Gathering: Half-day rest retreat

What would it feel like to really slow down in the speed-obsessed culture?

How might it feel in your body to untangle worth from doing?

Resting together creates spaces for imagination, clarity and possibility but this is not why we rest.

Radical rest is a practice of rest as a deliberate and countercultural act. We are resting not to reward ourselves, not as a collapse, or escape– but as reclamation. Radical rest is remembering that our worth is not earned through exhaustion. Rest is a birthright.

The pace we are navigating through is cultural, therefore the repair must be communal. Collective Rest or Slow Rebellion expands our capacity for intimacy. In collective stillness our empathy increases, comparison softens and competition drops away.

Radical Rest reframes rest from:

• “Recovery so I can be productive again”
•  “Something I earn after exhaustion”
• A private self-care ritual”

into:

• A birthright
• A collective practice
• A refusal of grind culture
• A nervous-system reorientation

A central contemporary voice to the Radical Rest movement is Tricia Herse; Founder of The Nap Ministry, who frames rest as a form of resistance, especially for Black communities historically denied rest through slavery, racial capitalism, and productivity extraction.

What to expect? 

Arrive at 1pm. 

The event will start with reading the Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. Then you’ll be invited to choose an object that represents your relationship with slowness, and share it with the group if you wish. Grounding, guided laying down practice with gentle somatic movement, will serve as an invitation to settle into our bodies a little deeper. After the practice you’ll be welcome to rest: have a nap, lay down on the floor, cuddle yourself in the blankets, have some tea, share a snack–rest may have many faces. 

We invite you to embrace silence and community only when it’s necessary.

You can leave anytime. 

Tickets

There are just 12 places available for this retreat. Please refer to the following suggestions when booking your place:

No spare income - pay what you can

Low spare income - £15

Medium spare income - £25 (actual cost of facilitation and supplies)

High spare income - £35

Abundance ticket / pay it forwards - £45

There is information available here concerning The Convivial's financial modelling, with useful considerations when choosing your ticket price.

Facilitators

Kasia Murfet is a socially engaged facilitator + practitioner integrating Qigong and Buddhism to inspire creative action and collective care. They hold a MA in Buddhist Studies with the University of South Wales and their research explored whether Zen can really be expressed through Zen Arts. They are passionate about Climate + Social Justice, Diversity and Inclusion. As a practicing Buddhist Kasia believes that Buddhist principles and practices can be applied to address social, political, and environmental issues.

www.kasiamurfet.com

Sophie Craven is one of the co-founders of The Slow Work Garden and is the founder of The Convivial. She is an interdisciplinary facilitator, host, teacher, researcher and artist. Her work revolves around developing and strengthening a sense of deep curiosity and rich community in spaces of learning and inquiry. She draws from a range of modalities, disciplines and praxis in her work, all geared towards the surfacing and holding of paradox and co-existing truths. She believes that we can learn to romance mystery in a way that opens up new possibilities.

www.sophiecraven.com

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