"In the circle, we are all equal.
There is no one in front of you and there's nobody behind you.
No one is above you. No one is below you.
The circle is sacred because it is designed to create unity."
- Lakota Wisdom
Circles. Women's Circles. They are a huge part of my life. Each one of my yoga classes are circles. I was very fortunate to experience the power of being in a yoga circle, rather than in a regular class, a few years before I became a yoga teacher myself. By being held in a circle I enjoyed a deep sense of inclusivity, equality and intimacy and I felt so inspired to recreate that same sense of being held once I started my own teaching journey.
As a teacher and space holder, I love being right in the middle of the circle, feeling fully part of it, being in the flow of it. I feel more able to give and receive, as I learn from each one of the women I sit in circle with, every time. I am 'guide on the side' and it feels lovely!
In a way I have been in women’s circles since I was a little girl... growing up with two of my female cousins, our mothers and paternal grandmother, aunties, other female cousins and great aunties… I have many beautiful memories of four generations of women cooking together or clearing up after a big family lunch or dinner, or sitting around baskets full of bean pods (or other home grown vegetables and fruits) to be sorted…The chatting, the giggles, the warmth, the ‘secrets’, and the tears sometimes shared in those occasions have laid such strong foundation for what I am offering today. Those were my very first women’s circles and I’m so grateful to have had such a sisterhood in my family!
What I love about circles the most is the empowerment that every woman receives in sharing her story: the power of personal storytelling is so healing. Being held, seen, heard and witnessed safely by other women is truly an experience like no other…and it's totally addictive :)
When we start sitting in circles, we soon begin to understand how we all are a perfect mirror of one another; so even if a woman might feel quite shy or broken to share her story, listening to another woman that has a similar story, might be just the healing she needs. It is something truly magical and cathartic.
I have sat in many circles, on a weekly basis, for the past ten years, whether holding them or being held in them. Lots of them with yoga and self-care practices as the main focus, or the Moon and the Earth seasons. Each of them so beauty-full, inspiring, enriching, moving, joyful, transformative, healing and powerful in their own different and perfect way.
This past year I have experienced online circles and despite the initial resistance and awkwardness, I have soon realised how beautiful and healing these are too: I have learnt to send and receive energy through a screen, something that I had never thought to be possible…I have welcomed women from beyond the UK, expanding the physical borders of my little community of women, that in the past ten years had been confined within Bristol. I have been able to reconnect with many old friends and students that have left the city and realised how amazing the virtual web of sisterhood can actually be!
I feel so grateful that circles are part of my work, as much as of my private life: as I hold space for many women in the circles I offer, I am equally held in my private circles with my closest sisters, where I can be fully nourished and recharged in a way that is hard to put into words.
If you have never experienced a women’s circle, you are warmly invited to join any of mine. As you browse my humble offerings, I hope you can find one that inspires you. And know that you are welcome exactly as you ARE, in the perfect wholeness of your being.
And I also warmly encourage you to create your own circle, with your closest sisters. This is how women have always been together since the very first matriarchal communities walked our beautiful Earth. The circle is our birthright as women and our main healing tool for transformation for ourselves and for all our relations, past and future.
