Yoga Nidra version https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yoga+nidra+20+m...
try either, and see how you feel compared to your usual rest methods, gl
Additionally, I find a bit of boredom is helpful in making an activity restful. For example, I love The Expanse TV show but sometimes it's very slow moving and I find myself wanting to stimulate my brain more than it's currently being stimulated by the show if that makes sense. However, I've found that if I embrace the boredom, resist the urge to take my eyes off of the TV, and just "float" in the moment so to speak, after about 15-20 mins the discomfort fades and I lose myself in the narrative. I find this "losing of oneself" in an activity or experience to be very restful and rejuvenating.
Have a bed that you sleep in.
Don't do anything in that bed other than sleep. If you are laying trying to sleep and find you cannot, get out of that bed and go elsewhere.
This trains you to associate that bed with sleep and nothing else. It makes it so that when you go there in the future you have an ingrained habit that tells you it is time to sleep. Even reading in bed screwed it up for me.
I think basically the same approach fits any other activity. If you want to get deeply in the flow for learning karate you have a dojo that you associate with it. You get way less distracted because you only do one thing there.
I think sleep or laying still and meditating is about the most useful kind of rest for me, so I originally mostly talked about sleep. I think that the ability to get deeply into a task is generally strongly associated with environmental cues. Bowing before you start karate practice is a formal way to move into deep practice, even if you're practicing on your own.
Be purposeful with sleep. Work out how many hours you need, have a schedule, stick to it. I do 2200-0600, if I’m out late I still get up at 0600, a few ‘short’ nights a week won’t ruin my energy. Also, if I’m stuck at home, nothing interesting happens after 10pm. Distractions like my phone are kept in another room.
Push mindless binging out for more intensive activities. As OP says, rest does not have to be relaxed. It doesn’t have to be solitary, although it can be. The things I do (and what they bring me) are: board gaming (social), tennis (social, competition, exercise), running (solitary, calming, exercise), woodworking (solitary, satisfaction), Age of Empires II (competition), and piano (solitary, creative). It seems a lot when I write it down, but I still have a fair amount of downtime.
If I understand the article correct then rest is not about “not thinking”. Rest can also be about engagement (for example sports or a making music). Just using different parts of your brain which are usually not directly used for work.
If it never stops thinking try meditation practice, it will help after a couple times already (for me at least).
Also sometimes it can be good to “reset” the brain by going into the wilderness or a retreat or have a day nap.
Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086PYS5VG?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_...