The Art of Rest

•The RI.Perspective
The Art of Rest is a four-day residency in Bali, born out of Zara’s work as the founder of Mellow Habits. During the Melbourne lockdowns, Zara placed a Himalayan singing bowl on her body and breathed with its vibration. From there, sound became the centre of her practice, a way into rest, alongside somatic movement and breath. For Zara, a body in tension, overloaded by constant stimuli and demands, needs to move through seven forms of rest: physical, sensory, mental, emotional, social, creative and spiritual.
In a villa near Ubud, the retreat protects stillness through lightly structured days: time, space, no rushing, no expectation to share, nothing to chase. Among the evening rituals, the floating sound bath, a practice Zara was among the first to bring outdoors, into nature, helps the nervous system settle: the body is held by water while sound and vibration move through it, until they are felt on the skin.
Designed for women used to shouldering a great deal, the experience is a real pause from the everyday pace, learning to stop, and carrying that calm with you. Because rest isn’t escape. It’s return.

A retreat by @mellowhabits