Navila Rashid

By: Yasmin Hammami 

Introduction: 

In recognition of Breastfeeding Awareness Month, it is important to highlight the benefits and options available for infant nutrition. Breastfeeding is often considered the gold standard for nourishing newborns, offering a range of health benefits for both mother and child. However, it’s essential to recognize that breastfeeding may not be feasible or the preferred choice for every family. Understanding the various feeding options and their respective benefits and challenges allows parents to make informed decisions that best suit their circumstances and values. 

 In the context of the Muslim community, breastfeeding holds additional significance. The Quran not only recommends breastfeeding for the first two years of a child’s life but also acknowledges it as a basic human right. This religious endorsement further underscores the importance of considering breastfeeding as a viable option for Muslim parents. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to remember that every family’s situation is unique, and the choice to breastfeed, use donor milk, or rely on infant formula is deeply personal. No matter what a parent chooses, understanding the benefits and risks of each option is vital to ensuring the best possible outcome for both the child and the parents. 

In this blog post, we will explore the three main options for infant nutrition: breastfeeding, donor milk, and infant formula and aim to provide knowledge needed to make decisions that best for families.  

1. Breastfeeding

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and to continue breastfeeding for the first one to two years of life. Similarly,  the Quran advocates for breastfeeding for two years, highlighting it as a fundamental human right, as seen in Surat al-Baqarah verse 233.  (Van et al., 2023). The alignment of these recommendations underscores the universal recognition of breastfeeding’s value. 

For mothers, breastfeeding provides profound physical health benefits. Numerous studies have shown that it can lower the risk of several types of cancer, including breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer. Additionally, breastfeeding has been linked to reduced cardiovascular issues, such as hypertension (Iwuagwu et al., 2024). The mental health benefits are equally significant; the oxytocin released during breastfeeding can help 

alleviate postpartum depression by lowering stress levels and fostering a sense of love and bonding towards the baby and partner (Iwuagwu et al., 2024). 

Infants also reap substantial benefits from breastfeeding. Breast milk offers vital immune support and promotes gastrointestinal and neurodevelopment. Unlike infant formula, breast milk contains numerous hormones, enzymes, and immunoglobulins that are essential for a baby’s development (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016).  New studies have also shown that there are lifelong benefits of breastfeeding. For instance, a Canadian study found a correlation between breastfeeding and gray matter while another study showed an increase in white matter and total brain volume (Grevet et al., 2023). These developmental benefits are especially crucial for premature infants, who gain significant advantages from the nutritional and developmental support provided by breast milk.

As with any method of nutrition, breastfeeding has some drawbacks. It can be very time consuming and physically draining, which may be difficult to manage for breastfeeding people who work. Additionally, parents of preterm infants may struggle to lactate. Generational trauma is another valid reason that parents may opt out of breastfeeding. When enslaved Afrcians were brought to the US, they were bred and treated as cattle, with their breasts being described as an animal’s udders (Van et al., 2023). Thus, many African American people decide not to breastfeed as a way to express their bodily autonomy. A person’s decision to breastfeed or not is completely dependent on their wants and needs. If they decide not to, donor breast milk and infant formula are the most popular alternatives.

2. Donor Milk

For parents who cannot breastfeed, but still wish to provide their infants with the benefits of breast milk, donor milk is a valuable alternative. Donor milk is breast milk that has been donated by lactating women, screened, and pasteurized to ensure its safety. This option can be beneficial for preterm infants or those with specific health needs that make breast milk the best nutritional choice. 

In Islam, if a baby is nursed by another person at least five times, then a milk kinship is formed (Hamjah et al., 2022)​​. This can impact who the infant’s mahrams are. Because of the possibility of kinship, many Muslims are hesitant to use donor milk. However, the Minnesota Islamic Council issues a fatwa (an Islamic ruling) that donor milk does not cause a milk kinship to form (Minnesota, 2023). This is because donor milk is combined 

with the milk from many donors and pasteurized, so the milk does not come from one singular donor. Thus, donor milk should be considered by Muslims who prefer to avoid 

infant formula. However, it should be noted that the pasteurization of the donor milk reduces some of the benefits of breastfeeding because some enzymes and probiotics deform due to the heat applied. Additionally, donor milk may be difficult to obtain because it is typically prioritized for preterm infants. However, many parents prefer donor milk due to the convenience similar to that of infant formula while maintaining their preference of natural breast milk. 

3. Infant Formula

Infant formula is a valid option for infant nutrition, especially when the infant is allergic to or cannot digest breastmilk, and/or when the feeding parent is unable to produce milk and does not have access to donor milk. While infant formula is necessary for certain families, it is also important to understand the potential risks associated with it. Firstly, many parents are susceptible to misleading advertisements by formula companies, portraying breastfeeding as inconvenient while claiming formula is the same, if not better, than natural breast milk (Pomeranz et al., n.d.). This can falsely diminish a person’s self-confidence in breastfeeding, which can actually impact lactation. It is also important to note that each step in making infant formula at home is another opportunity for bacterial exposure due to the lack of a sterile field (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016). Additionally, infant formula consumption is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome due to the high levels of protein in formula (Liotto, 2020). Although protein is essential for development, natural breast milk begins with high levels of protein but declines overtime, whereas infant formula remains fixed. This can also cause an increased stress on the infant’s kidneys because the kidneys need to work more to excrete the excess protein (Liotto, 2020). Another nutritional drawback of infant formula is that it lacks antibodies, hormones, and enzymes that are only found in breastmilk (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016). These components of breastmilk significantly contribute to the healthy development of the immune system.

Whatever feeding option a parent chooses, it is crucial not to place any shame on them for their decisions. Each method is a valid choice, and so is a combination of all three. Most importantly, it is your right as a Muslim parent to breastfeed if that is what you want. If your work does not have a space for you to breastfeed or pump, advocate for yourself and exercise your Islamic right. 

References

Green Corkins, K., & Shurley, T. (2016). What’s in the Bottle? A Review of Infant Formulas. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 31(6), 723–729. https://doi.org/10.1177/0884533616669362

Grevet, L. T., Teixeira, D. S., Pan, P. M., Jackowski, A. P., Zugman, A., Miguel, E. C., Rohde, L. A., & Salum, G. A. (2023). The association between duration of breastfeeding and the trajectory of brain development from childhood to young adulthood: An 8-year longitudinal study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02283-9

Hamjah, S., Che Abdul Rahim, N., Muhammad Hashim, N., Bahari, N., Mohd. Kusrin, Z., Abdul Majid, L., Saidon, R., & Illias, M. Z. (2022). A quantitative study on Muslim milk mother’s understanding of the Islamic concept of wet nursing. PLoS ONE, 17(5), e0265592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265592

Iwuagwu, C., Chen, M. J., Hoyt-Austin, A. E., Kair, L., Fix, M., & Schwarz, E. B. (2024). Awareness of the Maternal Health Benefits of Lactation Among U.S. Pregnant Individuals. Women’s Health Issues: Official Publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, 34(3), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2023.12.004

Liotto, N. (2020). Protein content of infant formula for the healthy full-term infant. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 111(5), 946–947. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa061

Minnesota, C. (2023, November 16). First-of-its-kind Islamic fatwa issued encouraging the use of pasteurized donor breast milk for Muslim babies in the hospital. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-of-its-kind-islamic-

Fatwa-issued-encouraging-the-use-of-pasteurized-donor-breast-

milk-for-muslim-babies-in-the-hospital-301991383.html

Pomeranz, J. L., Chu, X., Groza, O., Cohodes, M., & Harris, J. L. (n.d.). Breastmilk or infant formula? Content analysis of infant feeding advice on breastmilk substitute manufacturer websites. Public Health Nutrition, 26(5), 934–942. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021003451

Van, T., Varadi, D., Adams, A. C., & Feldman-Winter, L. (2023). Promotion, Protection, and Support of Breastfeeding as a Human Right: A Narrative Review. Breastfeeding Medicine: The Official Journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 18(8), 561–570. https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2023.0061

Artwork by Aya Mobaydeen (@aya_mobaydeen) of a Palestinian elder in traditional thobe surrounded by Palestinian landmarks and floral motifs

Here at HEART, we are overwhelmed with grief and rage  as we bear witness to the blatant genocide of Palestinians and the innocent lives lost in Israel and Gaza. Our hearts are broken as we mourn the murder of six year-old Wadea al-Fayoume and his mother’s injuries because of anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian sentiment. We’re reminded of the traumas of the last two decades, as the aftermath of 9/11 made stories like these all too common.   Many of us feel fear, anger, hopelessness, triggered, and stretched thin as we extend love and care to loved ones on the other side of the world, and to those directly impacted right here in our communities. If you are one of those directly impacted, please know that your friends at HEART are weeping with you, enraged like you, and making du’a on your behalf.   One of HEART’s core values is centering and uplifting the most marginalized voices among us. Today, those voices belong to Palestinians everywhere mourning impossible losses in their communities while also navigating societies rife with weaponized misinformation, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, and the proliferation of violence. We also directly acknowledge that what is occurring in Gaza today is one instance of an unbearably long history of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonialism that spans multiple generations and continents.   Let us hold space for our grief and reject any weaponization of grief into vehicles of further hate and destruction. Let us implore Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala to ease this pain, to bring rain and extinguish the fires burning in Gaza, and to safely deliver the souls lost in Israel and Palestine to places of peace and serenity. If you are feeling the call to prayer but cannot find the words, you can access a translation of al-Du’a al-Nasiri, or the Du’a of the Oppressed, here.  In case it wasn’t clear, HEART remains committed to solidarity with the people of occupied Palestine as they continue to achieve complete liberation and self-determination.  If you’d like to take action, keep reading: –Support the family of Wadea al-Fayoume by contributing to this fundraiser: proceeds go directly towards ensuring Wadea receives a proper Janazah, that his mother’s medical expenses are covered, and to establish a Sadaqah Jariyah in sweet Wadea’s name. –Send this document to members of your community: You can share the events and resources on this link to find out about events in your area, learn more about the genocide in Gaza, and access legal, mental health, and safety support from providers across the country. – Sign this petition demanding immediate de-escalation and protection for Gazan civilians, as well as water, fuel, electricity, and more for medical facilities in Gaza –Pay close attention to the Palestinian and Jewish activists organizing on the front lines for the dismantling of the colonial government and full self-determination for Palestinians. Listen to the stories of those directly affected by 70+ years of violence and displacement, and reject the false narratives being driven by mass media, public figures, and those in power.  –Don’t turn away from the voices crying for our attention: the events of the last two weeks are brutal, horrifying, and overwhelming. Take the time you need to grieve and heal in whatever way works best for you. When you’re ready, you can learn from those directly impacted by the occupation firsthand by visiting the following links: Palestinian Oral History Archive Zena Agha’s Palestine: Ways of BeingQueering the Map: a community-based online mapping platform used by several queer Palestinians to document their experiences losing loved ones. –Support and uplift the efforts of directly impacted leaders like: Palestinian Youth Movement The Adalah Justice Project Arab Resource and Organizing Center Jews for Racial Economic Justice Jewish Voice for Peace Palestinian Feminist Collective For the Binaat Muslims for Just Futures US Campaign for Palestinian Rights  In the immortal words of Assata Shakur, “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.” Solidarity demands that our liberation is tied to each other. A world in which all Muslims are safe to exercise self-determination over their personal and reproductive lives in their communities is incomplete unless the people of occupied Palestine are safe, free, and empowered. Please join us in turning thoughts and prayers to action, and by supporting the groups led by and in solidarity with Palestine as we build towards liberation.  In Peace, Love, and Solidarity, Mehlam with HEART

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Beneficent

We are holding space for one another during this difficult time. The recent Supreme Court 6-3 decision to overturn Roe and Casey and uphold Mississippi’s 15 week ban on abortion deals a devastating blow to the most impacted communities in our country, namely Black, indigenous, and people of color-including Muslims who are able to get pregnant. Previous supposed liberties laid out by Roe v. Wade only truly empowered those who are most privileged. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe will continue to create serious ramifications in states where majorities of legislatures are hostile to abortion rights and access, and karamah (dignity) and bodily autonomy (personal boundaries and choice) in general— including in regards to queer and trans people.

We will always assert that Muslims have the freedom to exercise bodily autonomy and make decisions over our own bodies. Reproductive justice is inherently Islamic and reflected in divinely-granted

• khilafah (individual moral agency as part of our submission to God), 
• hurma (sacred boundaries of each body upheld through each person’ bodily autonomy) and 
• ridha (choice and consent). 

These tenets are at the core of how our faith tradition guides our communities through compassion and mercy. 

In this moment when so many of us are feeling afraid, angry, disheartened, and overwhelmed, we at HEART, Queer Crescent, Muslim Women’s Organization, For the Binat, American Muslim Bar Association, Muslims for Just Futures, Shia Racial Justice Coalition, SisterSong, and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, uplift the following:

We are in solidarity with the most impacted people and will continue to help our communities access safe abortion care. 

For anyone who is in need of or considering an abortion and is unsure whether you are able to safely and/or legally access reproductive care in your local area, please know that we value you, we care for you, and we believe firmly in your personal responsibility and God-given freedom to make decisions over your own safety, health, and life. 

We encourage you to visit https://bit.ly/SVandRJinfo as a starting point as you navigate this process with trusted loved ones, medical professionals, and/or religious or spiritual guides. 

• If you have questions about self-managed abortion and the law, If/When/How’s Repro Legal Helpline is a free, confidential source for legal advice and information. Visit ReproLegalHelpline.org or call (844) 868-2812.
• See Practical Support Organizations’ information here.

Abortion criminalization is yet another extension of the various ways Muslim bodies are criminalized.

Throughout US and global history, the same Muslim and BIPOC bodies have been persecuted—with our bodily autonomy persistently threatened and violated. Some of the communities that have experienced the brunt of this violation of our basic human rights and dignity are Black people, indigenous people, Latinx people, disabled people, queer people, and people with low socioeconomic status as a result of economic and political disenfranchisement. 

This is reflected through oppressive and inhumane surveillance, policing, criminalization, incarceration, and other inherently misogynistic, racist, queerphobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic systems. These oppressions perpetuate the shameful legacies of rape, colonization, slavery, genocide, forced sterilization, and other forms of medical violence.

Given this racial and economic-as well as gender-based injustice, we, as Muslims and moral agents of God, must act to defend and uplift the rights of those among us who are most oppressed. We are entrusted by our Creator with doing so with our hands, our tongues, and our hearts, following the example of our Prophet (peace be upon him) and our ancestors.

While no Muslim organization can speak for all Muslims, it is clear that a majority of Muslims in the US support access to abortion care in all or most cases. ***

Indeed, Muslims value and advocate for reproductive justice, including and beyond sexual and reproductive health care, such as abortion, which, like other personal health issues, is a complex decision that looks different from person to person.

People who are not directly impacted but want to help: please take action however you can. Go to https://bit.ly/SVandRJinfo to see the various abortion funds and other local, regional, and national organizations that you could support through monetary donations, volunteering your time and skills, and meeting other needs. 

Things all Muslims can do, together with friends and allies:

• Amplify and share our organizations’ resources widely and-if you feel safe to do so- publicly, such as on your social media. Reach out to us with additional questions or if you’re interested in hosting a discussion or workshop on this topic.
• Advocate at the individual and community levels alongside people who are most impacted. For example, 
  • If you feel safe to do so, make yourself available to be reached out to to support someone you know who requires an abortion or other reproductive health care. Some ways you might be asked to help include donating, driving or accompanying, and assisting with safety planning.
  • If you live in a state where abortion is still legal, identify and support community-led measures to serve people in need from other states. Wherever you live in the US or world, raise your and your allies’ voices to power-holders like elected and other government representatives, news media, and businesses and companies.
• Vote, and-including if you do not have the right to vote, yourself – share information about different candidates and measures in your city, county, state, and Congress with others. (HEART’s voter guide and candidate score sheet will go live this fall ahead of the midterm elections). 
• Join the Sex Talk reader community—which will offer virtual and in-person spaces to connect and apply our reflections on the book to the change we want to see around sexual and reproductive health justice from the individual to systems levels.

We continue to demand justice for all our communities—namely those most impacted— and remain steadfast in our insistence that we are all created equal and with the same basic dignity and rights.

We demand an end to the assault on our bodily autonomy, and continue to call for reproductive justice. This includes:

• Defunding law enforcement and national security apparatuses that disproportionately criminalize BIPOC, queer, and/or Muslim people; and investing in communities of care, where those who are most impacted lead transformative, not punitive solutions.
• Safe, affordable, comprehensive, and culturally sensitive health and human services, including access to health education, contraception, housing, employment, and other needs.
• Compassionate communities where the dignity and rights of all people are upheld and all are free from interpersonal to systemic harm based on gender, race, class, religion, or ability—including religious freedom from white supremacist, queerphobic Christian hegemony—

This dunya (world) is fraught with injustices. Even as those injustices increasingly inflict deep harms on our communities, testing our patience, we know that God is Al Adl (the Most Just) and we all will see the promised pureness and beauty of that Justice in the akhirah (Hereafter). Until then, most impacted people have always taken care of our communities and pursued our vision of reproductive justice—and will always continue to do so.

We must hold fast to the remembrance of our Waliyy (Protector), from whom we have come and to Whom is our return. There is no strength nor power without God, and God is always and forever Greater.

In solidarity,
HEART, Queer Crescent, Muslim Women’s Organization, For the Binat, American Muslim Bar Association, Muslims for Just Futures, Shia Racial Justice Coalition, SisterSong, and National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum

Additional Supporters: Amplify Georgia Collaborative, Repro Legal Defense Fund, Muslim Women For, Queer Shia Collective, Reproductive Justice Resilience Project

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* “The Majority of American Muslims Believe Abortion Should be Legal in All or Most Cases,” Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, https://www.ispu.org/2022-abortion-data/ 

*“Views about abortion among Muslims,” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/muslim/views-about-abortion/

*“The State of Abortion and Contraception Attitudes in All 50 States,” Public Religion Research Institute, https://www.prri.org/research/legal-in-most-cases-the-impact-of-the-abortion-debate-in-2019-america/

by Seher Siddiqee, HEART Chaplain

The question that I have been pondering for this reflection is how do I connect my body to the ritual expressions of my practice? This came about as I was preparing for the month of Ramadan and trying to figure out what goals I wanted and what I was hoping to gain in this month. I’d like to begin with a poem called “The Small Claim of Bones by Cindy Williams Gutierrez. 

what my body knows

is not a lie it’s not

a lie i tell you it is not

it’s nothing short of truth

and nothing larger

my past lodges

in my marrow and if

i wanted a transplant

there’d be no match

others’ sorrows dwarf

my petty traumas still

these bones are mine

when they creak

when they moan

when they whine

there’s only one thing

i can claim these bones

are mine i tell you

they are mine and kind

to abandon no thing

that makes this pulse

no one but me

A few weeks before Ramadan, I was talking to a friend who asked me what my goals would be for Ramadan. I hadn’t thought much about them as I still thought I had ample of time to think about them. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I wanted from Ramadan this year. The past few years, Ramadan has come at some challenging times and the month was something I felt like a collection of motions that I was not particularly engaged with. This year, I wanted it to be different. As I thought about what I hoped for this Ramadan could be, I thought about my body and the physicality of this month, the preparation and care that goes into getting ready to fast and sustaining that practice for a month. This got me thinking about the bodily connection -or lack thereof- of various rituals that have been central to my spiritual practice but for the most part have remained in my head. So this year I chose to take this month to reflect on the ways in which I connect my physical body to different spiritual practices, the first two that came to mind were prayer and fasting. 

I am someone who tends to put others and their needs before my own and sometimes this can be to the detriment of my own health and wellbeing. I push myself past healthy limits and it is often not until after my breaking point that I take time to rest and stop. I have noticed this more during the past pandemic year and am actively trying to change the thought process and behaviors around this. When I think of Ramadan, I often think about the late nights visiting with people, going to the masjid, trying to do tons of extra worship. All of these can be wonderful goals and ways to interact with my faith. But I noticed in the past few years that I would start the month with a laundry list of goals and activities that I needed to accomplish but would quickly burn out. I was not able to sustain these goals on top of work and other commitments I had. This year I wanted Ramadan to be different. Rather than trying to do lots and lots of extra acts, I wanted to focus on strengthening and deepening the practices that I do have with the intention that I wanted to sustain them past the month of Ramadan. 

As I sat down to create my intentions for the month, I thought about what it takes to physically prepare my body to fast every day for a month.

• I make a list of foods that i can eat at suhoor that will be filling and nourishing as well as finding my big water bottle to fill up and drink every morning. 
• I know the kinds of foods that I want to break my fast with at iftar that will not upset my stomach after a day of fasting. And I know the balance of food and water I need at suhoor and iftar so I am nourishing my body
• I get the biggest water bottle and fill it up to drink as much water as possible during the night
• I need to go to bed at a certain time to make sure I can get a good amount of sleep before suhoor knowing it is harder for me to sleep after
• About 2 weeks before Ramadan, I slowly stop drinking coffee because I need to ready my body for the lack of caffeine withdrawal and know if is suddenly stop, I will get massive headaches 
• I note the times of the day that I have more energy so that I can use that time to do certain tasks and note the times I have less energy and may need to take some rest. 

Why do I do all of these things? Because I want to ensure that I am setting myself and my body up to be as successful as possible. Just as I would take time to prepare for a presentation or a test, I put the time into getting my body ready because my body has rights over me. Not only is taking care of my body a good idea, it is more deeply and spiritually rooted in the idea that just as people have rights over us to be good to them and to take care of them, our bodies have rights over us. In this hadith, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings Upon him) reminds his companion by saying: “Observe the fast sometimes and also leave them (the fast) at other times; stand up for the prayer at night and also sleep at night. Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a right over you.”

This is a reminder that we should ground ourselves in moderation. Yes, we can strive for better and more at times, but we should ensure that we are not doing it at the cost of others or ourselves. We have been given the trust by God to take care of the gift of our bodies. When I think about the need to care for my body in therms of the rights that it has over me, it deepens the connection I have to my body and its needs because it is rooted in relationality- my body does so much for me and just as I want to care for others who take care of me, I can reciprocate that care to my body. Rather than having to do something I have to do, it becomes something that I want to do and feels more purposeful and meaningful.  

I know for myself, part of the challenge to see taking care of myself and body is that we live in a society that prioritizes production and doing. There is a constant need for doing, and oftentimes for others. To take care of oneself becomes a selfish act. What this hadith reminds me of is that it is quite the opposite. Taking the time to focus and center ourselves in our bodies is a Divine invitation to connect with our roots, our core, our Creator. 

In addition to spending some time reflecting on how I would fast, I also started to spend a few minutes before as many prayers as it was possible to calm my mind and center my breath. I wanted to move away from feeling like my prayers were a to do list item that needed to quickly be checked off before moving onto the next thing. So I started with sitting and taking 5 deep breaths. When I had the time and the capacity, I sat a bit longer. What I quickly noticed, when I did this, I was able to concentrate on my prayers more. I thought more about how I was moving my body and what I was saying during the prayer. In one of my prayers, I found myself lingering in sujood as I very slowly said “subhana rabbi al ala”- “Glorious is my Lord the Most High” and thinking about how I am connected to God the Most High when I am physically at my lowest and most vulnerable. I noticed my heartbeat slow down and feel a sense of calm, one that i had not felt in a while. The times that I did not take the time to breathe, I more easily lost focus and felt rushed in the prayer. 

I share these stories and thoughts with you as an invitation to think about how you connect your body to your spiritual practices. Our bodies do so much for us, some things we are aware of, and others are automatic or subconscious. Especially living in a society that prioritizes a detachment from our bodies in selves in order to do more and be more, re-grounding ourselves in the very being that allows us to be and function in this world, can be a radical act of love and worship. This will look different for all of us and each of us may find unique and special ways in which we can deepen our connection to God through our spiritual expressions. 

In the Loving

in the letting go,

let there be this

to hold onto

at the last:

the enduring of love,

the persisting of hope,

the remembering of joy,

the offering of gratitude,

the receiving of grace,

the blessing of peace.

–Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons