The Nap Ministry

Remember that this class will work as a collective. This means that we will show care for everyone, help one another learn, help one another understand, work together, talk together, share our ideas, and work to trust one another.

As a whole class, review your shared values. Use these during your discussions.

A. Warm up

Think about the questions below. Talk about your ideas with your classmate(s).

1. How do you feel, think, and act after a good night’s sleep? How do you feel, think, and act after a bad night’s sleep?
2. Do you get enough sleep at night? Do you get enough rest during the day? Why or why not? How can you get enough sleep and rest?
3. Do you think you get more sleep or less sleep than your classmates or your coworkers? Why?
4. Does anyone remind you to rest? How do their reminders make you feel? Why?

B. Vocabulary Preview

In this section, you will preview the vocabulary from the reading. You can check your answers to Exercises 2-3 afterward by visiting: Answer Keys by Chapter.

Exercise 1:

These are the words that you will learn in this chapter. How many words do you already know?

Exercise 2:

Choose the best word or phrase to match each definition. Use a dictionary to help!

1. a system for money and power with individual business owners and the goal to make more money (noun)
   1. Suffer
   2. Capitalism
   3. Spread
2. a feeling of heaviness and stress, like something is pushing or squeezing you (noun)
   1. Suffer
   2. Spread
   3. Pressure
3. to experience pain in your body or mind (verb)
   1. Suffer
   2. Capitalism
   3. Pressure
4. to become bigger or more common, in more places, with more people (verb)
   1. Suffer
   2. Spread
   3. Pressure
5. to focus or unfocus your mind, calmly, for a time (different people have different reasons ways) (verb)
   1. Exhausted
   2. Meditate
   3. Refresh
6. very tired; without energy (adjective)
   1. Exhausted
   2. Meditate
   3. Refresh
7. to choose not to do something because you don’t want to do it (verb)
   1. Meditate
   2. Refresh
   3. Resist
8. to become full of energy again (verb)
   1. Exhausted
   2. Refresh
   3. Resist
9. a group with a purpose and the purpose is not to make money (noun)
   1. Organization
   2. Boundary
   3. Alert
10. able to pay attention well and notice quickly (adjective)
    1. Boundary
    2. Alert
    3. Mood
11. the way you feel (noun)
    1. Organization
    2. Alert
    3. Mood
12. the limit or the place to stop (noun)
    1. Organization
    2. Boundary
    3. Mood

Exercise 3:

Choose the best word or phrase to complete each sentence. Please note: screen readers will read the blank spots as “underscore.”

1. Airplane pilots need to be _ while they fly. For this reason, many airlines hire two pilots to take turns flying.
   1. exhausted
   2. alert
   3. refreshed
2. Babies _ when their teeth start to grow.
   1. suffer
   2. alert
   3. refreshed
3. Isaiah worked for fifteen hours every day for six weeks. Then he felt _.
   1. suffer
   2. exhausted
   3. alert
4. The guests _ themselves with a cold drink and a walk outside.
   1. suffer
   2. exhausted
   3. refreshed
5. My son is in a bad _ today. He complained about his breakfast, cried, and went to his room.
   1. mood
   2. pressure
   3. meditate
6. Mariflor feels a lot of _ in school because her parents want her to become a nurse.
   1. organizations
   2. pressure
   3. meditate
7. Companies try to make a lot of money, but _ don’t try to make money. They have other goals.
   1. organizations
   2. pressure
   3. meditate
8. I like to _ by closing my eyes and listening to my breath.
   1. mood
   2. organizations
   3. meditate
9. He took the butter and _ it over a slice of bread.
   1. boundaries
   2. resisted
   3. spread
10. My roommate keeps eating my yogurt from the fridge. I need to set _ with him.
    1. capitalist
    2. boundaries
    3. spread
11. In the _ board game Monopoly, the player with all the money wins and the player with no money loses.
    1. capitalist
    2. boundaries
    3. resisted
12. Katerina _ a second piece of chocolate cake because she was full.
    1. boundaries
    2. resisted
    3. spread

C. Prepare to read

Get comfortable in your seat. Pay attention to your body and your place (i.e., your environment and the position of your body). Take three slow breaths. Now you are ready to read.

D. Read all about it!

The Nap Ministry

Capitalism encourages people to work, make money, and get power over other people. The United States and Great Britain are examples of capitalist countries, and they are powerful countries. From the 1600’s to the 1800’s they even kidnapped and forced Africans to work in order to become rich and powerful countries. Now, technology and the internet make it possible for people around the world to work 24/7. People all over the world, and especially people in capitalist countries, feel pressure to work hard. Often, people work so hard that their bodies, minds, and relationships suffer.

The Nap Ministry points out these effects of capitalism on human beings. This organization encourages people to rest, to respect our bodies, and to take naps. They even have group nap events! The home city of The Nap Ministry is Atlanta, Georgia, USA, but their nap events and their workshops are spreading to more and more cities.

Tricia Hersey started The Nap Ministry because she was exhausted. She was working two jobs, going to graduate school, and raising her son. The murders of Black Americans by police, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and many more, were in the news. She was exhausted in every way. Then she realized how many people felt like her. She decided to resist this exhaustion and capitalism with rest and sleep (Lee).

During sleep, our bodies heal, and our minds refresh. With enough sleep, we are more alert and we make better decisions. We treat ourselves and one another better. Without enough sleep, we are in bad moods, we can’t focus, and we make more mistakes. We even risk death from accidents like car accidents or illnesses like diabetes and heart disease (Watson and Cherney).

The Nap Ministry reminds us that we need to rest, and we can do it in many ways. We can sleep, nap, or daydream. We can take a long bath, meditate, or listen to calm music. Healthy boundaries at work and school can help us to rest, too. For example, we can stay home when we are sick.

The organization also points out that some people can rest more than other people. People with family money don’t need to work the same as people without family money. In capitalist countries like the United States and Great Britain, the group with the most family money is white people. The groups with the least family money are Black and brown people.

The Nap Ministry works to inspire exhausted people to rest and resist capitalism. As Tricia Hersey says, “Exhaustion will not save us. Rest will.” (The Nap Ministry).

E. Grounding

• Notice your feelings about the reading.
• Which parts gave you those feelings?
• Why?
• Now let go.
• You can take three deep breaths, stretch, or count down from ten.

You can choose to talk about your reactions or not. Maybe you want to think or write quietly, or maybe you want to talk. Our reactions teach us about our beliefs and experiences.

F. Discussion

Read the questions below, then look at the reading again. Talk about the questions with your classmate(s). Where did you find the answers? Show (quote) the answers from the reading if possible.

1. What does “24/7” mean? Are there more terms like “24/7” in different languages?
2. How does capitalism affect human beings?
3. In the reading, which two countries are capitalist? Do you know any more capitalist countries?
4. Where are the group nap events and workshops?
5. Why was Tricia Hersey exhausted?
6. How does sleep help us?
7. What are some different kinds of rest?

G. Topics for Writing

1. What is the overall main idea of the reading? What is the main idea of each paragraph?
2. The reading gives one example of a healthy work boundary. What are some more examples of work boundaries? Which ones seem possible for you at this time, and which ones don’t seem possible for you at this time?
3. What are some good ways to get a good night’s sleep?
4. Different people around the world have different understandings of dreams. What is the purpose of dreams? Are dreams important for individuals? For society? Explain your answers. From whom have you learned about dreams?
5. How does your society (for example, in laws, schools, and workplaces) encourage rest? How does your society encourage exhaustion?
6. Do you ever feel guilty for getting good sleep? Did you ever feel upset because another person got good sleep? When? Give examples. Why? Give reasons.
7. Write about your personal goal to get enough sleep or to set healthy boundaries in your work/study life. Think about the following questions to help you set your goal:
   • What is your goal? Be specific.
   • Why did you choose this goal? Name at least two reasons.
   • What will help you reach this goal? Name at least two helpful things.
   • What will be difficult about reaching this goal? Name at least two challenging things.

H. Project!

Option 1:

Read several social media messages from The Nap Ministry. You can use dictionaries and translators to help you.

Then talk about some of the posts or tweets with a partner or small group. What did The Nap Ministry say? What did the messages mean? What is your opinion of the messages?

Option 2:

Take a nap for 30-40 minutes. Don’t look at any screens. Don’t do any work, and don’t meditate on work.

If you can’t sleep, it’s OK to just lay down, sit in a comfortable seat, take a bath, or rest another way. You can listen to a calm meditation or to calm music (for example, the Nap Ministry Spotify playlist).

After your nap/rest, notice the feelings of your body and your emotions. Pay attention to your thoughts and actions that day. You can write about the feelings of your body and your emotions, thoughts, and actions, to help you remember. You can add more details, too; for example, any dreams or new ideas.

Then talk to a partner or a group about your experiences. How did the nap/rest affect you?

Option 3:

What is the difference between capitalism and socialism? Find out more about these two money (economic) and power (political) systems. Find information in English or in another language. You can read a website, an article, or an infographic, or listen to a video, an interview, or a podcast.

1. Choose one text–that is, one website, article, infographic, video, interview, or podcast.
2. Summarize that text–that is, say the main idea and key details.
3. How does the text inform your understanding of rest, capitalism, and the Nap Ministry?

I. More Information

• BreakingNewsEnglish (Article): Sleep and Light – Breaking News English. The website shows this article in four levels of English difficulty (Level 0, 1, 2, and 3), and it provides a PDF version.