It is my deep, hot, and holy conviction that the body of every woman is a living, breathing altar.
Yes, I mean you.
Overworked, underloved, insubstantially paid you.
Yes, even underworked, overloved, exaltedly paid you.
The question is-
Do you treat yours as such?

Think about it. There is no human alive today who was not created and held inside the living altar of a woman. We are the place where the human and the divine collaborate in creation.

Just as an altar in a sanctuary requires upkeep and maintenance to feel sacred, so does the body, woman.

It is our sacred responsibility to look and feel as beautiful as possible, in order to connect to the sacred within ourselves, and shine our radiance on the world.

Yet, exquisite self-care is the easiest thing to toss aside when the mundane aspects of daily life take over. Compared to everything we have to do and everywhere we have to be, attending to ourselves occurs as frivolous, indulgent, and irresponsible.

And, Sisters, there are consequences.

If we disregard the sacred within us, we cannot connect to our ability to turn on.
And when we are not turned on, we are not connected to our life force.
And if we are not connected to our life force, we are not moving from our sacred center, not experiencing the essential raw goodness of life, and not owning our power .
And if we are not standing in our power, we perpetuate the sense of ourselves as victim, rather than the heroine of our lives.

Self-care is a pathway to power – unimaginable power.

What would it take to get there?
How does a woman practice the art of reteaching herself her own beauty?
How does she bow before what is, and still open the doors to what she might become?
How does she re-consecrate her altar, daily?

She has to feed the beast. She has to tend the fire of her Radiance, no matter what.
Oh, yes she does.

And she won’t ‘feel’ like it.
She will think pleasure is foolish and a waste of her time and effort.
Suffering will seem much more important and valuable.
It will make so much sense. And everyone will agree it is the best choice. Which perpetuates the cycle.

Instead, a woman has to vault herself into her radiance, choosing the effort of stepping in the direction of pleasure.

I have been both teaching and living the experiment of connecting to my divinity as a daily practice. Some days I am better at it than other days. I have found certain daily practices to be really beneficial, and I wanted to share some of them with you today.

Here’s what the first hour of my day looks like:

1. I take a bath, instead of shower, because it makes me feel more relaxed and beautiful. I use eucalyptus-scented epsom salts because they smell nicer than the plain ones. After the bath, I use coconut oil on my skin; it smells beautiful and nourishes the skin deeply.
2. I dance naked in my living room, to whatever song suits my mood, or helps me move my waking emotions through my body. Moving my emotions through my body is a way of honoring them, and honoring my design.
3. I do a small gratitude ritual at my altar. I have a series of stones and small objects I have collected over the years. I light a candle, and pick up each of the 30 stones, one at a time, and whisper a gratitude for different aspects of my life, as I replace each stone.
4. I write down my desires on post-its and place them in front of the altar.
5. I prepare my breakfast (kale and eggs) and sit down at my dining room table with real china and real silverware. I do my best to eat slowly and with gratitude. Taking food into our bodies and using it to nourish us is a sacred act. It takes enormous effort on my part to not rush – and not to distract myself with electronics – especially when I am dining alone, which happens a lot in my current lifestyle.
6. My next move is walking the dog, and as I do, I call a friend and do Spring Cleaning. (I explain the practice of spring cleaning in my first book, if you’re not familiar).

So, in the first hour of my day, I have dumped my charge, moved my body, honored my emotions, nourished myself, connected with my gratitude, and expressed my most deeply held desires.

This daily practice is a way that I stay centered, grateful, and filled up with love and attention, so I can open myself to whatever the day brings with the thick padding of self-love in place.

I have reconsecrated my altar. This makes me far less vulnerable to losing my sanity!

Each of these steps require a certain amount of effort, but the result is so worth the investment. Treating yourself like a goddess is not easy. It is pure effort, like pedaling a bicycle up a hill. But so worth it for the incredible view when you get to the top.

Every woman can and will design her own version of how she reconsecrates her altar. Your version of tending to your radiance might be completely different from mine.

The object, here, is that you choose to create a wide landing strip for your connection to your own divinity to inhabit your day, your life, your body.

Turning on is tuning in. And it turns a woman on to feel beautiful and beautifully cared for.

Ready to start treating your body like the sacred altar it is? Join Virtual Pleasure Boot Camp, our foundational course to The Womanly Arts, and get the tools you need to come alive and experience the pleasure that is your birthright.