My Word for 2026: Service

Happy New Year Inspired Women!

As we step into a new year, and we hear & see all the 'new year new you' adverts, and all the pressure to set 'resolutions', I invite you to notice something different about how an Inspired Woman approaches intention setting.

I don’t do rigid resolutions.

Instead, I invite you to choose a word, as I do. Something that feels spacious, supportive, and alive. A word that can grow with us, rather than box us in.

Last year, my word was inspired by the Japanese concept of Oubaitori, the idea that we all grow at our own pace, in our own time, without comparison. That philosophy shaped so much of 2025: softer expectations, deeper compassion, and a real appreciation for progress that doesn’t shout.

This year, my word is Service.

And like all good words, it has layers.

Service to myself: listening to my energy, honouring my capacity, and accepting that I can’t do everything at once.

Service to others: showing up where I’m most needed, in ways that feel grounded, purposeful, and sustainable.

Over the past year, my work has naturally evolved. Alongside Inspired Women, I’ve stepped further into employed roles with Curves, 21&Co, RUILS, and United Response. All these roles have elements of supporting people through movement, care, community, and practical help. From being a circuit coach to a support worker, service now runs like a golden thread through my working life.

This doesn’t mean I’m closing the door on my self-employed work. Body Confidence Wellness is still part of me, just no longer front and centre. I’m not actively promoting my coaching work (because I can’t do everything) but if someone comes to me and truly wants support, I’ll always make space where I can.

I’m still practising Reiki. I may even teach this year, or I may not, that feels like one for divine timing. In the meantime I'm still very much working with 1:1 clients and monthly Online sessions.

And Inspired Women? I’m still 100% committed. This community matters deeply to me, and nurturing it is one of the most meaningful forms of service I know.

Choosing Service as my word isn’t about doing more.

It’s about doing what matters. With intention, boundaries, and heart.

If you’re feeling called to choose a word this year, let it be one that supports you. Not one that pressures you. Not one that demands perfection. Growth happens when we honour where we are and serve from that place.

Here’s to a year of meaningful service, in all the ways that truly count. And a year of beautiful meaningful connections through all we do at Inspired Women.

Have you chosen your word of 2026 yet? If so, why don't you head over the Facebook Group and share with us there?

A New Home for Healing and Collaboration: CSRI Academy at The Nexus Holistic Education Centre

I recently had the joy of attending the launch of a brand-new home for Inspired Woman Mariann Freed’s CSRI Training Academy, now based at The Nexus Holistic Education Centre in Shepperton.

The Nexus is a beautiful and tranquil retreat space created by Jo Woods and her husband Tom at their family home on Walton Lane Farm. Surrounded by gardens, horses, and picturesque countryside, the centre offers a welcoming sanctuary for workshops, day retreats, and short events, while also providing short-term accommodation upstairs for professionals working locally, including those at Shepperton Studios.

Mariann’s CSRI Academy of Excellence has now found a perfect home here. The Academy offers world-class teaching in Cranio-Sacral Reflexology Faure-Alderson®️, training reflexologists across the UK and internationally to a high standard of skill, confidence, and care.

As Mariann explains: “Our mission is not only to provide exceptional training in the field of reflexology but also to foster a community of like-minded individuals who share our commitment to promoting health, wellness, and self-awareness.”

The launch event, which I attended with fellow Inspired Woman Erica Ferrar, was a wonderful celebration of both Mariann’s teaching and Jo’s vision for The Nexus as a collaborative wellness hub. With exciting plans for retreats and workshops already in conversation, including some potential Inspired Women collaborations next year, the opening of The Nexus marks the start of something special for Shepperton and beyond.

To find out more about the CSRI Academy of Excellence or the Nexus Holistic Education Centre, get in touch with Mariann and/or Jo directly: https://www.cranioreflex.com/contact/ or waltonlanefarm@gmail.com

A Life in the Day Of...

A Life in the Day Of... Sarah Webb, 55, Nutrition Adviser & Weight Management Expert

Sarah has a comprehensive background in the health and fitness industry, qualified as a personal trainer, a fitness coach and most recently as a nutrition and weight management adviser. Her Eat Better UK bespoke programmes, based on her clients’ individual needs, provide straight forward advice and uncomplicated methods to get results. Sarah lives in Hanwell with her writer husband Paul.

"I wake to the gentle vibration on my wrist from my latest wellness wearable WHOOP. The time can vary slightly depending on the classes at my gym. I’m currently enjoying Vinyasa yoga and Swiss ball. I prefer to exercise early in the day; it gets me up and out in all weathers throughout the year. Before breakfast I’m on the scales to check my total body composition including bone density and visceral fat. A quick breakfast is Dorset cereal or, with a little longer, porridge, both with berries, a small banana, mixed seeds and semi-skimmed milk – all carefully weighed – and with a green tea and a vitamin D10µg supplement. At weekends its eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes on sourdough.

I check my stats on WHOOP - my sleep and recovery percentages, and yesterday’s daily strain. It’s important that I know how my body is starting the day as it can influence what equipment I choose to work on before or after my classes. I pick up my water bottle and head out for the fifteen-minute walk which I use as my warmup. I don’t wear earbuds; I like to listen for the birds over the sound of the early morning traffic, or the chatter of the children on their way to school if I’m starting a little later.

               Back home, I take my first decaf coffee of the day (I’m calming my ANS, Autonomic Nervous System) into my workspace and I check my messages at my stand-up desk.  Then it’s time to switch on the PC and get down to work – usually with some gentle jazz from Ella Fitzgerald, or French Café, or electronic from A-ha or the Thompson Twins. I log into my Nutritics software to calculate the nutritional analysis and dietary in-take of my clients. I check their progress, especially for any missing nutrients, for example vitamin A, and to recommend amendments if necessary.

A big part of my job is not only to advise on every client’s personal nutritional requirement, but also to monitor, motivate and support their progress throughout the programme.  We all need a gentle reminder occasionally. My consultations can be in person or on Zoom. If I have a morning visit, I’ll take my lunch with me.  This can either be a sandwich, chicken with rice or grains or salad, a handful of mixed nuts with a couple of dates and a piece of fruit.

               In the office, my non consultation time is spent preparing for the next ones: analysing clients’ latest food diaries, measurements and stats, and making the adjustments required for their macro and micronutrient intakes. Other time is spent engrossed in research and staying up to date with current developments in papers published by The Nutrition Society and other respectable organisations. Sadly, too often, there are other sources with misleading articles with bold claims about what is supposed to be good or bad for us this week. My training and experience have taught me that many of these claims are mere headline grabbing fads with no substantiated, reliable, evidence-based or peer-reviewed research and I consider it part of my job to dispel any such misinformation. I’m pleased to hear that, at last, a Secretary of State for Health is attempting to tackle obesity at its cause. Through discussions with food manufacturers and the supermarkets I believe that Wes Streeting is a man in a million, trying to improve health and save lives by making the changes, at source, necessary to save the NHS.

I plan my supermarket shop to provide a fully nutritious weekly menu. I prefer to work with good ingredients, not recipes, and I like to think that I can throw anything together to make a nutritious, tasty and convenient dinner that complements my lunch and that completes my daily food group requirements. It helps that I can eat most things…but I do avoid tofu, kidney and polenta! With only good ingredients in the kitchen, it’s easier to prepare a wholesome meal: fish, chicken or meat with rice, pasta, potatoes or noodles, and at least three types of veg. Portion control is essential – no matter how tasty it is! Nothing takes me longer than half an hour from cupboard to table…unless I’m throwing a special dinner party…and that can take all day and create a lot of mess! I love eating out with a nice glass of wine in good restaurants and we often take the tube into London or take a walk through the park to Ealing.

At home, dinner is the start of my evening wind down. Paul and I sit at the table (I love a crisp, white tablecloth) and talk about our day and then I catch up with calls to friends and family and completing my own personal food diary before settling down around 9 p.m. for some TV. We look for a good drama, thriller, documentary or travel programme (loved Race Across the World) depending on our mood, and I like to finish with a half hour ‘funny’ before bed. I’ll read the Sunday paper magazines – starting with the Travel section for inspiration for our next holiday - or one of the four books I have on the go. They are always non-fiction, typically: Shackleton’s Antarctic adventures, something work-related and, currently, Vanessa Van Edwards fascinating ‘Captivate’ book about behavioural science. I set my wake up for the morning’s class and WHOOP suggests my bedtime to reach my sleep need to wake refreshed for the start of the next day."

Words of Wisdom

Best advice I was given: By my grandma Esma before I went to boarding school: Remember Sarah, no one likes a boaster.

Advice I’d give: Only go where you’re wanted.

What I wish I’d known: That family relationships change over time

Scunthorpe Steel Works

I was commissioned to paint the following images some years ago for an hotel linked to the Scunthorpe Steel Works, which have recently received a lot of attention. The UK Government took control of British Steel to secure the future of Scunthorpe steelworks.

Making reproductions of originals like this is a great way to make money as an artist and every now and then – and this was the case with these images, I get to paint something very interesting.

Have a look at more of the images HERE.