The Nap Ministry

The Nap Ministry We examine the liberating power of naps. The originator & creator of Rest Is Resistance framework. New Book: WE WILL REST!: The Art of Escape Out Now.

The Nap Ministry was founded in 2016 by Tricia Hersey and is an organization that examines the liberating power of naps. We engage with the power of performance art, site-specific installations, and community organizing to install sacred spaces for the community to rest together. Our Rest is Resistance theory has been embraced all over the globe. We facilitate immersive workshops, lecture on our rest as a liberation practice, and curate performance art that examines rest as a radical tool for community healing. We believe rest is a form of resistance and name sleep deprivation as a racial and social justice issue.

10/12/2025

It’s not a redeemable system. Divest from it. Rest and care for each other.

Next Saturday, October 18th at 12pm come dream with me in Jackson, Mississippi. Couldn’t think of a better time than now...
10/12/2025

Next Saturday, October 18th at 12pm come dream with me in Jackson, Mississippi.

Couldn’t think of a better time than now for us to be in the collective daydreaming about to world we want to build. A new world that uplifts care, connection, justice and rest. If we can imagine it we can have it. We must slow down to recieve the downloads.

This is a FREE community event for all. Come close your eyes or stare in your neighbors eyes as we dream ourselves free.

Link in bio to RSVP! I’m grateful to and the legacy of the Deep South. Honored to be with you. We Will Rest!

Today is the 3rd Anniversary of the publication of my first book REST IS RESISTANCE: A MANIFESTO! 🥹 3 years ago today I ...
10/11/2025

Today is the 3rd Anniversary of the publication of my first book REST IS RESISTANCE: A MANIFESTO! 🥹 3 years ago today I hosted a book tour launch in Atlanta surrounded by my family and friends. The book instantly made the New York Times Bestseller list and has went on to touch the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. It has been translated into Italian, Portuguese, Korean and coming soon in Spanish and French. It has went on to be the foundational text in the global movement for rest as justice work.

My life has changed and I’m deeply grateful to God and my Ancestors and to every single person who has added it to your home libraries, gifted it, added it to your syllabus, taught it, quoted it, used its principles to start community rest projects and art exhibitions, studied it for dissertations, used it as text for preaching and lecturing. I’m truly overwhelmed.

Big thanks to my literary agent and my editor for being anchors during the process. Guiding this newbie author to the other side. Thankful to for trusting my voice and giving the book a home.

Let’s celebrate. Please share how you have engaged with the book. Your favorite parts. What it has meant for your rest practice.

10/08/2025

“Survival is not theoretical!”

Why I have been saying since the beginning of this Ministry for y’all to get yo asses off social media stealing my work to make more memes, content, “projects,” retreats that cost thousands, and to go lay the hell down in real life right now in your community. In your heart.

This work is not social media theoretical trend and has always Beth deeply political work that disrupts and pushes back. True resistance.

Big honor to Audre Lorde. This ministry would not exist without m being a lifelong student of her scholarship.

Thank you for sharing this clip. Perfect repost for me.

And in other news: I did have one beautiful community event during my Sabbath in August. I couldn’t say no when I learne...
09/12/2025

And in other news: I did have one beautiful community event during my Sabbath in August. I couldn’t say no when I learned about

What an honor to hold space for rest and fellowship with the volunteers of this beautiful organization. They host Free Clinics in Atlanta focused on bringing herbal preparations and holistic care to people who experience homelessness. Quietly and boldly doing this radical work. They rested in the garden, napped, talked about their calling and we drank the yummiest herbal tea. Thank you for the invitation and for the amazing hospitality.

Tap in and support this organization.

My annual Sabbath is happening the entire month of August. No social media, no work, no requests, no email. I’m off into...
08/05/2025

My annual Sabbath is happening the entire month of August. No social media, no work, no requests, no email. I’m off into the portal of daydreaming and imagination. Deep rest. Excited to not be subjected to all the hot takes online, the repetitive debating, the noise. Excited to read, nap, sky gaze and write. May our dreams be deep. May rest give us all we need.

Rest is Resistance! We Will Rest! Check out some books from the library. Go sit in the library while I’m away. Please divest from grind culture.

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07/23/2025

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From the archives: July 21, 2019. Chicago. Revolutionary Bedtime Stories. ————-Had a beautiful event yesterday. 12 peopl...
07/23/2025

From the archives: July 21, 2019. Chicago. Revolutionary Bedtime Stories.
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Had a beautiful event yesterday. 12 people on yoga mats with pillows and blankets snoring and dreaming as I quietly read WEB Dubois on a microphone from a fluffy chair. Powerful post nap talk where the congregation shared discoveries from their nap time.

Folks felt emotional. Shared feeling moved to tears. How they dreamed while sleep. How they felt like they were floating in and out of being wake and sleep. Claimed my voice on the mic softly saying, “Thank you for living. Thank you for resting,” shifted things.

Community care embodied. I am in awe of how spirit moves when we come together with the radical belief of caring for our souls and each other by resting together in the middle of the day. No other place than Chicago could hold space for me to workshop this new series Revolutionary Rest Time Stories. In deep gratitude to my family at Free Street Theater for always being there.

I love you Chicago!

Love witnessing the message of rest.
07/11/2025

Love witnessing the message of rest.

Rev. Dr. Shannon Dycus of Eastern Mennonite University, delivered the keynote address to 185 attendees at MC USA’s Women’s Summit, July 8.

Public Art Interventions coming soon in Atlanta. We Will Rest! Booth designed and built by:  Inspired by LucyDeveloped a...
07/09/2025

Public Art Interventions coming soon in Atlanta. We Will Rest!

Booth designed and built by:
Inspired by Lucy
Developed and researched by: The Nap Bishop
Hand painted text by: The Nap Bishop

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06/27/2025

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These powerful books offer lessons on purpose, rest, emotional resilience, and self-trust, giving you the kind of wisdom no traditional classroom ever could., Books News - Times Now

The Juneteenth Freedom Lullabies event in Chicago with the Chamber music collective D-Composed was a dream. 150 Black fo...
06/25/2025

The Juneteenth Freedom Lullabies event in Chicago with the Chamber music collective D-Composed was a dream. 150 Black folks resting. After waking up the community shared things from their heart:
-Poetry
-Dreams they had while napping

Also a complete surprise to me was Gwendolyn Brooks daughter (first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize) Nora Brooks-Blakely came up casually to read a poem by her mother. So beautiful.

Gorgeous captures by: Sulyiman

Address

Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
30344

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Our Story

The Nap Ministry is a community organization that examines the liberating power of naps. We use the power of performance art, poetry, installation, public performance interventions and community art making to illuminate the artistic, spiritual and creative power of rest. It reimagines why rest is a form of resistance and shines a light on the issue of sleep deprivation as a justice issue. It is a counter narrative to the belief that we all are not doing enough and should be doing more. We are community centered. We are focused on radical self-care. Naps are a dream space that offers us a place to invent, create and heal. When we don’t nap, we miss out on precious creative time to hope and imagine. Hope is what will sustain us. Sleep will restore us.

The Nap Ministry hosts Collective Napping Experiences that allow the community to experience a safe space that has been curated for rest.