The OATHmeal: “An ABC of Rest and Restoration”
“Buenos dias and welcome to the OATHmeal! What is the OATHmeal you ask? Well, it’s a quick, delicious, and nutritious start to your day as you go out as your WHOLElistic self aligned to systemic change.
But this is no simple instant OATHmeal. This has been intentionally stewed with care so that it powers your knowing and doing. It can be informative and interesting, but more importantly, it offers an invitation to action. Here is what we’re serving up for today:”
“Sometimes everything I know about oppression feels like too much.” -- Student
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” – Audre Lorde
Part of Justice-oriented work is Healing and Restoration -- This can lead us to connections in Restorative Justice and Healing Justice, among other practices. And most importantly is the simple and powerful practice of REST.
With that in mind, here are some considerations and framings, noting again that it’s one starting point and one set among several, and with a focus on “managing” stress, be it not just “regular” work stress but also that which comes from identity stress along with anti-oppression stress.
And it’s in the form of ABC.
Ingredients:
Awareness
Balance
Connection
An open mind
A readiness for reflection
Instructions:
Awareness
This is a set of practices for noticing what you need, how you need it, and where you are in relation to growth. This can include the following:
Honor Your Body’s Needs– holistically
Identify Triggers– notice your actions and reactions
Limits & Capacity– How much space you have
Grounding– practices of being Present
Check-Ins– with self and others
You can practice statements like:
“Hey, it’s really good to see you, and I’m so grateful that you trust me with this story. But I’m kind of at capacity for talking about classism/racism/ableism/patriarchy right now. Would you mind if we switched topics?”
And affirmation like “I have enough. I do enough. I am enough.”
Balance
Once you’ve gotten a hold of Awareness, aka the practices for noticing what you need, how you need it, and where you are in relation to growth. Next comes Balance.
Balance can be an illusion of calm stillness. It is a point of tension. Some of these practices & reminders can be:
Set Boundaries-- Limit Things that Drain Your Energy
Trolls aren’t worth your time– they look for reactions
Limit Amount of News/Information Consumption
“Satisficity”– rather than “perfectionism”
Rolf Dobelli, author of The Art of Thinking Clearly notes:
“[how effed up the world is] constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocorticoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocorticoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness, and susceptibility to infections. The other potential side-effects include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision, and desensitization.”
Connection
We seek Connection in varying ways. Belonging in relation to others is a powerful space. Some ideas:
Find Your Community
Curate Your Social Media– not same as “siloing”
Ask for Help-- You are Not Alone
Visioning– and align actions to that
Primatologist and stress expert (among many other things) Robert Sapolsky notes:
"We are capable of social supports that no other primate can even dream of. We can actually feel comfort from the discovery that somebody on the other side of the planet is going through the same experience we are and feel, I'm not alone. We can even take comfort reading about a fictional character, and there's no primate out there that can feel better in life just by listening to Beethoven (or Beyoncé). So the range of supports that we're capable of is extraordinary."
In addition, models such as Attention Restoration Theory, or ART, can be helpful. ART proposes that exposure to nature is not only enjoyable but can also help us improve our focus and ability to concentrate (Ohly, White, Wheeler, Bethel, Ukoumunne, Nikolaou, & Garside, 2016).
Stephen & Rachel Kaplan, the creators of ART and the Reasonable Person Model (now known as Supporting Effective Environments) proposed that there are four cognitive states, or states of attention, along the way to restoration:
Clearer head, or concentration
Mental fatigue recovery
Soft fascination, or interest
Reflection and restoration
According to ART, there are four key components that characterize a restorative environment: Being Away, Soft Fascination, Extent, and Compatibility. So this includes not just getting out in nature but paying attention to and creating restorative environments that bring out the best in ourselves (rather than creating environments that bring out the wors in ourselves, which we’re good at).
This is where the Reasonable Person Model is helpful.
In addition, Dr. Loretta Pyles, Professor at the School of Social Welfare at SUNY Albany proposes Healing Justice: “We can think of healing justice as a kind of balm for the inflammation caused by our egoic self-centeredness, the violence we perpetrate against ourselves and others, and the residue of domination and victimization. It is a framework and set of practices that can help us to uproot what bell hooks calls ‘imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.’”
“Six Capabilities are practices, behaviors, and traits that we can cultivate and employ in service to healing and liberation. They are mindfulness, compassion, effort, equanimity, curiosity, and critical inquiry. These capabilities serve as guideposts for each of the dimensions of the self that are deserving of our attention—body, emotions, thoughts, community, nature, and spirit.”
So get your rest on as you exist in resistance. And consider practices such as these as part of your restorative workouts:
TRE--Tension and Trauma Release Exercises
MOVE in other ways-- along with common ways to PLAY and exercise
Seek and be in RESTORATIVE environments (easiest is go out in NATURE)
MEDITATE with Awareness & Grounding, CHECK IN on yourself– there is no single “right” way
Express GRATITUDE and AFFECTION– Check out The 20-Second HUG, check in with EACH OTHER
SCHEDULE it-- why or why not is self and community care on your calendar?
And yes, spiritual practices can be a part of it. As always with some caution and considerations around Columbusing and falling trap to toxic prescriptive practices.
