Do you know what I hated about my own mother’s group experience back in 2018?
That nobody felt comfortable to be real. And it’s fair enough, I guess.
Perhaps we were all a little bit traumatised after pushing a baby out of our vaginas or having them cut out of our bodies.
Perhaps we were preoccupied by leaking out of multiple orifices at once and couldn’t hold a conversation.
Perhaps sleep deprivation was its own kind of torture and we were lucky to just physically make it to the meeting, let alone participate.
Perhaps we weren’t ready to be too real and talk about feelings with complete strangers.
So everyone pretended like having a baby and caring for said baby wasn’t the hardest thing they’ve ever done in their lives. We collectively plastered on smiles with bags under our eyes and mainly spoke of our babies as a safe topic.
And I certainly didn’t want to be the “only one” struggling with my new life, so I smiled and coo’ed with the best of them. But it didn’t do me any favours for my own internal healing or well-being.
So years later, I’m excited to create my own women’s circle, but for mothers, and I’m making it our safe space, our own little village. Where, for 1 hour a month, we can heal those (internal) wounds together - think of it as ‘guided healing’.
With a different speaker to feature each circle, women will be guided to figure out who they are, now that they are also mothers.
"But what is a women's circle?", you ask?
The purpose of a women's circle is to share experiences and to heal hurts. But every women's circle is a little different, so here is what you can expect from The Village:
- A safe space that is purposely intimate. I want women to feel safe to share their story, if they feel comfortable*, and so our online circles will always be small enough to facilitate this.
- A theme to focus on during our circle. Not every topic may be relevant to everyone, so to stay on track and ensure that each session is useful for those attending, we will stick to a theme and always ensure that there are actionable next steps for said theme to empower you to keep going on your healing journey.
- A guided mini meditation. There is a common misconception that meditating is hard and not a realistic use of your time. I want to show you how you can incorporate meditation into your daily routine without having to find an hour of solitude to do it (which is unrealistic as mothers!).
- I'm really excited for this part, I will be doing a Q&A with a guest speaker for all of our circles! The guest will be announced in advance of the session and will add value to your healing by bringing a new perspective into your awareness from their own learned experience or expertise.
- The aim of the event is to heal through connection and self reflection, so there will be journal prompts to help you take realistic next steps in your own healing journey.
I hope you feel open to join our safe space once in a while, to heal our motherhood wounds together, so we can make our own little village.
You can stay up to date with latest The Village Women's Circle here, as well as sign up to our emails to be notified about the latest women's circle online events and guest speakers.
*There is no compulsory sharing of stories required to participate in this online women's circle. I understand the apprehension some might feel, in sharing your feelings with a bunch of strangers! This is why I (Avril, Founder of Love In The Moonlight and mother) will be sharing my own story, as well as my guest speaker, to facilitate this session. I do not expect others will be so comfortable as to share their own stories, but that said, there will be time to share with the group, if you so choose.
