Recently released *New Book* Rest Is Sacred. Check out www.restissacred.com for order and purchase options. Rest, read, and restore!

In this episode, I am talking with Dr. Tiffany Johnson James, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Georgia Tech and a work, equity, and wellness researcher, writer, and teacher. She shares her transformative journey from academic burnout to embracing rest as a sacred mandate. We explore how prioritizing stillness has awakened clarity and grace in her life, fundamentally changing her approach to academia, leadership, and personal wholeness.

Drawing from her yoga training and commitment to presence and prayer, Dr. Tiffany reveals how operating from a rested state has become essential to her well-being, authentic leadership, and ability to show up genuinely in academic spaces. Her path from exhaustion to embodied liberation offers a powerful testament to what becomes possible when we reject hyperindependence and embrace rest as self-affirmation.

In this episode, we explore:

• How academic pressure and physical symptoms of burnout led Dr. Johnson to seek out restorative practices
• The revolutionary act of saying "no" and modeling boundaries in academic spaces
• How stillness-based practices transformed Dr. Johnson's presence in meetings and relationships
• Finding liberation by knowing your worth and refusing to exhaust yourself proving it repeatedly
• The power of prayer and writing as a sacred mandate to define "enough" in each day
• Breaking the illusion of independence through rest and remembering our interconnectedness
• How rest enables access to ancestral wisdom and embodied liberation

Experience a guided rest practice focused on releasing hyperindependence and receiving support. Discover how embracing rest can transform not just your approach to work but your relationship with yourself, revealing wholeness and creative possibilities when you operate from a place of presence rather than exhaustion.

Connect with Dr. Tiffany Johnson James:

Website: www.tiffanydawnjohnson.com

Instagram: instagram.com/tikkidawn11/

Facebook: @Tiffany D Johnson

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tiffanydjohnson/

Calling PhD program graduates, post-docs, junior faculty (Assistant Prof, Assistant Lecturers) and recently tenured faculty (2023 or later) who want to take the bold steps of translating their research in ways that only they can. 

WHOLE 2025 , created by Dr. Tiffany D. Johnson, is returning, with you in mind.

Beginning in September 2025, and over the course of 10 months, WHOLE 2025 members will be part of a 10-month group and 1:1 coaching experience where they begin to translate their research into practice. And they do so in ways that are restorative, spacious, and empowering.

For more information please visit: tiffanydawnjohnson.com/about/whole-community/

If you enjoy this episode, please leave us a 5-star ⭐️ review here on Apple podcasts and don't forget to like and subscribe on YouTube!

Learn more about group rest coaching with Octavia Raheem at www.devotedtorest.com and apply to her rest based mastermind, Devoted to Rest® here.

To connect visit:

www.restissacred.com

Access The Rest Portal : www.octaviaraheem.com/rest-is-sacred-portal-bonus

octaviaraheem.com

instagram.com/octaviaraheem/

youtube.com/@restwithoctaviaraheem

Music Production Credit: Julianna Sma on Instagram @shebloom