On Rest as Resistance

What would it be like to live in a well-rested world? For far too many of us, we have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace—feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its own relentless benefit. In this world, rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it asserts our most basic humanity.  
 
Tricia Hersey, aka the Nap Bishop is an artist, theologian, and the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines rest as a form of resistance by curating sacred spaces for the community to rest through Collective Napping Experiences, immersive workshops, and performance art installations. Tricia’s work is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. 

Join Tricia for a conversation with CIIS Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Damali Robertson on the liberating power of rest, daydreaming, and naps as the foundation of healing and justice. Sharing insights from her latest book, Rest Is Resistance, Tricia casts an illuminating light on our troubled relationship with rest and how to imagine and dream our way to a future where rest is exalted. Tricia reminds us that our worth does not reside in how much we produce, and not for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us.  

Tricia invites us to break free from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture and elevate rest as a form of resistance and a divine human right.


Tricia Hersey is a Chicago native who has called Georgia home for the last 12 years. She has 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 upcoming book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto which will be published in October 2022. You can learn more about her work and the book at thenapministry.com.


Damali Robertson joins the California Institute of Integral Studies as Director of Diversity and Inclusion after a 15-year career in progressive non-profit leadership. She brings an unshakable commitment to equity and justice along with rich lived experiences to her role at CIIS. From 2008-2011, Damali helped pioneer Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives at the Haas Center for Public Service (long before the uprisings of 2020 and long before many organizations were ready to invest in this critical work). More recently, she spent a year leading an in-depth racial equity project to address the achievement gap between Black students and their peers at a Bay Area high school. That project inspired her to become an even more vocal practitioner, advocate and thought leader in the DEI space and motivated her decision to pursue a MA in Social Justice and Organizing. Most recently, she co-led DEI initiatives at Root & Rebound while also leading their fundraising and communications efforts, creating campaigns about the systemic injustices and disparities built into America’s criminal legal system. Damali grounds her work in antiracist and anti-oppression praxis. She is also a restorative justice and mindfulness practitioner who approaches everything with a ‘restorative impulse,’ integrity, lots of deep breaths and compassion. Damali identifies as a Black, queer, differently abled, Jamaican-American woman, poet, writer, and teacher who is also a mother of two young adults and pet parent to two adorable and sometimes noisy doggies. Damali lives in Oakland, CA and loves travel, spicy food, Reggae and Hip-Hop music.  

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