November Rest Reset
Nov 16, 2025
Some of you may not know this, but I used to be an art teacher and outdoor trip leader at an awesome little high school in the mountains of North Carolina. Back then, I remember noticing a pattern that every November I would get worn down and sick. (There is nothing like working with teenagers to expose you to lots of viruses and germs, ya know?) This all changed when I started listening to my body and resting more around the beginning of November. It made a huge difference in my health! I decided that whenever I got a new yearly planner, which back then was a paper book I carried with me everywhere, I would write "REST MORE," at the beginning of November each year.
This was long before I studied Ayurveda, but I was still somewhat attuned to my body’s messages. The month before the Winter Solstice initiates the fallow time in nature that lasts for 2-3 months. Now that I have been studying Ayurveda for over a decade, I realize how helpful that little message in my planner was, year after year.
“Rest is the conversation between what we love to do and how we love to be.”
This line from poet/writer David Whyte (see full essay HERE) reminds us that rest isn’t just the absence of doing — it’s a return to our deeper rhythm, a rebalance between our inner world and outer life. In our western culture, we are led to believe that being busy and productive is essential for success and rest is an obstacle to our achievements. This mentality propels us into living life in the energy of perpetual summer, which ultimately is unsustainable (for nature and for us).
In Ayurveda, rest is sacred medicine. It is the necessary balance to the productivity, focus, and drive our culture rewards. When our bodies and minds are overstimulated, exhausted, or misaligned, rest lets us reconnect to prana (life force), recalibrate the nervous system, and restore ojas — the essential vitality sap of wholeness.
Here are a few ideas of how we can honor rest with Ayurvedic intention:
Notice when you are rushing to get somewhere or complete a task and ask yourself, “Does this need to happen in a hurry?” and “Does this need to happen NOW?” and “Is this mine to do?”
Take 3 minutes and lay on the floor with your legs up the wall. Stare at the ceiling, not your phone, or anything else. Just 3 minutes makes a big difference.
Breathe deeply, slowly — invite a conversation between inhale and exhale. Extend the exhale.
Return to rhythms that ground you: sleep, gentle movement, warm nourishment at meals that are eaten without distractions.
Rest isn’t passive — it’s fertile space. In that necessary space, we become more present, more generous, more abundant, more ourselves.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please consider sharing it with a friend. Thanks!
Download the Doshic Clock so you can live in rhythm
for health and happiness.
