How rest boosts creativity and productivity: a guided practice with Octavia Raheem
Feb 3, 2025
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Octavia Raheem, a rest coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and author of *Rest is Sacred*, joins to redefine the art of pausing. She emphasizes that rest is crucial for creativity and self-discovery, challenging the myth of constant productivity. Raheem shares how to integrate micro-rests into daily routines and highlights their transformative effects. Listeners are guided through a soothing rest practice that blends mindfulness, breathing, and relaxation techniques, unlocking clarity and inspiration.
Rest is essential for creativity, promoting a shift from valuing busyness to honoring moments of stillness for productivity.
Engaging in structured rest practices helps enhance personal growth and clarity, allowing individuals to reconnect with their true selves.
Deep dives
Rethinking Rest and Productivity
Rest is positioned as an essential tool for enhancing creativity and imagination, challenging conventional notions of productivity that equate busyness with worth. Octavia Rahim advocates that real productivity stems from moments of stillness, where new ideas can emerge rather than through continuous work. She emphasizes the need to define success not by the amount of tasks completed but by the quality and significance of the ideas generated. This perspective encourages a shift in mindset, allowing individuals to honor their need for rest as a fundamental human necessity.
Rest as Refuge and Remembrance
The concept of rest is explored as both a refuge and a means of remembrance, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, which has left many searching for solace. Rahim describes rest as a sacred practice, necessary for mental and emotional healing, especially during trying times. Through this lens, rest allows individuals to reconnect with their true essence, encouraging reflection on their identities beyond societal roles. This process of introspection facilitates the recovery of personal insights and creativity that may have been overshadowed by the demands of everyday life.
Embodied Practices for Stillness
Engaging in structured rest practices, such as focused breathing and mindfulness, can significantly enhance one’s ability to nurture creativity and insight. During the episode, a guided exercise is shared, inviting listeners to cultivate presence and relaxation through small, incremental actions. This approach emphasizes the importance of eliminating distractions and creating a conducive environment for mental stillness. By applying these techniques, individuals can experience a profound shift in their capacity to generate new ideas and foster clarity in their personal and professional endeavors.
Rest is essential. It’s like food or water; without it, we die. As today’s guest points out though, it’s also a sacred practice.
In today’s conversation, originally held live on Hello Monday’s Office Hours, Octavia Raheem joins Jessi Hempel to talk about, and to practice, rest. Octavia Raheem is a rest coach, yoga and meditation teacher, and author. Her latest book is called Rest is Sacred: Reclaiming Our Brilliance Through the Practice of Stillness.
She and Jessi discuss:
How rest sparks creativity and connection
Rethinking productivity through rest
How to build micro-rest practices into your days
The power of rest for self-reflection, personal growth, and clarity
Then, Octavia leads us in a transformative guided rest practice that combines mindfulness, relaxation, and breathing techniques.
Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! RSVP here to join us on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.
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