Guest Author I am delighted to share my tips on creative rest with the Family Feed community. I hope that this article helps you to think about your rest in a more accessible way. I want to share with you how I invite mindful practices into my work and personal life and hopefully inspire you to have a go at blending your own aromatherapy products to encourage rest.
What is rest for me?
As parents rest can feel like a privilege or an impossible destination… after all who has time to rest in parenthood? But I believe that rest is deeply important to our health and wellbeing. In my work as a certified aromatherapist and pilates teacher I invite my clients to find rest in their day to day. This doesn’t have to be something that requires lots of resources and time. Many of us can develop moments of rest in the most ordinary situations. My idea of rest is a mix of moments and activities that include.
How I like to rest
- Sleep – In the early years of parenthood sleep can be hard to come by. I can remember scheduling a lie-in with my husband and the feeling of complete luxury when it was my turn to stay in bed and rest.
- Saying no – When I am feeling stretched it can be easy to keep adding more and more to my plate. Learning to say no has helped me to respect my own energy and time.
- Plan free days – Life can be so busy as a working parent. On any given day I move from one thing to the next with little time in between. Having a plan free day at home feels like rest. I fill days like this with simple tasks like getting on top of my laundry and the house. This creates a wider sense of calm in other areas of my life.
- Being realistic about what I can do – Instead of a daily to-do list I try to keep a weekly to-do list. This allows me to be flexible about where and when tasks happen and how many things I can fit into a day.
- Bath time – A bath is a signal to the rest of the family that I am having some downtime. I will read a book and stay in there for as long as possible. It is real rest and an opportunity to be still.
- Time away from my phone. This is a big one for me. Being on my phone or screens for too long doesn’t make me feel good. So being intentional about my phone time helps to restore my energy.
Question for your journal: Thinking about your own circumstances, make a list of all the ways you like to rest? Writing this down can help you to see your own needs on paper. When we see our needs on paper we are more likely to meet them.
Slowing down with creative rest
What creative activities take place in your day to day that might allow you to slow down? In my work I find creative rest in the small moments. I blend aromatherapy products for my clients, this is a restorative process for me. It starts with time and preparation. I am intentional about blocking out plenty of time for the task to be enjoyed. I create the right environment to work in which helps me to prepare for the task.
When I work with essential oils, I have to slow right down. The oils are precious, as they come out a drop at a time I have to really pay attention to each drop. I can’t be in a rush or preoccupied. I have to be present with all my senses. Smell is a huge part of the process and another way to slow down and notice subtle details. I am smelling and making decisions about what the product needs and this requires my full attention. This has become a really enjoyable process for me, it’s almost meditative and because of this I feel rested even though I am working.
This has been the same experience for me in massage. Massage is a creative practice and there is a flow that you get into when you are giving a treatment. There is a meditative experience of using your hands creatively and following your intuition and flow. When I was training I wondered how many massages I would be able to give in a day without draining my energy. But because of the intention I hold in my practice I find that giving a massage treatment energises me.
Question for your journal: What creative practice do you enjoy that could be restorative in your day to day life?
Finding your own creative rest might take some experimentation. Some people will find it in sketching for other people it could be cooking, baking, stitching or writing. Try to stay open to exploring different things.
Blending for creative rest
You can try aromatherapy blending at home. I’ve chosen three 10ml essential oils that you can buy from Amazon for less than £12. You can blend some simple aromatherapy products for yourself. My go-to combination for a balancing, relaxing, restorative blend is:
Essential Oil Moisturiser
You can use a basic moisturiser that is affordable and unscented. Add a few drops off your chosen essential oils straight into the moisturiser and give it a good stir. You can carry this around with you and use it to rub into your hands throughout the day. I would suggest taking a moment to breathe deeply as you rub your hands and take in the essential oils. Use this routine to intentionally welcome rest at that moment. You could be at the school gate, on the train or about to get out of the car for a play date. It is a simple moment that you are creating for yourself.
Essential Oil Bubble Bath
I don’t recommend you put essential oils straight into your bath. It will sit on the surface of the water and could irritate your skin. Essential oils need a carrier but don’t worry you can use a simple, affordable fragrance free bubble bath as the carrier.
When blending your own bubble bath I would work to the following dilution:
12 drops of essential oil to two teaspoons of dispersant (in this case your fragrance free bubble bath) So if you want a start point I would suggest 4 drops of each of the above essential oils per 2 tea spoons of bubble bath. You can put it in to a little bowl, mix it up with a teaspoon and in a few minutes you have an essential oil therapeutic bubble bath. You can make enough for future baths and decant it into your own glass bottles, label and date them.
Tips for blending.
Be still and take your time. Hold intention around the process, watch each drop, stop often and smell the blend with your eyes closed. Ask yourself what else does it need? You might want more or less of a certain oil. Try to see the practice as a playful experiment, something you are doing for yourself in that moment but also for future you, when you are tired and need some rest.
You can test your products by applying a small amount to the inside of your wrist before you start using them, just to be sure you don’t have a reaction.
And if you don’t get the same joy from blending that I do, that is OK. Keep trying different things and remember that you deserve to rest in a way that meets your needs.
written by – Louise Moore
Louise is a certified aromatherapist and pilates teacher.
She welcomes both regular and one-off clients to Oulton Garden Studio her home treatment space. She loves to create retreat days and workshop experiences around pilates, yoga, aromatherapy & massage also providing a beautiful on-site barn for guests to stay over and create a retreat experience. This barn sleeps four and can be found here.
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