I ended my review of Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey like this: “Rest Is Resistance contains in it, I think, a particularly feminine kind of spiritual wisdom. Reading it made me reflect on the overwhelmingly masculine hue that my spiritual formation has taken on; due to my combination (doctrinally) Catholic and (culturally) Evangelical upbringing. I don’t have lots of concrete thoughts, yet, on the differences between masculine and feminine spiritual wisdom; except for that, as far as I’ve noticed, perhaps masculine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical transcendence, and feminine spiritual wisdom tends to reach towards physical embodiment.

“I’m excited to continue exploring this female spiritual path. The next book coming from my mom is Wild Mercy by Miribai Starr - so expect a review of that book eventually.”

I ended up being right on the mark. On page fifteen, in chapter one, the author says “[I]f the feminine is all about incarnation and embodiment (which is what I am proclaiming in this book), then she rests squarely in the realm of the form.”

In many ways this book is similar to Rest is Resistance. The main lesson is to listen to the intuition of your mind and body, all the time, but especially when a greater structure asks you to ignore that intuition. Now: to “listen to” your intuition is different from “follow unquestioningly”, and one’s “intuition” is a more wholistic term than, say, “every impulse that arises”. But generally, the focus is on active mindfulness and presence. The fruit of this is attitude is that we can bring the divine into our every day lives. “God lives in the pots and pans,” as the author quotes. Prayer transforms from something that we escape our every day lives to do, or something that we do to escape our every day lives, into something that we do within our regular course of duty, rest, and celebration; a way of being that adds color and flavor to everything else.

I’m still processing the book (which I finished a few months ago) and figuring out how to integrate the wisdom into my life. One thing I know, is that it has helped me approach my yoga practice in a much more spiritual way; as a way of being with and working with my body, instead of a way to change or tame my body. Liz and I recently bought our first house, and so a regular chunk of time is spent doing chores in the kitchen or yard; bringing embodied mindfulness into my day-to-day has helped me become more engrossed in my activities… which mostly looks like sometimes choosing to focus on what I’m actually doing instead of listening to a podcast while I do it.

This is me sculpting the message of the book to my own situation, but I want to make sure I note that the book is supremely accessible, to people of any gender identity, despite the focus on the feminine. The author makes clear (and I agree) that, although we parlay in the archetypes of “masculine” and “feminine”, this sort of wisdom is not exclusively applicable or appropriately mapped to any one sex or gender identity. The book is also useful to people at any different point in their spiritual journey. It is accessible for me as a practicing Catholic, but the author pulls is wisdom across many religious traditions, and will be helpful for non-religious people as well. I was able to have a great discussion about the themes of this book with a friend of mine who is a practicing Buddhist; she independently brought to me the observation that, in her experience of Buddhism, there is too much focus on pursuing “insight”, which she referred to as the masculine strength, and not enough focus on pursuing “compassion”, which she saw as the feminine counterpart.

Maybe it’s silly to map these dichotomies (insight/compassion, transcendence/embodiment) onto gendered archetypes; if you think so, read the book and let me know! Regardless on how we abstract these difference spiritual emphases, I’ve found it helpful to articulate the distinction; so far it has helped bring me into better balance.