As a modern woman, I find modern living a constant challenge. Yes, you heard right …. I openly admit that I find life challenging! There was a time when I struggled to admit that to myself, let alone to anyone else. I felt ashamed, as I sincerely believed there was something wrong with me to feel that way, when others around me coped perfectly well. I say that, but in reality that was just my perception from what I observed on social media combined with the beliefs of my ego mind, mixed with a big dose of assumption. I discovered that the truth behind the public facade of social media highlights and the pretence of putting on a brave face, was that other women were struggling too. Like me, other women found life to be a constant juggling act, feeling that there weren’t enough hours in the day, let alone enough hours to personally do something which benefitted them.

We had much in common. We believed we had to be ‘Wonder Woman’ and be all things to all people. We thought that to be a good enough daughter, partner, mother or friend, we had to do it all. Logically of course, this is an impossible task, however with our subconscious in the driving seat, we were all trying too hard to please everyone else at the detriment of our our sanity and wellbeing. This left many of us feeling unseen, unheard and unappreciated. From my observations and experiences, this way of existing created a big disconnect within the female community. I witnessed women striving to out-do each other, favouring self-importance over self-empowerment, competition over collaboration and slander instead of support, as well as being jealous rather than joyous. These toxic thoughts, feelings and behaviours were pushing women apart and creating an unnecessary disconnection. Women talked about ‘sisterhood’, but I struggled to find it, then alone connect with it.

In contrast, our ancestors inherently knew the importance of connection and would often sit in circle to share food, stories and wisdom, as well as pass down traditions. The sense of equality and community that these women shared fascinated me and I wondered if this way of socially interacting could be a reality for the modern woman. I hoped that the ‘sisterhood’ I had witnessed and experienced could be healed. I invested my time in research, watched documentaries and read various books. With each learning, I felt a deep yearning for this authentic connection with other women and began to realise the extent of the disconnection which existed between. I knew this continued separation would only fuel toxic feminine thoughts, feelings and behaviours, continuing to wound the sisterhood further. I felt it was time for change.

With Gandhi’s words rattling around in my head “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” I decided to take heart-felt action and create a space for women to be fully seen, heard and witnessed by others. I didn’t consider if it would be successful or not, as my focus and aim was to provide the opportunity for women to come together and experience the healed sisterhood. Through the power of the circle and plant medicine, like-hearted women began to consciously connect in an authentic and supportive way and experienced the many benefits of taking time out to care for their own needs. I felt honoured to witness women realising the gifts of the circle, as they reconnected to their inner wisdom, became self-empowered through self-healing and experienced how it felt to be held and nurtured by other women.

A year on and I still feel blessed to hold regular plant medicine circles and look forward to continuing these. However, I felt a calling to do more for connecting women, so I birthed a monthly women’s circle in Stourbridge called ‘Connect’. If you had asked me 12 months ago, if my vision of a healed sisterhood was possible, I would have said maybe. Today, I would say most definitely! So, if you experience a challenge in some aspect of life, be assured that there is another women in the world experiencing something similar. You are not alone. Use the power of the circle to connect with other women and together let’s continue to build the healed sisterhood of awesome women!

For information about Connect or to reserve your seat in circle please click here.