Why Rest Is the Most Radical Practice You Can Do Right Now
- Aug 27, 2025
- 5 min read
We live in a culture that treats rest like a reward you have to earn. Push harder, achieve more, hold it together, and only when you hit major milestones, feel “successful” (whatever that means for each of us), or collapse from exhaustion, only then you might deserve a break for a bit.
But rest isn’t indulgence and it’s not a reward for overachieving. It’s a biological need. And when practiced intentionally, rest is one of the most radical ways to rewire your nervous system, regulate your stress responses, and make your energy output more refined and sustainable over time.
Redefining Rest
Most of what passes for “rest” today isn’t really rest at all. Our downtime is often technology-driven, filled with scrolling, streaming, checking email and message alerts, etc. All of this keeps the conscious brain active and overstimulated. And our sleep is suffering worldwide. According to a new study, insomnia is now considered the most common sleep disorder, with up to 10% of people affected and more than one-third of adults reporting insufficient sleep— a cycle that both stems from and worsens stress, mood, and health issues.
That’s where conscious rest practices come in. Ancient tools like Yoga Nidra (also known as conscious sleep or non-sleep deep rest) show us how to guide the nervous system into a unique state where the body and brain can truly repair and restore. But Yoga Nidra is only one piece. Rest also includes modern neurosomatic resets that can take as little as 30 seconds— practices you can weave into your daily life without lying down, or necessarily needing space or quiet.
Creating a new nervous system blueprint means creating consistent moments of restoration in your life, so you begin to teach your nervous system to release tension, integrate memories and emotions, reset your neurochemical balance, and find a baseline of safety and stability inside yourself. Ever heard the saying ‘Fill your own cup first’? Well, this is a skill you can actually learn using neurosomatic practices.
The Neuroscience of Rest
When you engage in deep rest states, incredible things happen:
Memory consolidates. Your brain literally reorganizes and integrates learning, improving long-term and short-term memory storage and retrieval.
Stress chemistry resets. Cortisol and adrenaline drop, while neurotransmitters that support calm and focus— like serotonin, GABA, oxytocin, and balanced dopamine begin to rise.
Trauma cycles loosen. Patterns locked in survival mode begin to complete, opening space for healing and re-integration.
The body shifts from fight/flight into repair. Cellular healing accelerates, similar to what happens in deep sleep, rejuvenating physical health and reducing inflammation.
It’s said that a 45 minute Yoga Nidra session can deliver restorative benefits comparable to many hours of deep sleep. And while Nidra is not a substitute for sleep, it powerfully complements it by enhancing recovery, reducing anxiety and depression, sharpening memory and concentration, and even supporting healing from chronic conditions or injuries.
During Nidra and other neurosomatic deep rest states, the body temporarily quiets the constant relay between the senses and the brain’s “homunculus”, the brain map that tracks every body part. This means your brain stops spending energy constantly scanning your body and frees up that energy for healing. Over time, consistent practice builds new pathways under your intentional guidance— increasing self-control, patience, and access to your intuition.
And you don’t need to be “perfect” at it. Even if you drift off, your subconscious mind continues to receive the benefits.
Small but Radical Rest: Micro Neurosomatic Resets
The radical part of rest is that it doesn’t only happen on a yoga mat. Neurosomatic practices can be as short as a few breaths and still quiet your amygdala (fear center) and energize your prefrontal cortex (executive functioning like decision-making and clarity).
For example:
Peripheral Vision Reset: Hold two fingers in front of you, gaze softly ahead, then very slowly spread the fingers out to the edges of your vision without moving your eyes. This simple shift engages your parasympathetic system and calms stress (if you’re at your computer and have more than 4 tabs open, try this one now:)
Vagal Toning: Humming, chanting, or gentle eye-tracking exercises can stimulate the vagus nerve, turning on the ‘rest and digest’ function.
Dopamine/Adrenaline Awareness: Catch yourself when you’re chasing the next “hit” of stimulation— scrolling, caffeine, multitasking — and intentionally pause to let your chemistry rebalance.
There are many more that we’ll explore in the CNTRD Practice Space program (launching Sept. 20th). Even small resets can be deceptively powerful. They prove that rest isn’t disappearing from life— it’s something you can practice in seconds, woven into your daily rhythm. And they literally retrain your body and mind to work and respond differently.
From Blueprint to Choice
Many people have already felt the depth of rest through Yoga Nidra or conscious sleep. The radical edge now is learning to integrate rest across all levels of life using both deep dives and micro resets, a strategy that will rewrite the blueprint of how your nervous system responds to stress, to joy, and to internal insights.
That’s the essence of a neurosomatic practice: treating your body, brain, and nervous system as one interconnected system, and giving yourself the personalized tools to shift states intentionally. Choice is what makes the practice of rest radical. You’re no longer ruled by your blueprint, you design it.
Rest isn’t laziness. It’s radical because it goes against everything our culture glorifies — and it’s powerful because it changes how we show up for life, memory, stress, and relationships.
In my new CNTRD Practice membership, we’ll be exploring the full spectrum of rest together: everything from from deep nervous system recalibration through Yoga Nidra and conscious sleep, to quick 30-second resets like peripheral vision and vagal toning that you can use anytime, anywhere. I’ll teach you how to integrate them into your daily routine so it becomes easier to change. The key is consistency and personalization— discovering the exact practices that help your system regulate and stick, and then leaning into accountability.
Because the future of resilience isn’t about doing more. It’s about learning how to rest. Learn more about the membership program and how it can support the future you by clicking HERE.
References:
1. Georgiev T, Draganova A, Avramov K, Terziyski K (2025) Chronic insomnia – beyond the symptom of insufficient sleep. Folia Medica 67(3): e151493. https://doi.org/10.3897/folmed.67.e151493
Jessica is the author of The Power of Guided Meditation and founder of CNTRD Wellness. She's a neuroscience-trained wellness educator with 25+ years of experience in mind–body healing, meditation, and nervous system regulation. Her calm, science-informed approach blends somatic practices with practical insight to help you shift from survival mode into self-trust and long-term resilience.
