Mental Rest with Kat Delaney
How many tabs have you got open? As we explore the idea of mental rest, Kat Delaney says deviating from the "productivity myth" and opting for pockets of rest is the way back to our feminine power.
Today we’re exploring mental rest.
Writer Saundra Dalton Smith defines mental rest as “the ability to quiet the chatter and focus on things that matter.” I’m sure we could all do with a bit of that.
The problem is it can often feel like everything matters. (Or maybe I’m speaking from my own experience here.) As I mentioned HERE, even in the most progressive households where the actual doing of tasks is shared, there’s often one person who holds the responsibility for overseeing things and making sure things get done. A person that carries the mental load.
Also known as worry work, one study described it as a responsibility for "anticipating needs, identifying options for filling them, making decisions, and monitoring progress."
Ironically, mental rest takes work. It’s saying ‘no’ and having boundaries, making time and space for the brain to rest, to process and make connections.
Practices that give the mind a focus - like meditation, for example - create space for mental rest.
I invited Kat Delaney to share her wisdom on mental rest. As a body-mind maturation coach and sound healing practitioner, she’s your woman! She talks specifically about the power of sound healing to calm the mind, how altering the brainwaves with sound moves us into a more nourishing place, and how a new world is possible when women choose to rest. I hand you over to the effortlessly-cool Kat.
Kat, welcome to Restival. Please introduce yourself to everyone.
I am Kat Delaney. I am a maturation coach and crystal sound healer. My role is to guide human beings back to their true divine nature, helping them to connect to the sacred within and throughout the whole of life.
I am currently in Buckinghamshire but I’m moving to Kirkby Lonsdale (Lake District) with my family in the summer to indulge my two biggest passions; standing stones and wild swimming.
What is your relationship to rest?
Rest is not always about lying down (although sometimes it needs to be that!), it’s about taking time to stop the clamour of everyday life to tune in to your body, the breath and the present moment.
Rest is something that I have come home to over the last few years. I have been lucky enough to work for myself, mainly at home, for the last 14 years meaning that I have tuned into the natural rhythms of life more. It has been a challenge to overcome the “work harder, produce more, do it all perfectly” programming of the society we currently find ourselves. Our sense of worthiness is often linked with productivity and we feel guilty when we stop. It does not have to be this way.
Rest is a radical resistance to the modern world: the colonised, patriarchal structures that survive only on exploitation and the myth of productivity.
As women, coming home to rest is our birthright, it is the most radical way to deviate from societal norms and it is the way back to connecting to ourselves. It is the way back to our power!
It is only in deep rest that we connect to the silence within, finding our inner voice and guidance system. I would say out of all spiritual practices, rest is the one that is most needed in the world.
Our tool of discernment is our body. When we are well rested, when our nervous systems are well regulated (dropped out of survival, ‘fight or flight’ mode), we can tune into the deep knowing of our hearts. The feelings of love and joy that move through us when something is right for us. This is true intuition.
Experiencing deep calm and regulation in your nervous system can feel deeply uncomfortable if you have spent a long time dysregulated and running on survival. It can feel exhausting. This is time to rest!
At rest, when out minds we have an opportunity to really be with ourselves in the present, it can feel very uncomfortable because we may have to face the feelings and emotions we have been distracting ourselves from. We find things to do so we do not have to be.
Our minds our often busy and we get caught up in its surface chatter and noise. We can never switch this internal voice off completely but we can support a deeper connection to our higher mind, the observer, our soul voice, when we tune in through rest.
For me rest takes many forms. It is any practice that allows me to tune into that deep inner guidance system, the knowing and the safety that is available to all of us in our own bodies.
I practice ‘mini rests’: putting down my phone and connecting to my breath and my heart beat, listening to plants and crystals, singing, going outside, dancing to a song that I love.
When I have time for longer rest, I turn to yoga, a breath practice, meditation, a walk in nature. I highly recommend taking off your shoes, feeling your feet on the earth and your hands on an old wise tree! And, of course, deep rest for me is a sound healing session.
Tell us a bit about sound healing.
There are so many different forms of sound healing and it is rapidly growing in popularity. Many believe that healing through sound is an ancient practice and that many of the Neolithic sites that remain were designed for the purpose of sound and frequency healing.
I use alchemy crystal bowls which have a very high vibration and melodic sound. They are magnificent divine beings. Playing the bowls is a transmission that comes through from that deep part of my knowing. It is a healing transmission from source.
The notes and the crystal elements in the bowls all have individual meanings and connections. Our bodies are a living vibration and the frequencies emitted from the bowls penetrate the body creating harmony and healing. They also have the ability to calm thought patterns, alter brainwaves and switch the nervous system into its parasympathetic (‘rest and digest’) mode.
What do you want people to know about sound healing and its benefits?
Most people find sound healing incredibly relaxing and calming. People report feeling more connected to their bodies and that they experience better sleep following sessions. Regular sessions help to support anxiety, stress and insomnia. Many people find they have visions or spatial experiences and journeys as the sound takes you into a liminal space between wakefulness and sleep. This is a magical and creative space where your mind can wander free of inhibition.
How did you discover this practice?
I first heard this type of bowl being played on Instagram and I was in love instantly! I purchased my first bowl and found it so powerful. Over time I felt a shift in my consciousness and a deep connection to my body-mind. I found a teacher and completed my training to play for others. My teacher introduced me to a woman (who I call a dating agency for bowls!) and she intuitively guided me to a set of bowls that was flown over from the USA! This was a big financial commitment based purely on trust and intuition.
What value does sound healing bring you personally?
As I have played the bowls, the healing on my own self has been profound. People say that the bowls you need find their way to you and that they are your medicine. Similarly, when I play to individuals or groups everybody receives exactly what they need at any given time.
They have gifted me with the invitation to step into my power as a healer and guide. They nudge me every time to step more deeply into my authentic expression and gifts. They meet people where they are at and support them to connect to their deep knowing.
What is possible when women take time to rest?
Intimacy! With yourself and with life. Intimacy is the deepest expression of the present moment. In a full state of openness to give and receive, it is a state of being. When we practice rest regularly, this state of intimacy becomes available to us more and more. We can choose to be intimate with life, to be fully here in our bodies, connected to our souls and not distracted by the chatter of our minds.
Tell us about a time when you felt ‘at rest’ in some way.
I am currently in Glastonbury on a women’s retreat and, although we have been active in our group sessions and healing, the deep nurturing and rest that is available when we step outside of the usual day to day life, to come into circle together and honour ourselves in this way is the perfect rest for me. It is coming home to a way of being that honours our truly sacred and cyclical nature. I am dreaming up ways to hold women in this way in my new home, to create opportunities for us to rest, supported in community, to breathe life back into our sisters and walk each other home.
FANCY GIVING IT A TRY?
Kat will be holding a short 20-minute practice live at 13:00 on Tuesday 20th June. Join live with headphones (for better sound quality) or watch it at a later time as it will be posted on her feed. Recording HERE
Kat Delaney is a Mind-Body Maturation Coach and Sound Healing Practitioner. You can follow her on Instagram @_kat_delaney or email Kat to receive her newsletter: krbutterfield@yahoo.co.uk
What did you love about this interview with Kat? If you join her sound healing, be sure to tag Kat into your pictures and use the hashtag #RestRebellion.