A Gentle New Year Invitation: Choosing Presence Over Pressure

Happy New Year! Whether you celebrated loudly, rested deeply, or eased into the transition in your own quiet way, I hope you’re entering this next chapter with a little more softness in your body.

January often comes with a wave of pressure — to reinvent yourself, set big intentions, create resolutions, or suddenly become a perfected version of who you already are. And while intention-setting can be a beautiful, inspiring ritual for many people (and I absolutely love that for you if it feels empowering)… it doesn’t land that way for everyone.

If the idea of “new year, new you” feels overwhelming, here’s another path:
Let your intention this year be presence.

Not perfect presence. Not constant presence.
Just small, honest moments of checking in with yourself.

A Simple Somatic Intention for the Year

Here’s a practice you can return to anytime:

Place a hand on your heart or your belly.
Take a long, slow exhale.
Ask your body gently:

“What do I need right now?”

This one question can shift everything.

It brings you into your body.
It grounds your nervous system.
It reconnects you to your own truth.
And it invites a softer, more compassionate way of being with yourself.

Sometimes the answer will be rest.
Sometimes movement.
Sometimes nourishment.
Sometimes boundaries.
Sometimes connection.

Presence doesn't ask you to be a different version of yourself — it simply asks you to meet yourself.

Let This Year Be About Returning to Yourself

Instead of:

• doing more,

• pushing harder,

• or trying to earn your worth…

What if your intention was to come home to your body a little more often?

To notice.
To breathe.
To slow down.
To listen.

These tiny moments of presence add up in ways that transform how you move through the world — not through pressure, but through gentleness.

A Soft Start to the Year

If your body is still unwinding from the holidays, or if you’re craving support as you step into the new year, I’d love to hold space for you in the studio. A massage or myofascial release session can help you ground, soften, and reconnect to yourself.

You can book a session or explore offerings here

Wishing you a year filled with tenderness, grounding, and the kind of presence that brings you back to yourself again and again.

Sending warmth your way.
Lucy ✨