Black people are often denied rest. Black graduate scholars are no exception. Since the founding of chattel slavery in the US, Black extraction is fundamentally intertwined in the functioning of many systems and institutions. In fact, they require it. Thus, to find and hold space for rest is, as the life giving work of Tricia Hersey and The Nap Ministry reminds us, “a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy”. The academy — in its incessant demand of unpaid labor from Black scholars and fetishization of hyper-productivity — becomes a place of struggle in this regard. In these gatherings, we we will explore our relationships to rest, labor, our bodies/minds/spirits, and how we might integrate practices of rest that honor our wholeness.