Permission to Rest: Revolutionary Practices for Healing, Empowerment, and Collective Care

A revolutionary invitation to tend to our fundamental need for renewal, self-care, and mindfulness by disengaging from our devices and acknowledging the ways that we are burnout, from the author of How to Breathe.

“Permission to Rest shows us why slowing down is so important and exactly how to do so in a way that facilitates true rest and growth. It’s the guide we didn’t know we so desperately needed.”—Dr. Will Cole, functional medicine expert, and New York Times bestselling author of Intuitive Fasting and Gut Feelings

In a culture that constantly tells us to do more of everything but simultaneously pressures us to do nothing, Permission to Rest is a passionate cry for a more regulated, resourced, and rested life. Wellness expert Ashley Neese combines personal essays, contemplative questions, scientific research, and somatic practices to help us disrupt the state of urgency, reflect inward, and relax deeply. Neese examines common beliefs around rest and offers support and guidance to challenge the shame, guilt, and discomfort that often arise when we attempt to slow down.

Neese presents a series of body-focused rest practices for those who are running on empty, such as Cultivating a Rest/Work Rhythm, Nature Bathing, and Social Media Sabbatical. She addresses common roadblocks when beginning a rest practice, the incredible health benefits of prioritizing rest, and a number of holistic resources for developing a sustainable relationship to rest. The practices work for those short on time, but their benefits build the more you practice every day. 

Permission to Rest is both a timely manifesto and compassionate call to action. In her signature warm, grounding, and authoritative style, Neese invites each of us to pause, look inward, learn to feel our own rhythms, and value rest as a deeply healing, empowering, and spiritual practice. This book is a reminder that we have the power to transform our lives from the inside out.

About the Author