Guided by her new book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto and fervent calls for real, deep rest, this week returning guest Tricia Hersey joins Ayana to unwind the complicated ties of exhaustion and exploitation. Tricia’s words serve as incantations against the brainwashing of grind culture as she and Ayana investigate the systems that benefit from keeping us stagnant. 

This conversation is the sacred balm so many of us need as we face the grief of knowing that the systems we are born into will not serve us and will not bring us true, liberated rest and life. Drawing deep inspiration from her ancestors, histories of marronage, and long standing traditions of Black resistance, Tricia leans into the prophetic dreams that have long allowed for life outside of systems of exploitation. 

As Tricia reveals, these are times of spiritual crisis. How might we pray ourselves free? How might we dream ourselves free? Rest is a portal to new worlds, both inside and outside of the self. Encouraging listeners to tap into nature and to question the systems of white supremacy and capitalism that separate us from each other and the world around us, Tricia invites us into the meticulous love practice of care and rest. 

We won't make it through if we don't stop to reevaluate and reorient. We are living in times of collective trauma. We must rest and imagine in order to heal. Rest will save us.

Tricia Hersey is a Chicago native with over 20 years of experience as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian and community organizer. She is the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines rest as a form of resistance and reparations by curating spaces for the community to rest via community rest activations, immersive workshops, performance art installations, and social media. Her research interests include Black liberation theology, womanism, somatics, and cultural trauma. She is the author of the book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto which was published in October 2022. You can learn more about her work and order the book at thenapministry.com.

♫ The music featured in this episode is “My Hair” (instrumental) by Real J Wallace and “Folklorism” and "El Coqui's Dream" by Fabian Almazan Trio.

Episode References

thenapministry.com 

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey  

TRICIA HERSEY on Rest as Resistance /185 – For The Wild

For Nikki Giovanni, finding purpose means 'you cannot let the world change you'

Emilie M. Townes 

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