Life Kit - Why rest is an act of resistance

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

Known to her fans as the 'nap bishop,' Tricia Hersey, author of the new book 'Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto,' explains why relaxation and leisure are a human right — especially for communities of color.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Well, forgive me because I'm on this mic exhausted. We all are, though. I think we all are residing in it, sometimes in a place of exhaustion, in and out. That's what the culture is doing. You're listening to NPR's Life Kit. I'm Shirin Marisol Maragi, and my guest today is Trisha Hersey, also known as the Kna Nap Bishop. Trisha founded a project called the Nap Ministry back in 2016, and she uses performance art and social media and photography. She even has a hotline to promote the healing power of rest. And now she has a book out called Rest is Resistance. And Trisha says she wants it to be a bomb for an exhausted world.

Look, I don't usually start my interviews talking about how tired I am. But Trisha really encourages her overworked readers and her IG followers to acknowledge that we're exhausted. And that we have the right to rest. So here goes. I'm so tired. I don't know how to say no. I know you've heard this a million times. I definitely am one of those people who operates from a scarcity mentality that I was 100% raised with. Shout out to my Puerto Rican mom and my Iranian dad. I was just gonna, I was gonna ask where you are from an immigrant family.

Yes. Yes. Okay. It makes sense. Yeah. I just you know, it was just I don't know, pushed onto me that all my opportunities would dry up if I say no. ten times harder than all of the kids in your class because you're black. And so all of us are kind of holding on to these toxic programming ideas. But I think a major thing, what's so beautiful is that the awareness of it is coming now, that you can at least name that and say that because that's really what this work is. It's just helping to pull back a veil a little, helping for people to peek out and see their humanness a little more and have that awareness. All right, so it wasn't that hard for me to say I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I'm doing too much. I complain about that all the time. But the second part that I have the right to rest part, saying that and really believing it, that's what's hard. That's so hard.

On this episode of Life Kit, rest is resistance. Trisha and I talk about the inspiration for her manifesto on rest and how she started believing that rest is not only a human necessity, but a human right. Trisha, there's an absolutely beautiful dedication to your dad at the beginning of Rest is Resistance. And I can't read it because every time I read it, it really, it chokes me up. It makes me emotional. Yes, me me too I read it to my brother the other day and he's he was bawling you write about how special your dad was not only to you and your family but to your entire church community yes why did you dedicate this book to him? That's such a good question. Yeah, my dad is my deepest ancestor. He

was my best friend. I have a photo of him in my office when I was a baby, and I'm on his shoulders, and he's smiling. And it's just the epitome of the relationship that we had. He was always holding me up, like whatever you could do, always teaching me you're enough. He really was one of the people who I could look to to know that even though my body and my skin color was being criminalized in a culture, he was always responding by saying, it's a lie. You are enough. Your blackness is a miracle. He was an activist, union organizer, Pentecostal, fire and brimstone, black preacher. So I dedicated the book to him because I think in a lot of ways, my work with the NAP ministry and experimenting with it was because of him. You know, so I wanted to uplift him to say thank you for being my biggest supporter.

What was going on in your life at that time when you were studying, when you just decided enough, I'm going to start prioritizing rest in a way that I've never prioritized rest before? You know, this was in 2013 when I started Divinity School. And September 2013 is when I had my orientation and we were to start the program, a three year program. And I remember very quickly it took about two weeks before I was sitting on the steps of the financial aid building at the university crying to my husband on the phone. Like, what have I gotten myself into? He's like, what are you? I'm like, I, the pace of this, if you can see the syllabus, they want us to read a thousand words in a week. That's one class. I'm taking six classes. Like I can't keep up already. I'm overwhelmed. Like, how am I going to do this? But also at the time, specific time, Black Lives

Matter movement was heating up. Just like all this trauma was happening. I was just coming to school and nobody was mentioning anything about it. The teachers were just moving on. I was just like so traumatized by this. And then I also had two people in my family die suddenly. I was going through deep financial issues. I didn't have a car. So sometimes I would be walking back and forth to the bus because bus stopped trying to get to school. And then I had a six year old son at the time that I was raising, working two jobs, trying to pay for my tuition, also doing an internship for school. So I really was like spiritually dying and physically seeing effects of that on my body. I was having migraine headaches and my weight was fluctuating. I wasn't eating properly. It was just like a full on battle. And so at one point I just said to myself, I don't care. Like I went to all of my teachers and told them, I'm going to come to class and get the attendance credit, but you may not get any work from me. And so I just started resting

everywhere. I had all these special places to sleep all over campus. And I would also sleep when I got home. Instead of studying, I would lay down on the couch and put the book on my chest and just go to sleep. I wasn't staying up no more to three in the morning like my classmates. I just, I said, I don't care. I said, let the chips fall where they may. I have to save myself. And rest became the vehicle to see what my body would do and what could happen when I went into a dream space, when I went into a portal of resting, when I decided to just lay down. What happened, Tricia says, is that she began to heal. Her grades improved. She was happier. She was happier.

She was healthier. And she wanted to share that with people. Before seminary, Trisha was a longtime artist. And like her dad, she was a community organizer. So her first thought was a performance art piece. A collective napping experience where strangers could come together and rest in public. And to Trisha's surprise, people actually showed up. People came in droves and they laid down and they woke up crying. They were so moved. They were so exhausted. It was just became this spiritual community driven

activation for the community. So Trisha was organizing these collective napping experiences. Then she started sharing her rest philosophy on Instagram. And because she was in seminary, she was also doing a lot of studying. I was studying the archives, looking at plantation labor, being here in Georgia in the South, I was able to touch and get my hands on so many powerful, really haunting documents around the sin of slavery here. And so I was writing and writing papers and experimenting with this idea of semantics and rest, the body and the mind and resting and reparations and racial healing. All that studying and writing and thinking about rest as reparations led Trisha to develop the four tenets of the NAP ministry,

which she writes about in Rest is Resistance. Tenet number one. Rest is a form of resistance because it pushes back and disrupts white supremacy and capitalism. Number two, our bodies are a site of liberation. And that brings into the semantics the idea that wherever our bodies are, we can find rest. Three, NAPs provide a portal to imagine, invent, and heal. And tenant number four, our dream space has been stolen and we want it back we will reclaim it via rest i really want to dissect uh tenant number one or talk more about

tenant number one rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy. This book is so much more than encouraging people to take naps. Oh, my God. This is about more than naps. Thank you for saying that. I say it so much. It is about way more. It's a paradigm shift. It's mind altering. It's culture shifting. It's a full-on politics of refusal. We have been brainwashed by this system to believe these things about rest, about our bodies, about our worth. This violent culture that wants to see us working 24 hours a day, that doesn't view us as a human being, but instead views our divine bodies as a machine. And so when I think about the first tenant and this idea of disrupting and pushing

back, I've been taught my whole life that resistance looks like so many things. It isn't one way. There's never just one way. There's infinite ways that we can find liberation. And so for me, when we are in a system that we're on that's under capitalism, that doesn't look at people as people, they look at profit, white supremacy. They don't see the divinity in all of us. And so these two systems working in collaboration, we can push back against them. But even if we're off the clock and saying no intentionally for 10 minutes, our insistence on being like, not today, you can't have me for these 30 minutes, this little small disruption. I'm thinking about my ancestors who slowed down production in cotton fields and who did this quiet quitting that's happening. You've been hearing about this

idea of quiet quitting where people are going to work, but not giving as much. Yeah. And so I feel like it's all in this same idea of disruption, of pushing back, of saying no. Let's go back to our brainwashing. Yes. Because I 100% am a victim of this brainwashing, especially the thing that you talk about where, you know, we think that the more we do, the more worth we have. I am 100% guilty of that kind of thinking. So, Trisha, how do I deprogram? How do I stop thinking that the more I produce, the more I do, the more I say yes, the more worth I have?

What I will say to you is that it's going to be slow. It is not going to be a quick tip advice that I can give you and just be like, this is going to work for you. It's really going to be a slow uncovering, a slow mercy and grace towards yourself. I tell people to rest through the guilt, rest through the shame, because to me, the guilt and shame is just beautiful evidence of your brainwashing and give thanks for that because you didn't even know you were brainwashed before. You know what I mean? You thought this was normal. You thought everybody around you, the whole entire culture is moving at this pace. And so take it slow, understand, be aware, be aware that it's happening and then start to go

deeper into the wells of yourself to begin to see what could help to help you heal. This work is about listening and about connecting with the body. And so I love yoga. I love meditation. I love deep breathing, taking baths. I love walking, birding. I think all these ideas of what resting could be for us and how we can reimagine ourselves to be more human is really the key to this work to like begin to disrupt the idea that you're a machine and that your worth is connected to your accomplishment. It's going to be a slow go. This isn't easy work. Like this is some serious, real deep, dark. This is dark. Yeah. I appreciate that.

Trisha, what are the health benefits from taking the time to prioritize rest from napping? Yes. You know, I talk a lot about my divinity degree, but I have an undergrad degree in public health and community health. So I know the beauty of looking at this message from the science of sleep. The CDC have named sleep deprivation as a public health crisis. Three of the top diseases, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, can be linked back to sleep deprivation. And so when we aren't sleeping, our organs don't have a chance to regenerate. And then from a brain level, our brains are being truly traumatized by our lack of sleep and lack of a moment of pause. When we sleep, the brain is like bathed in this chemical that helps people to process trauma. And it helps you to remember, it helps your creativity,

memory retention, and you're able to like really heal your body. So I tell people, maybe this work can't land in your mind and spirit from a political level. Maybe you can't right now jump on the whole spiritual idea of it, but just to look at what is happening from a health level, from biologically, from neurologically, what we're doing to our bodies when we're exhausted, when we're burnt out. Over a sustained amount of time, it is killing us. It is causing more disease to take root in our bodies. It's not allowing us to live to our full potential. All the women in my family, and this includes me, I'm raising my hand here. We are the type of people that if there is a moment where we can rest, we're wiping something or we're cleaning a window.

Or organizing something. We're organizing. Fixing something. That's why my mom used to be. Yeah, definitely. So for all those busybodies out there who just, they just have to be doing something in order to feel alive. Yes. How do they, how do we force our bodies to rest, to stop? I think the idea of active rest, anything that can slow your body down enough that you can connect with your body and mind. I was taking dance classes and ballet and somatic dance classes when I was in graduate school. And I found that to be one of the most ultimate forms of rest when I was learning how to spin and do turns and, you know, moving my body.

So I really thought that dancing was really a beautiful active form of rest for me. I love to walk. I love walking and being in nature, you know, just being able to like move your body in a way that is slowed down. It isn't being moved for the idea of labor. You know, when I think about hobbies and how everyone is like monetizing their hobbies right now. And I'm like, no, that's capitalism telling you that you need to like monetize crocheting. Like my sister is a beautiful fiber artist. And she says to her, that's the most meditative restful state when she's crocheting blankets for people. And she refuses to sell them.

She's like, if I do that, because then it will become capitalism making it not fun. And she'll be rushed and feel urgent. And it's all linked back to trying to make money. She does it for the meditation, for the connection, and because she loves to do it. And so I think about that a lot. There's this point you make in the book, which for me is so key. You say resting and recharging and rejuvenating is not so that we can grind more. It's not so that we can prepare ourselves to, you know, give more output to capitalism.

That is not actually what this is about. Not at all. Not at all. People get it twisted and think that's what it's about because- Of course they do. It ain't about nap so that you can do more. Because a lot of corporations are pushing this idea. They're saying, have our employees rest more. You guys can have a nap room here so that you can be more productive when you come to work, so that we can pay less in health insurance premiums. So we're not resting to get ourselves more riled up to be on capitalism's clock. We're resting simply because it's our divine and human right to do so. Please say that

again, Tricia. Yes, we are resting simply because it is our divine and human right to do so, period. There's nothing else on the end of that sentence. It is the end of it. Most people I talk to are saying, talking about productivity, they got to be productive. You've been taught productivity by the curriculum of white supremacy and capitalism. Is that who your teacher needs to be? That's not my teacher. I'm not allowing that to be my teacher. I don't want to be under the guise of believing that I have to be productive in order to be deemed worthy. I am enough now. Trisha, where does social media fit into all this? You've mentioned you've used it as a tool. You use IG to create this community around the NAP ministry, but you also say it is toxic. It prevents us from resting. Yes, it does. So what's a good way to limit, you know, it's toxic hold on us? Yeah, I love to speak about this because it allows me to

have opportunity to begin to talk about nuance and to get and to get people out of the binary. It's always a thing that we can have both in. All things can be possible. And so social media is a beautiful tool of connection for so many communities, for so many people. But at the same time, it's an extension of capitalism. That's just what it is. And so they would love for us to be online scrolling all day, buying all day, 24 hours a day, scrolling and buying. That's what it is. And so I tell people, find spaces to detox offline because there is no pause. There's no interruption that's going to happen unless you make it. At night, I turn my phone off at eight

o'clock. It's, it's just off. Like, if you can't reach me by phone, you're going to have to come pull up in front of my house, send a letter, or telepathically communicate with me. Oh, you actually turn off your phone? Not even the Do Not Disturb? No, it's off. Physically turn it off?

It's off in a drawer, like, next to my bed. It's done. I'm totally not with it. I'm disattached. I understand that there's ways to communicate and connect with people that we are not looking at because we're so caught up in the grips of this technology that's taking over our lives. It's addictive. So do it slowly, find ways to do it weekly, put it in your calendar. You have to be subversive, inventive, and you have to create and craft a way. No one

is going to give it to you. I put in my calendar every week, my rest days. So I actually put it in there. I don't even look at my email. I don't even respond to anything work related. I'm all about laying around the house, going outside. I'm going to go get my hair done tomorrow. I'm not engaging in any type of labor outside of what feels good to me. But I plan those in my calendars. And before COVID, I actually would put from one to three every day in my calendar. No, it's a rest time. There's just a moment where I'm not on capitalism's clock. Like my dad who will wake up in the morning two hours before he had to go to work and read every newspaper because he loved newspapers and he loved reading. And I'll be like,

why are you up so early? You don't have to be at work. He was like, I want to get up and be human for a little bit and actually not be on the clock and do what I want to do. Do you think that your dad allowed himself to rest enough, even though he didn't have that ritual every morning? He did have that ritual, but he didn't. He was caught up in the machine in such a deep way. And it was like a beauty and a curse. He was this organizer and activist. So this work in a lot of ways is also dedicated to organizers and social justice activists like myself and like my dad and like a lot of people in my life who feel like they can't rest while the machine continues to rage around them. You know, how could we ever take a break when they're continuing to lock up people and put them in prisons? How could I stop when they're continuing to make laws that are taking away a woman's autonomy? How do we rest? And I keep telling them that resting is part of the strategic plans for

people who are organizers and activists, because I believe resting is generative. It's not frivolous and it's not a luxury and it's not some afterthought. It truly is something that will allow us to tap into the inventive and imaginative ideas that are going to get us to the next dimension. I talk about in the book, I don't think my dad knew what a hobby was or what leisure was or a vacation was and how once you're on this wheel once you're on this wheel of grind culture it sometimes can be impossible to unravel from it and unfortunately my father was one of the people who um capitalism got you know it it ended his life in um very very um way too early way too early because of that. And so, yeah, I write from that understanding. I write from the tender rage that is inside of me because of that.

You know, I have rage because of that. I have a tender rage inside of me that I won't allow myself to donate my body to capitalism. I won't. You won't get me. You know, I refuse. And so that's really where it resides in for me personally. Trisha, I cannot tell you how much I needed this conversation. I needed it. I needed it. Thank you. I know so many people listening are feeling the same way. Thank you. Thank you. So amazing. Thank you for engaging with the work and for this conversation. It's been beautiful to speak with you. I hope you enjoy your rest day tomorrow. I will. I cannot wait. I saw what I'm thinking about. For more LifeKid, check out our other episodes. I've hosted one on mindfulness and meditation. I've got another one on how to learn your heritage language. That's one of my favorites.

Go check it out. And we've got lots more on everything from parenting to how to organize all those photos that you take and, you know, don't print out or do anything with. You can find those at npr.org slash life kit. And if you love life kit and you want more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash life kit newsletter. This episode of LifeKit was produced by Andy Tegel and it was edited by Mariel Segarra, who is also our host. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan. Our digital editor is Malika Garib. Megan Cain is the supervising editor. Beth Donovan is the executive producer. Our intern is Jamal Michelle. Our production team also includes Audrey Nguyen, Claire Marie Schneider,

Michelle Aslam, Summer Tomad, and Sylvie Douglas. Julia Carney is our podcast coordinator. Last but not least, engineering support comes from Ko Takasugi Chernovan, Hannah Copeland, and Stu Rushfield.

I'm Shirin Marisol Maragi. Thanks for listening, and Stu Rushfield. I'm Shereen Marisol Maragi. Thanks for listening and get some rest.