Zine #1: Yoga Nidra

Rest as Practice: Why Stillness Is Part of Yoga Teaching

Rest is often treated as something we earn after effort.

In yoga, it is something we practice *alongside* effort.

As teachers, students, and lifelong practitioners, we spend years refining technique, language, sequencing, and presence. Yet many of us were never explicitly taught how to rest *within* the practice—how to pause without disengaging, how to listen without fixing, how to allow stillness to inform teaching rather than interrupt it.

This short zine, **Rest as Practice**, emerged from lived teaching moments rather than theory alone. Moments where less instruction created more clarity. Where pausing supported regulation. Where presence mattered more than performance.

Rest is not passive.

It is not avoidance.

It is a form of listening.

Within yoga nidra, meditation, and subtle transitions between effort and ease, rest becomes a teacher in its own right. It trains awareness. It reveals patterns. It supports sustainability—for both students and those who guide them.

This work is offered as a personal reflection and a gentle invitation into practice. Not as a prescription, but as a reminder: if rest resonates, you are already practicing.

You may download the full zine below.

— Michelle Rae Sobi

#RestAsPractice #LivingYoga #YogaTeachers #YogaNidra #EmbodiedPractice #YogaPhilosophy #SustainableTeaching

Zine 1.pdf

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