The Ancestors of The Nap Concert…

Tricia Hersey- The Nap Bishop

Before the Nap Concert was even a dream, there was The Nap Ministry.

Founded by artist, theologian, and activist Tricia Hersey—known as the “Nap Bishop”—this movement took me to bed over the radical power of slowing down. Hersey doesn’t just promote rest as self-care; she preaches it as a spiritual and political act. Through her work, I learned that rest isn't a luxury or a reward—it’s a right.

The Nap Ministry calls on us to stop chasing busy productivity like it's the measure of our worth. Instead, it invites us to nap, to daydream, to rest, to disconnect as a way of reclaiming our bodies and our time. That message hit different during my side hustle years, when burnout felt like a “had to”. Reading Hersey’s words felt like being given permission to exhale—for the first time in a long time. She reframed rest as ancestral, revolutionary, and deeply healing. It made me rethink everything I thought I knew about “enough”.

The Nap Concert exists because of movements like The Nap Ministry. This is my humble contribution to this growing wave of rest-centered spaces and devotees. I don’t take this lightly. This isn’t just a performance—it’s a practice. And it’s rooted in the work of those who came before me, who dared to say, “I will rest—and I will not apologize for it.”

Tricia Hersey lit that path. I’m just walking it, one slow, soft step at a time.