Why is rest so hard for Black women to claim—and what does it cost us when we don’t?

In this episode, Jewelle explores the spiritual, ancestral, and energetic necessity of rest for Black women, naming it not as a luxury, but as a practice of resistance, remembrance, and restoration. Drawing from scripture, epigenetics, Afrofuturism, and the teachings of Tricia Hersey (The Nap Ministry) and Cole Arthur Riley (Black Liturgies), this conversation traces how rest was denied, criminalized, and extracted from Black women’s bodies—and why reclaiming it now is essential to our liberation, pleasure, and holistic wellbeing.

Through stories of lineage, Sabbath theology, dreamspace, and the life of Jesus Himself, Jewelle invites listeners to see rest as our divine birthright—one that returns us to God, reconnects us to our bodies, and helps us imagine and build liberated futures.

This is a call to stop performing, stop proving, and start resting—not just for ourselves, but for those who came before us and the Black women coming after us.

🔑 Key Message

Rest is not optional for Black women—it is a sacred practice that honors our ancestors, restores our dignity, and reconnects us to God and our inherent divinity.

✨ What You’ll Walk Away With

• A deeper understanding of why rest feels so foreign to Black women and how historical, generational, and spiritual forces shaped that reality.
• Encouragement to release guilt, performance, and urgency, and to see rest as obedience, trust, and divine inheritance.
• Practical tools for embodying rest as resistance, remembrance, intimacy, dignity, and Sabbath—without needing to earn it.

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🧠 By the end of this episode, you’ll see how:

• Rest disrupts systems of extraction and refuses productivity as the measure of worth.

• • Choosing rest honors ancestors who were denied it and rewrites what we pass down.
  • God uses rest, stillness, and dreamspace to heal, guide, and reveal liberated futures.

  
  

  🌿 Meant for your reflection:

  As you listen, consider:

  1. When was the last time you rested without guilt or justification?

  2. What beliefs about rest did you inherit—and which ones are you ready to release?

  3. How might your rest today shape the world Black women inherit tomorrow?

  📲Enjoying the show? Connect with Jewelle

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  🔗 Resources Mentioned

  Tricia Hersey’s Song “Rest Life”

  Tricia Hersey’s Dreamscape Playlist