The Embodied Leadership Project

The widespread inability to rest is a huge public health issue, leaving many of us perpetually exhausted and carrying unresolved trauma.

The Rest Clinic is The Embodied Leadership Project's creative response to this crisis. The clinic's purpsoe is to provide trauma-informed restorative spaces - both in-person and virtual - where individuals of all ages can reconnect with their bodies, release exhaustion, and learn about rest.

Through the calming sounds of the handpan drum, expressive arts & theory on rest, the power of our imaginations, and the peaceful presence of horses, we rest together - building community care and nourishment.

Get Involved with the clinic!

If you aren't already on the Embodied Leadership Project email list, Click here to Join to learn about the way we are approaching rest, be involved in free email rest journeys, and stay updated about upcoming events

Follow @therestclinic on Instagram to learn more about this project and the journey we are building and taking together.

Click here to Join The Rest Clinic's online Rest School. You are invited to practice rest in community with one another, Jamila, the horses and the soothing sounds of the Handpan drum. The school contains weekly 20 minute pre-recorded classes that integrate horses through Equine-Assisted Learning, soothing music, trauma-informed breathwork and meditation, guided relaxation & daydreams, and theory on Rest. Think of this as a weekly wellness/yoga class specifically focused on rest. $10 a month

All proceeds from this class go directly to supporting our free community and youth rest programming.

Check out how it feels to enter into rest through the gentle peace of horses and the power of Yoga Nidra - a path of yoga dedicated specifically to rest. The video is in the next section on this page!

Or check out our calendar below for the next upcoming free community rest gathering

Practice Rest with the Horses Right Here and Now!

Rest Experience (30 min)

This is video features two of the resting horses who inspire much of my understanding about Rest.

The energy and presence of horses has a striking impact on our imaginations which is why they are such a prominant symbol and archetype. Simply seeing their image and hearing their breath sounds can invoke a strong connection to their loving hearts and wise ways of moving through the world. They can move fast but they also move slow. They pause. They rest. People will often talk about "Horse Time" Which means that when you are working with horses - you will be slowed down to move at their pace.

I invite you to drop into Horse Time and spend some time gazing at the horses and then feeling them in your imagination through the video and guided rest practice below.

This 30 minute guided rest practice incorporates Equine-Assisted Learning and Trauma-Informed Yoga Nidra below.

You are invited to find a quiet space to watch this video and let the slow healing energy of horses help you rest.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHER WONDERFUL ASPECTS OF THE REST CLINIC

Handpan drum + Equine-Assisted Learning - offering Rest to Elementary Students

The Rest Clinic has partnered with Elias Brookings Elementary School in Springfield, MA and together we are bringing the peace of Horses to the students through the power of imagination and the handpan drum. When you join Rest School, you learn a very similar curriculum as the students and your dollars go directly to supporting this free opportunity for youth.

HART & The Rested Village Fellowship

HART (Healing Arts Reparations Team) is a circle of dedicated volunteer administrators offering one to two hours per week or month of administrative, consulting, or strategic guidance for the Clinic and its Fellowship - which aims to bring Rest to Black artists and community leaders.

The Rested Village Fellowship nurtures and provides rest to Black artists, creatives, and healers by providing administrative support, grant writing assistance, marketing resources and a rest retreat - engaging around a conversation around arts and health to be reported back out.

IN-Person Rest Gatherings

Free Upcoming In-Person Rest Gatherings (local to Springfield area, MA)

Experience deep rest through storytelling, sound healing, and communal reflection.
Gather in spaces where rest is honored as an act of healing and resistance.

** Summer Calendar is coming soon:

Community Rest Clinic at Banc- this weekly rest time is a collaboration between Banc and Sana Viia which focuses specifically on Rest to support physical and emotional health and wellbeing. More information coming soon.

Community Rest Gathering: A conversation on Arts & Health: More information and dates coming soon!

More information for requesting an in-person Rest Workshop/Rest Experience for your organization:

These flexible, immersive workshops range from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours and offer guided rest experiences. Led by Jamila (Embodied Leadership Project Director), they incorporate storytelling, handpan sound healing, trauma-informed rest practices, and community reflection time. Please email EmbodiedLeadershipProject@gmail.com

ABout the Rest Clinic

The Clinic exists as a response to two foundational experiences:

As a community, across age, race, culture, class and gender, we are collectively grappling with trauma and exhaustion for many reasons.
As a community, the majority of us are interested in feeling better and we desire to create a better world.

The Clinic proposes that rest is a powerful pathway toward healing trauma, restoring our energy and health, and creating the world we want to live in. Rest replenishes the biological and psychological systems of the body/mind. Rest is key in the process of healing trauma. Rest is a vital aspect of the creative process that can be seen in nature’s rhythms, as well as human’s process of creativity.

The Clinic acknowledges that trauma, chronic stress, and the demands of the world can make accessing rest nearly impossible. Even if we do find the time to rest, our nervous systems may struggle to enter a truly restful state. We are rarely taught about rest or encouraged to prioritize it. When we do not know how to, or are not given permission to, create periods of rest—when we don’t practice rest or support others in doing so—we miss the opportunity to access the full potential of our creative process individually and collectively. The creative process is foundational to how ideas are developed and implemented across all fields, whether in the arts, humanities, STEM, public service, business, entrepreneurship, or beyond.

The Clinic invites the leaders, artists, teachers, learners and healers of our community to:

Gently learn about rest and its complexities on an individual, communal, national, global and historical level.
Acknowledge the ways in which we struggle to rest
Explore different ways to practice rest throughout the day and week
Consider the implications that our inability to rest is having not just on our own health and stability, but on our creative process, our families, our organizations creative potential, and ultimately those that we serve and love.

The Clinic offers gentle, engaging, creative, in-person and online rest-based programming that serves rest to people of all ages: both kids and adults.

We are in the beginning stages of launching this project and will continue to share more about our upcoming calendar of offerings in the weeks and months to come!

The Rest Clinic aims to offer multiple ways to engage with rest as a cultural, personal, and communal practice. Whether you prefer reading, listening, or gathering in person, our offerings are designed to provide accessible ways to deepen your relationship with rest.

Our framework is rooted in the teachings of key organizers, leaders, artists, and teachers of rest—including Tricia Hersey, Tracee Stanley, and nature herself through the therapeutic wisdom of horses.

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