Sacred disruption

As the news features Extinction Rebellion, Climate Strike and more, I see a rising tide of longing to actively resist the damage wrought by our society.

Yet sometimes just ‘surviving’ feels like all we can do.

The truth is that we live in a culture that values productivity over quality of life, that teaches disconnection over relationship, speed over true presence to the moment and ‘doing’ over ‘being’.

It’s hard to find the time for ourselves, for what our hearts call us to do.

Women in particular often struggle, as we are taught from an early age to put others’ needs above our own, sometimes even that to speak out about our own needs is unacceptable, somehow. Instead we are praised even as we burn out, as ‘superwomen’, taking charge of a starry career, managing work and family and friendships, juggling and ‘multi-tasking’.

We live in times that call for a deep change in the way we live our lives. Many women have stepped out onto the frontline of direct action and resistance to the damage our culture inflicts on the natural world. And many women are simply trying to put food on the table for their families, struggling with the everyday.

Personal and collective

There is a connection between women’s personal and collective stories. Because when we start to take care of ourselves, we reclaim the spaces that have been colonised by patriarchal culture. We open up and out into a wider field and reclaim the connection with each other that is our birthright. Self-care is a radical, revolutionary habit – and through it we as women find each other again, in our sacred commitment to our own hearts.

As we stop, take a look at the burnout, the isolation, the brutalisation of our own hearts, we can take a breath and commit to something different. Even to taking 5 minutes every day where we simply breathe ourselves back into our own bodies, is a huge step along the path to wellbeing.

As we change our inner landscape, we know that the outer world around us begins to change.

We reclaim our power and our agency, through this simple commitment to self-care. It places relationship to ourselves at the centre of our life, and from that place we can take inspired and sustainable action to create a more beautiful world.

I’m offering a free call for women ‘Bringing Ourselves Home’, on the importance of self-care and the central place of a circle of supportive sisters, because after 2 decades of women’s work, I’ve seen the difference that this makes not only to the women with which i work, but to their families, their communities and their loved ones.

Register your free place here – join us on 5th June at 2pm (there will be a recording if you can’t join us live)

Art by Arna Baartz