the teachings that I'm offering my students?

And then also just practically speaking, I was like, I need a bridge or a way over and out if I am to actually, you know, leave and shift. And so what I do, here I am now, what I do now is I support folks who self identify as high achieving and knowing that they are here to have a profound impact on the world and through their life, I support them in accessing rest as a tool to unlock their power and potential and possibility, right?

I can say it another way is Rest is fuel. When we are not engaging with rest or we have no time for rest, that's like having a vehicle and just riding on E. You know what's going to happen. It is going to stop at some point and the process of watching yourself go [00:18:00] down to E or the vehicle goes go down to E becomes, if you've ever been in a car where you're just trying to press How far can I go before I hit E?

Oh, yes. That's so stressful. Yes, it is. It's like, why am I doing this? Then another part of your brain is like, kind of activated by it. And so I have people get curious about, what's the part that's activated by it? That's like, let's just keep riding almost to E. And then the part that's, no, it doesn't have to be this way.

Yeah. Right? So distance, fear, I've used the word conviction a lot. I just got very, very aware that the way it is is not the way it has to be. And something I would always say, I always had a really amazing relationship with my EDs or the principals I worked with before. And a thing that I would often say is, If we take care of the teachers, if we make sure they're good, so much else is going to be good.

And I [00:19:00] still look at education. I'm like, where haven't we gotten at? You know, everyone talks about student first, student first. And my kind of philosophy that I was quiet about, but this is how I moved, because I would always be like the team leader or something, you know, like have other leadership roles within a school, is that if we take care of the teachers, we are taking care of the students.

And then if we go up to the district level, if we are taking care of the leaders and the admin, we are taking care of the students. And I'm not a researcher. I can't drop on you all the direct correlation that that probably would translate into. I just continue to be amazed that people will say students first and they are not attending to the needs of the people who are in front of the students, you know, and so.

Some of what informed my, I was like, here's another way that I can do that, right? Because I also had, I'm going to use this word again, maybe the title of this is going to be conviction. I mean, convicted. I felt [00:20:00] convicted. that the adults like teaching the students deserved and needed more care and compassion.

And that wasn't happening on the inside at the level that I thought it could be happening. So that's a little bit how I got here and where I'm at.

Dr. Asia Lyons: I appreciate you saying that, and like I said at the beginning of the show, I and my good friend, Dr. Ellie Cahill, who is beyond a fangirl of, like, past me, she's the one that told us that we should use your book, Gather, as a text for our cohort model, where we support Black educators and their wellness, specifically women and non binary folks, Because of just what you're saying, lots of school districts want to somehow magically retain Black educators.

They recruit, then that's it, and then we spend a lot of money and time and focus on student outcomes and not taking the, the teacher into account. And so what we found is in our work with mostly Black women here in the Denver [00:21:00] metro area is that there is a lot of strong desire to be with the students, to focus on the students, to love on the students.

And at the same time, in the background, they are falling apart, right? And they're trying to hold it together and they're not experiencing rest. We just had a session where someone talked about not eating lunch at work.

Octavia Raheem: Come on. Not eating lunch, not drinking water. Not drinking. So you don't have to go to the bathroom.

I mean, are those little 15 minute lunches? Yeah. No. Yeah. We make it work until it doesn't. Until it

Dr. Asia Lyons: doesn't. Right. Yeah, and she said that in the group, she said, when we were all standing there saying, you don't eat lunch, she said, I realized that I'm talking to everyone out loud, that that doesn't make any sense.

That what I thought was normal and okay does not make any sense. And she made that decision to have her office manager call her every time it was time for lunch and tell her to turn off her walkie talkie. And she put that system in place. And so just thinking about her, just thinking [00:22:00] about the people who are listening to this podcast, specifically educators, Black educators, I guess one of my questions to you is, how can Black educators access R.

1. S. T.?

Octavia Raheem: So that's how we access R. E. S. T. We first start to build a relationship with the pause because that's more, that's the scaffold. You know what I'm saying? Right, if we're going from, I'm not, I'm running a thousand miles a minute, I'm not eating, I'm not drinking water, going from that to, and I'm gonna sit down and rest and be still and quiet for this extended period of time.

As educators, we understand that that gap, that leap is too much. How do we fill the gap? Slowly is first, what is your relationship with the pause? There's a pause between each word spoken. There's a pause between each breath. It might not be a big pause, but there's usually a pause between every meeting we have.

You know, if you're a school leader and you were in someone's classroom observing, [00:23:00] you close the door when you leave, there's a pause when you step out into the hallway. Right. And so first I invite people, cause I know it can feel hard to where am I going to find the time and the truth is you aren't going to find the time.

You have to make it and protect it. And to start, you start with, well, what do I actually already have access to? And that is the pause in between. And I'll back up a few paces and say that the first place we can start is just knowing, trusting, and believing that we are worthy of rest. And that our soul, value, and, worth isn't rooted in what we can do or produce or how we can perform.

And so I would say a really simple, simple practice that doesn't mean not effective or not profound, just simple, is to, as a leader, to say to yourself, as a leader, as a teacher, I too am worthy [00:24:00] of rest. I too am worthy of rest. I am worthy of rest. Like repeating that to yourself. You got to get that in your spirit, right?

Yeah. Because that seems so simple, but I'm like a lot of it. It's like, well, what part of me when I was doing some of these things, not eating, not drinking, what part of me was like, They're worth it, I'm not. Like, can we drill down to like, what mindset is driving a behavior that is now habitual or a pattern that is no longer serving me, doesn't support or serve me.

So, first I would say, remember and realize that rest is a birthright. You are worthy of it. You don't actually have to earn it, which I know might go against something that our grannies said, and we love the grannies. Yeah. And that multiple things can be true at the same time. That can still be work to get done, and you can also be tired and need rest, in that every time, if we're every time we're tired and need rest, but there's still work to be done, we're always choosing to keep doing the work, that is [00:25:00] incredibly disharmonious, right?

So we can start making some different choices. And then I would say just practically speaking, what is your relationship to the pause? Just asking the question first is going to do a lot for us and then noticing the pauses and when you need to extend those pauses like who had just closed that door after that meeting.

Maybe I'm going to walk a little slower back to the front office. This seems so simple but I'm like just start to notice pauses and you're the pace that you've been operating at and pull that pace back by 1 percent not 10 percent not 20 percent because we know that we are educators right so we know that's not really how growth happens.

Thanks. Right? We know this with our students is that this gets added, this starts to click in, then that clicks in.

Dr. Asia Lyons: Mm hmm.

Octavia Raheem: So we can start with that remembering of worthiness of. and acknowledging of the past, and then we can start to say, where am I going to build in much more intentional [00:26:00] time to not be in front of someone, delivering, taking care of, teaching, holding space for, but just being with myself,

Dr. Asia Lyons: right?

Yes. Thank you so much. How's that landing? That's landing beautifully. I think that we, in education, and you know this, the pace in which everything is happening. We're walking quickly with the walkie talkie. Something's happening in the lunchroom. This is happening over here. And it's this constant pace, and I remember leaving the classroom 2018, coming back and doing some coaching in a school years later and thinking, Wow.

The frantic energy alone, it's so difficult to jump back into when you are not in that space. And so I think about how educators spend 10, 15, 20 years, three years, two years in this like high energy, frantic place. And then having to, like you said, repeat to yourself, like, I am worthy of rest even after we leave because we're just [00:27:00] so used to returning that email quickly, answering this thing really quickly, everything is really quickly.

So I'm glad that you said that. And so I have another question. You are creative, right? How have you seen your work, or how can creativity, and I'm talking about educators in general, but folks too, everyone, how can creativity help us in our rest practice, and how has it helped you in your rest practice?

Octavia Raheem: So, I'm going to turn the question inside out a little bit.

Okay. My rest fuels and makes space for creativity to emerge. And then to answer your question, the creativity helps us to, because we're going to have to be subversive about taking back our time and creating space for rest or just shifting out of that frenetic pace. Right. So the both end of it. Right. So I've written three books in three years while being a wife, a [00:28:00] mother, a business owner, and shifting from an in person yoga studio that I own.

Like all these things have happened. Lots of pivots. Yes. And I've written three books. And sometimes people are like, well, how? Because in this one level, I'm like, For one and a half of those years, my son was at home sitting with his computer and my practice would be rest for 15 minutes. Right. Right.

Really simple. And sometimes people, writers, will go like, give me some tips. How can I? And I'm like, well, I rest, but really my daily consistent rest practice is only 12 minutes. When I'm in a high season of much more output, In the external world, I actually rest more, not less. So that's one of my hacks is like.

When much is required of me, I don't give myself less. I give myself more. And this is why I can show like, I deeply value showing up 10 toes down and really fully present for anyone I'm engaging [00:29:00] with or holding space for or working with. And for me, it's just realizing like, well, what is required of me to not be shown up in a half full vessel, being dried out, scraping down in the bottom of my cup to give you whatever crumbs are left.

I want to give from my overflow. And so that's just to say, like, just a little bit of spaciousness really allows creativity has long legs, right? You can't cram it into someplace and expect it to be generative or to really come and be of service or in partnership with you. And I'm talking about creativity, like a person, because I kind of experienced it, like this is going to be out there maybe for some, but just like an energy that it's like, well, how do I tend to my creative relationship?

Part of that is. Make room for it. REST helps me do that. And then, how I use creativity To support my rest practices, I will maneuver and find time. I always say like us black folks, we come from a lineage of you can complete this statement, find a way or [00:30:00] make one, and I'm like, yes, our make a way. So I use that formidable lineage of make a way to, okay, I'm gonna make a way for this rest.

I'm gonna wake make a way for this wellbeing. Let us make a way for this healing. to occur. Because also the other thing within education and whatever field that someone works in, a lens that I apply to when I'm resting with them is what most of us are doing in our work is answering the question of what can I heal, right?

You know, like I'm solving for X, right? For me, and it's through the lens of my work, and I will offer that. It's just like, well, what? Education, being in there with the young people, being there with each other. I'm like, This is healing work for our communities and that's how I saw early on it's liberatory work and it's healing work and now I've just gotten more I'll say like woo woo about like this is really healing work that we doing up in here.

And [00:31:00] so that was just to say that spirit of make a way, we have got to start to engage that essence to support us in being well because literally no one else is going to do it. And this is not a stretch to say, uh, educators are losing, like, people are dying and becoming critically ill. And I'm not blaming the person at all.

There has to be systemic accountability. And then it's like, what do we need to do to take care of ourselves and each other? And for some of us, that means we're going to stay and figure out how to be well and get better inside this thing. And for some of us, we're going to leave. and find another way to serve and be well and keep the healing going and be whole.

So, to answer the question you lifted up, rest supports creativity, and then creativity is also needed. We gotta look at the calendar and [00:32:00] get real creative. I'll move this over here, shift that over there. We know how to make a way. We know how to make a way. Remember that we are worthy and let us make a way to rest.

And then hold each other accountable in that too. So, I think that answered your

Dr. Asia Lyons: question.

Octavia Raheem: Yeah, that was

Dr. Asia Lyons: beautiful. I have one more question for you. What's been bringing you joy these days?

Octavia Raheem: My son. Having an eight year old. These people. He is so funny. I just returned from leading a rest and right retreat.

Thank you And just with Black, Indigenous women and non binary folks of color. And I'm going to tell you watching a room full of grown folks lay down, snuggle up in blankets brings me so much joy. I guess people who bake cookies and pies when they see you bite into it and they're like, yes, you enjoy it.

Like holding [00:33:00] space for us to rest. My soul says yes to that. Morning tea and coffee with my partner. And I have a new book coming out. It's called Rest is Sacred. Yes. And I've just been rereading it, you know, because I wrote it and went through this whole process. Like a book is often two years in the making, right?

So I've been with this for a while, even though it's just coming to the people. Here soon, rereading it and just remembering the level of surrender and deep listening and then obedience to what wanted to come through me that that called forward like that brings me joy and knowing that it's going to meet people's hands and hearts here soon is bringing me joy.

And then lastly, I love music. I love music and I just went to this Wynton Marsalis concert. And when I tell you it was transcendent and I can still, this was maybe a month ago, I can [00:34:00] still hear the music in my ears. And that jazz concert has brought me so much joy. And then just now going back to listen to his work that I've like been in a room with him because I've never been to a Wynton Marsalis concert.

That is bringing me joy. I could go on and on with what is bringing me joy. What I will say is that resting and the awakening that comes from that practice to like who I am and who I'm here to be is what is really the portal to me being able to have capacity to feel joy. And hold that joy. And then also attending to my grief.

There's a lot of personal loss and collective loss that has been happening. And rest has been a place for me to attend to my grief. And then when I'm up out of that place of resting to be more awake to my joy as a result of it. So I want to say that because as I'm listing all the joys, I'm like, wow, I don't think I could have done this [00:35:00] a few years ago.

Yeah. And I know that because I have a really amazing Black and Indigenous woman somatic therapist. And we started working together in 2020. A lot of people might have started working with someone in 2020. Yeah, probably. Just to be really transparent. And one of her first questions was, What is bringing you joy?

And I was like, What kind of question is that in this moment in time? And we, have shifted. We're not in an acute pandemic and all of that. And yet, since 2020, it's been popping off. And I actually still have an answer for what's bringing me joy now. And I didn't have an answer then, right? And I'm like, that's the direct result of the inner work and the rest helps me be regulated enough to feel joy.

Dr. Asia Lyons: Well, folks, we're gonna end it right there. I don't have nothing else to say, but thank you, Dr. Asia.

Octavia Raheem: I don't have anything to say. And you can tell me if this resonates with you a lot or not. I would like to invite people [00:36:00] into a one minute rest practice. Oh, yes, please. And I say one minute and I'm going to watch the clock for it to be around 60 seconds to 90 seconds, right?

Okay. So that we can feel this in our bodies and we can go ahead and dispel the lie that, A, we don't have time to rest and that a small dose of it can't do something for us. So if people can. Begin to notice their bodies wherever they are. And if you're in a place to open, keep your eyes closed, or close them, you can.

If not, you keep your eyes open, and you notice your body. And you notice what's beneath your body, like the chair, or the couch. Or if you're standing, just the floor. You soften your elbows and shoulders. Release any gripping in your toes and your hands. And then notice your breath. And noticing your breath isn't changing the breath, it's just [00:37:00] noticing that you're inhaling and noticing that you're exhaling.

Noticing that you're inhaling and noticing that you're exhaling. And the next time you inhale, let this be the fullest breath you've taken all day, if it feels right for you. And when you exhale, exhale with a sigh.

And then you can say it out loud or quietly, I am worthy of rest. And then if you close your eyes, you open them. And if your eyes are already open, you just look around. and notice what you notice and notice if anything shifted from that moment of rest. Notice now. That's what I wanted to offer. Thank you for letting me do that.

Dr. Asia Lyons: Of course. Thank you for offering that to the community. We appreciate you so much. We're going to have information about your new book coming out on our show notes. Folks, rest. It's crucial. It's needed. It's [00:38:00] imperative. I'm going to wrap it up. I have no other words to say. We hope that you join us for another episode of The Exit Interview.

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