Intention: To practise using gestures, movement and marks as a bridge to writing.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available.

1. Gesture Drawing

   • Take a moment to centre yourself and a…

Read more

A few people have said they are struggling to navigate Substack, and keep track of the posts. You should be getting emails with every new post (if not, check your settings to see if you’ve enabled email notifications).

There is a really simple way to go through what we’ve posted so far… a listed archive from the start!

Wor…

Read more

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend…

I’ve tweaked the schedule as we had two writing hours down for next week and none the following week. Now we have one a week for the rest of the month!

Wednesday 13th May at 11am-12pm

Monday 18th May at 7pm-8pm

Thursday 28th May at 8pm-9pm

Zoom link for all Writing Hours…

…

Read more

I hope you’re all having a great week.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at our very first Community Circle tomorrow evening! Feel free to bring up to 5 minutes of your writing to share (this can be from this course or anywhere else). If you’d rather just listen, that’s fine too. You don’t need to decide until you arrive.

Read more

Intention: To practise tuning into the body and sensations before writing.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available.

Read more

When we write, I feel like we often start a dialogue with our most authentic self. Things come up that might be difficult to say out loud, we look at things from a slightly different viewpoint. This can be inspirational, nurturing and wildly creative. It was also leave us feeling vulnerable, and at times exposed.

However, we do have complete autonomy over our writing. We can stop when we need to. We can choose what we write about. We can put our writing aside for another day. We can choose who we share it with.

It’s important that we all have tools to hand that can help us to feel grounded and relaxed, prepared for what may emerge. You may also find that by starting your writing sessions with a slow, deep breathing exercise, that you actually write more creatively, more intuitively, less self-consciously.

This month, we’re seeing the world through the theme of embodiment. Here are a few exercises in keeping with this theme.

Body Awareness Releasing Breath

• Keeping your breathing deep and steady, slowly scan your body from head to toe. As you go simply notice how each area feels, without trying to adjust anything, just notice. Keep working slowly and steadily down your body.

• Now return your attention to your head and face muscles once more, before slowly scanning down your body again. Be sure to reach through to your fingers and down to your toes. Include your back and your front. This time, if an area feels tight or tense, imagine bringing warmth to the area with your inhale, then imagine the area softening and releasing with an exhale. For each area of discomfort, feel free to repeat this breathing cycle of warmth and release as many times as you’d like.

• Now, repeat the first step once more. Slowly scanning your body from head to toe, noticing how it feels.

  If you start this month’s writing sessions with this exercise, you’ll already be in a more embodied space to write. You may also choose to dip back into it if your writing takes you somewhere difficult or unexpected.

If you want to reflect more on grounding and breathwork, you can read the introduction here:

This month, I invite you to bring your attention fully into your body — to write not just from your mind, but from your senses, your movements and the subtle wisdom your body holds. Embodiment is about noticing how you feel, how you move and how your body experiences the world, and then letting those sensations inform your writing.

As ever, only go as far as feels comfortable for you. I believe that our bodies can act as containers of memory, holding stories from what went before. When we write from an embodied place, these stories may come and join us sometimes. Embodied writing is about inviting your body to join you in your writing practice.

Read more

In our sessions we’ll do our best to respect...

Ourselves

Read more

Intention: To combine mark-making, writing and reflection into mindful practice.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available. You may even decide to explore them during this week’s writing hour. There is no right or wrong approach, go with what feels right for you and works with your other commitments.

Read more

Hi everyone!

I hope you’ve had a lovely, restorative weekend.

Just a reminder, that our next Writing Hour will take place tomorrow evening (Monday 27th) 7-8pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode: 343595

H…

Read more

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely week.

Just a reminder, that our next Writing Hour will take place on Wednesday (22nd) at 11am-12pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode: 343595

Hope to see you…

Read more

Intention: To explore imagination, memory and emotional presence through writing and mark-making.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available. There is no right or wrong approach, go with what feels right for you and works with your other commitments.

Read more

I hope you’re all having a great week.

I’m looking forward to seeing you at our very first Community Circle tomorrow evening! Feel free to bring up to 5 minutes of your writing to share (this can be from this course or anywhere else). If you’d rather just listen, that’s fine too. You don’t need to decide until you arrive.

The session will run from 7-9pm…

Read more

Intention: To deepen presence and observation through mark-making and descriptive writing.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available. There is no right or wrong approach, go with what feels right for you and works with your other commitments.

Read more

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend.

Just a reminder, that our very first Writing Hour will take place on Monday (13th) at 11am-12pm.

Here is the Zoom link (for all Writing Hours):

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89226599170?pwd=iLcAdX0Q5URvK7Qf6RiZ2b9ClQaZwn.1

Meeting ID: 892 2659 9170

Passcode: 343595

Hope…

Read more

Intention: To begin noticing the small details in your environment and body.

There are seven short exercises here, each one only needs 5-10 minutes. You may decide to engage with one exercise each day, or try them as a block depending on the time you have available.

Read more

Writing can be a deeply powerful way to explore thoughts, emotions, and experiences — but it can also bring up intensity, tension or overwhelm. That’s where grounding and breathwork come in. These simple, intentional practices help you settle your body, focus your mind, and create a safe, supportive space for writing, reflection, and emotional processing.

Read more

This month, we invite you to slow down and lean into the art of noticing — to become curious about the ordinary, the fleeting, the quietly profound moments that are often overlooked. Noticing isn’t about doing more; it’s about paying attention in ways that feel nourishing, playful and grounding.

Read more

Welcome to The Words to Live By Creative Wellbeing Studio — we’re so glad you’re here.

This space is all about helping you explore therapeutic writing at your own pace, with gentle guidance, expert-developed materials and a warm community beside you.

Here’s what subscribers will have access to:

Monthly Writing Lens

A simple ‘lens’ to carry with you throughout the month. Something to reflect on and draw inspiration from.

Grounding and Breathing Exercises

Writing can be a deeply powerful way to explore thoughts, emotions and experiences — but it can also bring up intensity, tension or overwhelm. That’s where grounding and breathwork come in. Each month we’ll share a couple of simple, intentional practices to help you settle your body, focus your mind and create a safe, supportive space for writing, reflection and emotional processing. They only take a few minutes. You may decide to use them to start and end your writing sessions. You can also use them to anchor you if your writing takes you somewhere difficult.

This month we’re also sharing a short introduction to grounding practices and breathwork to give you a bit of an overview.

Community Chat

As part of your membership, you’ll have exclusive access to your pathway’s communal space. You can access this through the chat icon on the publication’s Substack. As the month progresses, we’ll start threads asking you to post your work for peer feedback and to recommend what you’re reading. Feel free to request a thread topic if there is something you’d like to discuss with the community!

Weekly writing prompts

Every session is self-led, so there’s no pressure to “keep up”.

Every Monday at 6am we’ll post the prompts for the week. They will remain in the archive until September, so if you miss a week you can easily revisit them.

There will be a minimum of one prompt a week, but most weeks there will be several as I had so many ideas! There is no pressure to complete them all, no one’s keeping check. Choose the prompts that work for you, adapt the ones that inspire you and maybe even save some for a rainy day!

You’ll probably take a few weeks to find your rhythm building up a new practice. If you’re struggling to find time to write, then the writing hours offer you the perfect space to engage with that week’s prompts.

Weekly Writing Hours

Each week in term time (and for 4 out of 6 weeks of the summer holiday), members of all three pathways are invited to gather for a live writing session and creative check-in.

Community Circle

Each pathway will meet up once a month over Zoom to share our work and deepen our practice together.

Read more

Subscribe now