10 Comments

Hot yoga, sauna, steam-room, lap swimming, naps in the sun, cold plunges, bike rides around town -- plenty of ways to care for your body (read: "rest") that don't involve sitting on the couch or watching TV.

Perhaps you just need to re-frame what a "rest day" is... they can be the most wonderful days!

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Other than swimming laps (which would kill me) I totally agree with you here. Still not my preference but it's definitely possible to have an enjoyable rest day.

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Gotta keep running to feel something

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You get it

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Sports injuries are the worst - sorry to read you’re going through that. As for your rest week… “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami has some worthwhile meditations about writing, running, and the importance of rest (naps!)

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David Sasaki, who also commented below, recommended that book to me recently. I've got it on hold at the library--looking forward to reading it!

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Listen to that body! Believe me it knows!!!

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Ha, my wife talks to me just like your PT.

Have you considered a 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat? It was what I needed to suffer through to fully understand the fruits of rest. I’ve done a lot of physical feats that people think are crazy but nothing compares to the difficulty of doing nothing for 10 days! https://www.dhamma.org/

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That sounds challenging... I once met someone who did one of these meditation retreats immediately after the retreat ended (his was five days I believe). He was in a weird head space to say the least, but he loved it.

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Immediately after mine, I drove through an empty Yosemite Park in winter while listening to Joni Mitchell’s album Blue and I was so overwhelmed by the beauty and miracle of life that I couldn’t stop crying. (To be sure, not my usual way of being.)

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