Welcome to 7 Days of Rest

7 Days of Rest is an annual global event that takes place the first week of every year. The aim of the event is to begin the new year by co-creating a global unified field of intention and experience dedicated to the healing and replenishment of the planet and all its inhabitants.  

​The event provides an open, co-creative space for individuals and groups around the world to freely share and self-organize online and physical events such as retreats, webinars, meditations, ceremonies, sacred activism, artistic expression and more. 

 For 2020, 7 Days of Rest & Radiant Diversity, will be dedicated to exploring and remembering the essential nature of Life-enhancing diversity. Together we will cultivate our capacity to engage with ourselves, each other, and the world around us with greater empathy and wisdom, and learn about the vitalizing nature of our similarities, differences, and complementarities. 

7 days of rest & radiant diversity january 1 – 7, 2020

An Invitation

During the first 7 Days of 2020 

individuals and groups around the world 

unite to co-create a global field of intention 

dedicated to cultivating harmony in diversity.

We rest from our habitual patterns of how see
and relate to the world around us and within us.

Inspired by the foundations of Life,

we reconnect with the Language of Vibration-

the primal Language of Life.

Awakening our senses in new ways, 

we remember a deeper capacity for communion 

with Mother Earth and all Her Children

and recognize more and more of ourselves in the “other” 

and the “other” in ourselves.

Each day we discover and befriend

diverse human and non-human perspectives,
nourishing our gratitude and empathy for all of Creation. 

Together we honor and celebrate the multi-faceted,

mutually-enriching nature of existence.

and shine our unique colors

in harmony with each other and all of Life.

Introducing
Codes for a Healthy Earth

For the first time, the upcoming 7 Days of Rest will be directly connected with another global initiative called Codes for a Healthy Earth. Codes for a Healthy Earth offers a foundational whole-system framework to support citizens in working together across national, cultural and ideological boundaries for radical system transformation and rapid social and ecological regeneration. One of the core organizing principles for the “Codes” is cultivating harmony in diversity. 

Previous Years of 

7 days of rest 

We will soon be updating this website for the 2020 event. To learn more about the inspiring events, wisdom offerings and learnings from previous years please follow the links below:

During the first 7 Days of Rest, we co-created a field of re-calibrating with the essential vibration of Rest from which the old can be shed, disease can begin to heal, and new healthy Life and Consciousness can be birthed.

During the second 7 Days of Rest & Reflection, we reconnected with the Foundations of Life in new ways so that we could learn to honor and protect these foundations within us and beyond us as an essential part of our collective healing.

(Re-)Discovering
7 days of rest & reflection, january 1 – 7, 2019

THANK YOU!

Thank you for contributing to making the 7 Days of Rest & Reflection all that it was.

We are moved and grateful that so many people across the world joined to co-create the event.

This second annual event brought together individuals and groups from over 80 countries and was experienced by many as a deeply healing and loving space of abundant diversity, generosity and creativity. Together we catalyzed a renewed connection with the foundations of Life, and co-created an purposeful sense of community with like-hearted people across the globe.

​The website is still active, and you are invited to discover a rich diversity of offerings that were shared during the event on the daily Calendar Pages or in the Gallery.

​For ongoing sharing, connecting and inspiration please join the social media channels Facebook Page, Community Sharing Space. and Instagram

​With blessings and deep gratitude,

​Shelley Ostroff, Yan Golding and Lidewij Marinissen

The 7 Days of Rest and Reflection is dedicated to cultivating Sacred Relationship with all of Life. Given this intention, we are delighted to dedicate this event to the White Lions and Lionesses of Tsau, and the work of Linda Tucker and Jason A. Turner, founders of the Global White Lion Protection Trust.

As we move into the 7 Days, we invite you to pass through the White Lion and Lioness Gateway of Sacred Relationship that has inspired this event and our ongoing work as Together in Creation.

We also encourage participants to join in the Gateway Meditations offered by Cynthia Jurs and David Nicol on the first and last day of the event, connecting with a global mandala grid of vases laid by the Earth Treasure Vase Healing Project over the last 30 years.

And most of all we invite you to enrich yourselves with the abundance of generous resources offered by the global community to create your own meaningful and replenishing journey through the 7 Days.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Given the co-creative, emergent nature of this event, this website will continue to evolve over the week with new events and updates.

Each individual and group is invited to honour these 7 days in ways that are most meaningful to them. We recommend that you prepare for the event by sensing into and clarifying your intention for this sacred time and doing what is possible to create the optimal conditions for you to manifest this intention.

While the journey through the 7 days is a very personal one, we will offer suggestions for each day that provide an opportunity to weave meaning and deepen your experience along different themes and through different gateways.

Calendar Pages are dedicated to each day – representing one of the Foundations of Life. On these pages you will find inspiration, resources, and local and online events specific for those days. New events and information will be added on a daily basis so please check the website regularly to enjoy the full range of offerings.

Gateway Pages are pages dedicated to different themes. These gateways are specifically chosen to enrich the field of reflective experience.

A Global Map shows the participants, communities and events that registered on this website.

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Community Sharing Space: A community sharing space is available for participants to share, meet, inspire and be inspired. Please note that Facebook does not share widely from groups so you may not see the posts unless you visit the group.

Facebook Page: We will use our Facebook page to share inspiration for the day, and in some cases provide updates and useful information.  

Facebook Event Page: will showcase local and online events offered by the global community. On this page you can find details and directly subscribe to the events.

OFFERINGS

We are deeply moved by the range of offerings already gifted to the collective space – from Sacred Ritual Holders holding ceremony on all continents, and the subtle activism offering of the Gateway Meditations with Cynthia Jurs and David Nicol, to the frontline activism of the nonviolent civil disobedience movement of the Extinction Rebellion. 

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Current offerings include:art, music, reflective groups, beach clean ups, nature walks, mind-body and contemplative practices, music, videos, ceremony, webinars, meditations and more.

Diverse religious and spiritual groups are participating, each bringing their unique tradition and gifts in service of all Creation.

Our own daily offerings of guided meditations and practices invite participants to experience a deeper sense of connectedness and communion with the foundations of Life, through intuitive and imaginative attunement to the different elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Climate, Biodiversity and the Web of Life,

Through an empathic leap of the imagination we sense into how these foundations exist within us and beyond us, their unique nature and qualities, and their interdependence and relationship with the other elements.

We explore reflective questions such as:

What do they reveal to us when we listen in, with all our sense and offer them our focused attention?

What can we learn from different forms of reflective engagement about how we can best protect and replenish these elements, nourish them and be nourished by them?

CREATE YOUR UNIQUE EXPERIENCE

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Please consider this website as your evolving and dynamic guidebook, event calendar, and resource library for creating your own unique experience for the 7 Days.

This global event is rooted in the spirit of generosity and provides all participants and co-creators access to a wealth of offerings from around the world. This experiential field of diverse offerings contributes to personal growth, as well as our evolution as conscious protectors of Life on Earth.  

Not all offerings speak to all participants. There may be those that are considered for some to be too spiritual, while by others too rational and pragmatic… too noisy or too restful, too wordy or too vague. Some are choosing to honour the event by immersing themselves in nature and disconnecting from all media and technology. This diversity is an integral part of the design that enables people from many different cultures and perspectives to unify in protection and reverence for all Life..

We invite you to choose that which feels vitalizing and accurate for you. And, if you cannot find among the offerings something that is aligned with your specific needs and ways of participating, we invite you to create and lead an offering which opens your unique window to enrich the good of the whole.

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Honouring the Foundations of Life with Shelley Ostroff

For a deeper understanding of the vision and evolution of the 7 Days of Rest and Reflection Event – you can listen to this in-depth dialogue between Dr. Julie Krull and Dr. Shelley Ostroff as they explore what it means to develop a deeper connection with the foundations of Life through this event.

GRATITUDE

We look forward to co-creating with you a global field of inspiration, reconnection and replenishment – for the planet and all its inhabitants!

As a small team, during the event dedicated to Rest and Reflection, we may not be able to be available for questions and technological support. We hope to support the unfolding in whatever way we can and trust that the most powerful force at work is our individual and collective intention and practice during these days, in whatever form it takes.

We are deeply grateful to the Sacred Ritual Holders, Stewards, Partners and Co-creators who are contributing so lovingly and generously to the 7 Days of Rest Global Event. Thank you for helping this event become a powerful force for unity and healing in the world.

Blessings for a deeply healing and replenishing time for you and for all Life.

With Love and Gratitude,

Shelley Ostroff, Yan Golding and Lidewij Marinissen