Good Old Fashioned Rest

By Master Tigger MacGregor

You may not know, and perhaps even be surprised to hear, that I've got a thing for Irn Bru. It wasn't always Irn Bru. It started with Fentiman's Curiosity Cola, progressed to their Cherry Tree Cola (yummity yum!) and has now evolved to Irn Bru. I don't see the occasional consumption of any of these as a problem.

However, it was when I realised there was a point in my afternoon that I would start counting down to my bottle of Fentiman's (latterly my can of Irn Bru) that I knew it had stopped being a treat and become a crutch. And one that, actually, may have been a crutch that kept me moving but at the same time it was (metaphorically) causing problems with my hand and wrist. Problems which could prove much worse than slowing down and having some good old fashioned rest.

Slowing down? The world we live in at the moment doesn't do “slow”. But as NO HANDers we are invited to Go Slow and discover a new depth to our Touch.

Rest? Our culture insidiously spreads the message that rest is for the “weak”. Or that rest is only OK in your allotted annual “holiday” time. And yet we invite our clients to Rest a while on our Massage table to Breathe, to Feel - every single time they walk through our door.

The idea that slowing down and resting were really important didn't fit well with my beliefs, my way of living. I believed all my energy needed to be spent doing everything I could do to contribute to a better way of doing things – as quickly as possible! And that road led to burn-out.

Last July I found myself so exhausted I was diagnosed with possible glandular fever. It wasn't glandular fever, but I was astounded by the number of unfamiliar and acute symptoms I experienced – as the result of “simple” exhaustion with a bit of mild virus thrown in for good measure. I knew something had to change. And I also knew the only thing that was going to “fix” this exhaustion was rest.

Thankfully my burn-out was relatively short lived and I was able to get the rest I needed and adjust my life to create a more sustainable way of being. A way that I could sustain for the rest of my life.

But it really made me wonder, again, how many ailments do we try to “treat” and “fix” that may benefit from a good dose of rest and TLC?