You know you need to slow down and rest, but don’t know how or where to begin.

You need some space and time for yourself, but are overwhelmed by responsibilities to everyone else.

You need time on a deserted island to nurture yourself in your sorrow, but where is that island amidst the turmoil of your days?

You thirst for comfort and calm to free yourself from anxious thoughts that spin and splay, and bring you down.

All lives have struggle and sorrow. Right now, you may be experiencing struggle and sorrow. Whether it’s a scary health crisis, the loss of a loved one, career disappointment, running on worry and fear, or simply trying to do too much all the time without rest.

And yet we live in a world where we aren’t taught how to meet ourselves in those difficult moments.

We are encouraged to push on and push through. To take the “right” steps. To solve the “problem” to get back to being ok again.

What we aren’t taught is how to stay with ourselves. How to meet the bigger, deeper feelings moving through us and with us.

What we aren’t taught is how to find some peace, not because we’ve solved all our problems, but because we’ve learned to rest.

Hi, I’m Elizabeth and in 2018 when I lost my mom, the rug was suddenly swept out from under my feet. My whole world, as I knew it, crashed and ended. My nervous system was also crashing in exhaustion and grief. Anxiety visited like paratroopers storming the belly on a constant basis. Grief wasn’t coming in waves; it was one long tsunami. I knew I had to find a way to stop and rest, to take care of myself no matter what. Thankfully, my mother had always been the great rester. She knew how to stop the world, and retreat to a place deep inside of herself. In the traumatic grief I experienced, I could feel her lovingly encouraging me to rest. “Rest, Rest, Rest,” I felt her say. “You need to rest. I can come to you in rest. I can lift you up in rest. Please rest.” And that’s when the 4 steps of How to Rest were born. It is my hope that you will find a new perspective on rest, and a new way to rest, even during life’s challenging moments. And that, with a new way to rest, a deeper peace will find you.

When you learn to rest you begin to meet and accept yourself with all of who you are: in your grief, in your exhaustion, sadness or anger, however you are.

When you learn to rest you are able to restore lost energies, to feel greater ease in your heart and remember a peace in your cells, even if your situation is still challenging.

When you learn to rest, you bring more compassion and empathy into your life for yourself.

When you learn to rest you begin to experience a renewed sense of purpose and strength.
Creative ideas become available to you that support the direction you want to move in.

When you learn to rest you find a fierce kindness for yourself, even in the hard places of your life. 

When you learn to rest, you begin to recognize how to find comfort and, in the corners and small spaces of your life, comfort begins to find you.

Session 16: Grief and Rest

Session 17: There Are Many Ways to Rest

Session 18: Compassion and Kindness to Yourself in Rest

Session 19: A Restful Meditation

Session 20: Thank You for Stopping to REST

RECENTLY ADDED *BONUS* SECTIONS

Session 21: Anchors of Peace — How to Find Rest After Your Loved One Has Died

Session 22: Supplements for Sleep

Session 23: Sacred Sleep Rituals

Session 24: Consciousness, Metta, and Rest

Session 25: The Art of Play and Rest
(Coming Soon!)

Afterword
Appendix: Journaling for Rest & Grief
Additional Resources & Media Guide

Imagine if you woke up in the morning feeling calm and rested.

Imagine if you knew how to stop and take breaks and rest through your day.

Imagine if you felt met in your sorrow and grief instead of feeling defeated or lost or having to hide.

Imagine finding more time for yourself to relax and enjoy life.

Imagine integrating a new way to think about rest with these four simple steps that changes your life:

Relax ~ Exhale ~ Surrender ~ Trust

Through a multi-faceted and creative approach, that combines stories, meditation, poetry and art, and the visual experience of beauty, you will be met with validation and comfort. Plus, the process of moving though this course is restful. It’s easy on the eyes and gently laid out with bite-size pieces of information and practices that are readily assimilated and absorbed without the stress of information overload. With its four powerful steps, you will discover a fuller-bodied and sensorial awareness of rest through your days so that life becomes smoother and more spacious. It includes: 

“The “REST” technique has enhanced my life immeasurably, and my ability to rest deeply is more in my control than it has ever been.”

“I thought rest was sleep and we already know all about that but as Elizabeth explains, RESTING is so much more. It is about nourishing yourself on a spiritual level, honoring where you are at in your life, and being kind to yourself in the present moment. When I understood this, I ended up cutting back on my work hours to make more time for me!” 

How to Rest is Perfect for you if you are:

• Grieving the loss of someone or something significant in your life
• A Caregiver with no time to care for yourself
• An Educator, Entrepreneur or Executive on the verge of burnout
• A Mother or Father trying to do everything on your own
• A Veteran or a First Responder on the front lines
• A Social Activist stretched to your limits
• An overwhelmed artist  swirling with all you have to get done
  
• Waking anxious in the middle of the night 
• Spinning in the middle of your day trying to cope
• Feeling lost without meaning or purpose
• Needing comfort and kindness, and a reason to stop and rest

There Has never been a better time
to Invite Yourself to Rest

If you are like many others, you’ve tried to do this yourself, but may have abandoned the effort without structure.

With this course, you will rethink your priorities immediately.
You will carve out the time to slow down.

And you will entertain how to rest more through your day.

Instead of ending your day exhausted, overwhelmed and depleted, REST offers you the possibility of transitioning through the different parts of your day with love and kindness for yourself, leaving you with more energy and peace.

In this way you will be able to take care of whatever comes your way with a little more heart-ease. 

 While writing is the hub of my wheel and where I began at the age of seven, that wheel has many spokes as author, actress-storyteller, teacher and healer. I love the art of storytelling in any form and playing with the Word, be it on the page or the stage. I am the author of books, creator of meditations, one-woman shows, and Luminous Visions Art. Appreciative Inquiry and an indescribable “It” factor play into serving clients and audiences. But the true spirit behind my work is to listen deeply (and to laugh deeply) and to alleviate suffering in the hearts of the people I meet, inspiring creativity, laughter & peace.

There is healing and creative power in our words, written and spoken. Our powers of creative self-expression can give rise to a deep self-witnessing. Conversely, a deep self-witnessing can give rise to creative self-expression. The relationship between our witnessing self and our creativity allows us to rest in a new paradigm of self-acceptance and self-appreciation, which in itself is healing. This kind of “healing” brings awareness of a Universal Peace that doesn’t live faraway in a land over yonder, but that lives in our very own cells. Its innate intelligence and knowing helps us to navigate the difficult passages in our lives. This Peaceful Intelligence guides us to additional and daily rest—when we learn how to listen and heed its call. 

If you have questions I have answers