What is Sunday Sanctuary? Subscribe here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-201990519
Sunday Sanctuary is a place for you to take time to unplug, unwind and engage in genuine self-care through tried-and-tested tools from a Psychotherapist. While the email will arrive in your inbox every Sunday morning, it’s up to you as to what point during the week you feel ready, or able, to take some much-needed time out for yourself. You can let a months worth pile up and do them all in a self-care weekend, but it’s recommended that you try to stick to the same time each week, as neuroscience and studies of millennia of ritual, across all cultures, show the importance of consistently marking occasions.
I’ve been in my own therapy for over 20 years, and have been a practicing Psychotherapist for over a decade. Throughout this time, I’ve tried many different forms of therapy, and found that having a consistent practice, whether that’s a 5 minute daily check-in, a weekly Sanctuary routine, or monthly women’s circles, has been game-changing, and something I will always make space for in my life. Ritual is non-negotiable for me, and while it may sound woo-woo, neuroscience backs up the importance of consistent practice, and the calming effect it has on our nervous system.
So! What happens in Sunday Sanctuary? For just €10 a month, you will receive a newsletter every week that will include the same format, to allow you to check in with how your week has been, what you need to let go of, your intentions for the week ahead, and to drop into your inner wisdom. It will involve different journal prompts and meditations each week, along with what I’ve been finding beneficial for both myself and my clients, as exhausted women in a time of global chaos. Activism and engagement are a big part of my life, but we cannot be active AND hopeful, unless we are practicing moments of joy, delight and calm. We must self-nourish to be able to show up for our people, whether that’s a larger community, or our own loved ones. Most importantly, we need to nourish to show up for OURSELVES.
I will outline briefly what Sunday Sanctuary’s format will look like below, and if it sounds like something you would enjoy, please feel free to sign up today. Giving yourself this vital time for self-care, for less than €2.50 per week, from a qualified and experienced professional, is a gift that I feel honoured to share. I’ve learned what does, and does not, help, through trial and error, 2 psychology degrees and continued study, attending a wide variety of workshops, and thousands of hours working with clients. It all comes back to prioritising our emotional wellbeing, and in today’s chaotic, unstable, chronically-online world, it’s an absolute MUST that we take time and space for ourselves. Sanctuary for us. We deserve it!
As this is an intro, I won’t get into what is going on in the world right now and how I’ve been dealing with it, or what I recommend. However, each Sunday will include reflections on this, with tips and resources on how to cope. This will include podcast, article and book recommendations that I have found inspiring, hopeful and helpful, that are pertinent to current events, specifically difficult for women. We’ve been bombarded by a lot in these last few years, and our nervous systems are frazzled. Resilience comes from self-care.
I will include songs, videos, quotes and anything else I have found hopeful and inspiring from the world of psychological wellness, as well as feminist thought.
Next, we will have journalling prompts. My vision for you is to set yourself up in a cosy space, blankets and cushions galore, with a cup of tea, some chocolate if you like it, and a scented candle if that’s also something that sets a soothing tone for you. This is time for your notebook. As twee as it sounds, I find it really lovely to have as pretty a notebook as possible (budget friendly!), as having something personal and beautiful to write in, to return to each week, sets an intention of ritual around your self-care time. I will also include a different playlist each week for background calm, and focus, for your writing portion. This is a moment where you can take as much or as little time as you need. Go inwards. Drop into your inner knowing. Go at your own pace.
With this journalling notebook, we will go through prompts for self-inquiry. They will cover topics like: Where am I feeling stuck? What do I want to bring into the week ahead? What is draining me in my life right now? Where am I looking for solace in the wrong places? What would be a healthier way to find this? And so on. They will be relevant to the season, the weather, and what is going on in the world, as well as general prompts that are relevant to whatever season of your own life you are in, and whatever mood you are in that day.
Our final journal prompt will be a poem I adore and find deeply meaningful, with the suggestion to write down anything it brings up for you. Even if that response is “Nah, this poem isn’t tapping into anything for me right now”. Take it or leave it, ignore it or enjoy it. It will be included either way! I’ve been in a Women’s Circle for years now, and really surprised myself at just how much the closing poem often brought up for me, when poetry was something I hadn’t cared about since school exams.
Knowing you are in sisterhood at this time, that around the world there are other women reading and writing together and checking in with themselves, is also a nourishing thing in itself. We are healing in community, and becoming stronger together.
The Sanctuary will close with a guided meditation, where you can simply lie down and close your eyes, and allow yourself to either drift off, or be revived. The meditations will range from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, whatever you feel you want to do that particular day is up to you. You will also have access to all prior meditations, that you get to save on a free app, if there are ones that you prefer to stick to. Again, this is YOUR time, YOUR ritual, and you get to decide how that best looks for you.
Imagine the benefit of taking just an hour each week, without fail, to tune into you? We all know the phrase “You can’t pour from an empty cup”, but how often do we actively take the time to fill our cup, and in ways that are genuinely nourishing, and nervous system regulating? Neuroscience shows us the somatic benefits of journalling and meditation, while social and cognitive psychology show us the benefits of tapping into joyful, meaningful content in times of darkness. That joy is the antidote to hopelessness.
Join via this link below, and I genuinely hope you can join us for Sunday Sanctuary!