Flourish Magazine – Movement Issue launches today!

Issue 3 of Flourish Magazine on the theme of ‘Movement’ launches today! Going out in print across the South West and available to view online here, we are delighted to present another incredible issue of the magazine by and for the cancer community. 

A joint venture between Artlift and Yes to Life, Flourish Magazine aims to explore the benefits of an integrative and creative approach to living with cancer.   

The free magazine is created with the support of a steering group that includes people living with cancer and partners Macmillan, Macmillan Next Steps and Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.   

Each themed edition features a range of creative responses, expert information and interviews that offer support and represent the diversity of the cancer community. Alongside our print magazines we release weekly digital content on the Artlift and Yes to Life blogs, including music, film, blog posts, poetry and more.  

Read Issue 3 online here:  FLOURISH – ISSUE THREE – DIGITAL

Read all issues of the magazine here  

View our digital content here  

Editor’s Letter: 

Hello and welcome to the third issue of Flourish Magazine, a magazine by and for the cancer community from integrative cancer care charity Yes to Life and creative health charity Artlift, who are based in Gloucestershire.  

For our third issue we’re exploring the theme of ‘Movement’. Often our first response to the word is to think about exercise, and when you think about exercise, what comes to mind? The gym? HIIT workouts? Pounding the pavement? All of which, if you’re going through cancer (and even if you’re not) can feel a bit… daunting. What I love about this issue is how our contributors have bust the idea of movement and what this means wide open.   

In these pages you’ll find stunning artworks that explore growth and expansion across our bodies, minds and landscapes, but also restriction and the loss of movement, and how we can cope with this. There’s writing on the ever-changing seasons, on moving through grief, dancing to heal and the power of play. The movement explored in this issue is a softer kind, one that’s accessible to all, one that’s allowing people to reconnect with themselves, find freedom and perhaps most importantly, have fun.  

The content in every issue is received through an open call and I’m always overwhelmed by the standard of the submissions we receive, the generosity and openness with which people share their experiences, and the inspiring creativity of those going through cancer. I wish we could feature them all here, but sadly we only have a limited number of pages, so many of the submissions we received will be featured online as part of our digital content. On the Artlift and Yes to Life blogs we’ll release weekly content for the issue, which this time includes music, blogs, embroidery, photography and more.  

We aim to show a diverse range of responses to the cancer experience and as such have included submissions with dark and challenging themes. We have provided content warnings throughout so that readers can choose what they feel able to engage with.  

If you have a moment, we’d love it you could tell us what you thought of the magazine by taking our short survey here. Thank you for reading!  

Natalie Beech 

Editor-in-Chief of Flourish Magazine