In this busy world, we forget that the longest and most important relationship we will ever have is the relationship with ourselves - with our beautiful, loyal bodies. 

When I was reflecting on my intentions for the year and decade ahead, I couldn’t pin myself to goals and timelines. Life has never worked like that for me. It has only ever had general directions and then moments of utter, sudden knowing. That’s how I ended up in Glasgow, and then Edinburgh, and back here to Glasgow again. It’s how I ended up doing my celebrancy training and how I fell into Ministry Training with the OneSpirit Foundation. 

But I wanted to bring something to the forefront; something to focus on this year that would stay in my mind’s eye as I navigated all the other aspects of life. My vision is this: 2020 is the year of radical self care. Our world is in anguish. The news hurts to read, every single day. The future is uneasy, unclear, unknown, and we will be forced with a heavy hand by Mama Nature before long. 

I want to respond. I want to be so nourished and grounded in myself that it is natural to nourish everything around me. From the Hebrew Bible - I wish for my cup to runneth over. So I’m going to love my body like I’ve never done before this year. I’m going to dance, and move, do yoga, jump and run, touch every part of myself and send love into every cell. The idea here is to prioritise my own body, and what she is trying to tell me, over any other commitment. 

It is my belief that in finding the essence of our own bodies, we will discover that which connects us to all else. It is a year to bare your feet and feel the earth. 

I began this year at EcoYoga in Scotland, a place closely in touch with nature. A place where we bathed every day in solar and hydro heated river waters. Where the air was fresh. Where we did four hours of yoga each day, showing up for our bodies and allowing them to guide us. I plan, this year, to go on a tantra course, and continue these learnings. 

This journey isn’t brand new; I regularly go to an acupuncturist in Edinburgh and find so much healing in reiki, massage, reflexology and even in simple touch. Having spent the last five years as an independent soul, I appreciate deeply the gentle way my partner holds me now. 

So I extend the invitation to you, too. The care you have for yourself - your body and your mind - is not a treat, it is not a nice to have, it is not for tomorrow; the respect you have for the body you live in, as a physical manifestation of your soul, will mirror onto the respect you have for all living things. Own it, touch it, decorate it, fall in love with it. What glorious homework is that?