Erin Taylor has been teaching yoga for over twenty years, helping high-performing athletes to excel at their sport. She’s taken what she’s learned from training Olympians and Ironman champions and applied it to other areas of life, not only for elite performers, but for everyone. Her most recent book, Move, Rest, Recover, explores one of the most neglected elements of well-being, recovery.
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Erin noticed the imbalance between working and resting early in her teaching career. “I would come with these plans, very specific to whatever sport I was working with, really thinking about their performance needs,” she recalls. “Ten times out of ten, I would have to scrap my plan and just have everyone lie down, basically, and rest. It became pretty pretty clear that universally what everyone needs, whether you’re an athlete or not, is more rest.
“Our bodies are not designed to work all the time. Our bodies are actually engineered for balance. And it’s not surprising, given the pace of modern life, how difficult it is for people to unwind. We’re so good at engaging fully and going and pushing and gritting our teeth, and just getting through all manner of all things, which is a really valuable skill in many ways. However, in the process, we’ve really, I think, collectively lost the skill of moving solely in the other direction toward ease and relaxation. That’s something I think that we really need to address collectively.”
Given that we do it so infrequently, it isn’t surprising that many of us find it difficult to rest. “Doing anything new or different often brings discomfort,” Erin says. “And it’s the same thing, surprisingly, to many people with rest. Don’t be surprised if you don’t feel relief; if you feel actually, extremely uncomfortable just lying down, being still, breathing deeply. When all of the balls that we’re holding up have a chance to drop, that can be pretty unsettling, if it’s not something that you practice.”
Many of us feel as though we can’t rest until we’ve finished everything on our to-do list. Erin reminds herself that “It will never all be done. Ever. And if you wait for the perfect chance to rest, for all the planets to align, and you’ve finished everything on your list, and your kids are napping right when they’re meant to be… If you wait for all that to rest, you’ll never rest. So it is something very much to be proactive about.”
And just like any practice that we choose to engage in, resting effectively takes practice. “Strengthening your capacity to unwind and rest, that is something that you have to train, just like the muscle. You lift weights and you get stronger. You rest more and your body becomes more receptive and efficient and effective at recharging. It really kind of works the same way.
“For example, if you were to say, ‘Right, I’m going to set a timer and lie down and put my legs up the wall for ten minutes. Go.’ Except that in those ten minutes, you might not feel bliss immediately. So often with rest, we use the practice and then we feel the effects after. You have to stay with it in the same way that you get through your run or get through that toddler meltdown or whatever it is. You have to stay with it, stay with yourself, and practice, just like you would practice anything to strengthen any skill and in doing so really gain equity with that.”
For those of us who feel as though we’re too busy to relax, Erin offers that, “A little, often, in my opinion, is the most powerful, practical, accessible approach because the biggest perceived barrier is, ‘I don’t have time.’ You don’t need an hour. You don’t need 30 minutes. You don’t even need 20. You don’t need 15 minutes. Small practices, small gestures used often hold the greatest power to really restore us and refuel us in the moments when we need it most.
“I often will just do a forward fold hamstring stretch, while I wait for the kettle to boil. Before bed almost every night, I put my legs up the wall while I read for 20 minutes. You know, very small gestures.
“One thing I’ve started doing in the last couple years as a practice that’s been a total game changer, I call it ‘the pivot practice’. It’s so easy to work right up to the last possible moment and then we’re rushing onto the next thing and there’s no transition to your next thing. You’re just rushing from thing to thing. Instead, I make a hard stop and set a timer for a minimum of five minutes and I’ll lie down, put my legs up the wall; I’ll get into child’s pose; I’ll do something for a few minutes to create a transition between activities. That’s another really practical way that you can weave rest in throughout your day.”
Erin wrote Move, Rest, Recover with practicality in mind. “If your practice doesn’t fit in your real life, it won’t work. I want this book to be a resource that someone can turn to in the moment, especially if you’re tired and you just don’t know what to do or you need some inspiration for how to transition to ease tension, ease stress. It’s meant to help you make rest yours, in a way that truly works for you.
“I think people feel like they have to give something up to rest more. But I think you’ll find that by valuing and claiming the rest that you need, you actually increase your capacities because you become more efficient and effective and resilient across all aspects of life. It’s really a superpower. I would call it a power stance. Rest is a power stance, which sounds radical, but it’s not. It actually has that much power to it. And it is the most practical, accessible, available tool. You don’t need anything formal or fancy. All you need is your attention.”
Resources
Find more resources for rest and recovery, including exclusive audio + video practices from Move, Rest, Recover, behind the scenes moments, sample pages, and more at erintaylor.substack.com/t/
Get a free month, including full access to all content, at erintaylor.substack.com/tin
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