The Power of Gathering Women

It wasn’t an intentional gathering of women, but looking around the circle there were only two men and one of them was an organizer. Twenty women gathered in the Italian countryside for a week of yoga, exploration, relaxation, inspiration, and as it turns out, transformation. In the opening circles, we learned what each was seeking: time for self, a break from work, yoga practice, freedom from tears, perspective on divorce, connection, friendship, fun. Everyone wanted space, not fully knowing what would show up in that space. As we shared together, common threads were revealed, starting to knit those connections among us. 

Women connecting over shared experiences is age old, and uniquely transformative. When women listen to each other, hold space, and care there is comfort, vulnerability, and great potential for healing and new understanding. These retreat participants were in an unfamiliar place, navigating an unfamiliar language, awestruck by the surrounding beauty, and with nary a responsibility in sight. The hamster wheel of negative self-talk did not have room to spin here. There was no “should-ing” in this peaceful place. There was as much space as each person wanted to create for themselves.

By the time we were sitting in the closing circle one week later, there were many tears: of joy, gratitude, relief, release, compassion, declaration, and yes, transformation. One person found their true self again after too long. Two understood for the first time that their families will be okay when mom takes time for herself. Another declared she is done with cancer. One will stop caring as much about what others think. Three savored the time with their daughters. 

Women gathered together are powerful. In these spaces we find the courage to be vulnerable, the strength to heal and the inspiration to create change. When women come together, magic happens. And in that magic, we find the power to transform ourselves and the world around us.

Values-based Living and Magical Connection

This weekend was magic. Lead with Creativity led a women’s retreat on a farm nestled among the Shenandoah mountains, where rescued farm animals are living their best lives, ducks offer up luminous eggs daily, and the “Gentleman Farmer” uses his voice to promote equality and justice. We focused on values and how to live aligned with what is most important to us. Values like connection, joy, wholeheartedness, inclusion, openness, family, nature, creativity, integrity, feeling known - in some ways these values were already showing up in our lives, and in other ways they were languishing. As we progress toward a new year, this was an opportunity to consider claiming these important values with intention, recommitting to living with purpose and meaning, and quite practically, making a plan for doing so. 

Through activities, journal prompts, group discussion, bonfire musings, delicious meals, favorite music, and an incredible farm experience, this creative group of women connected with each other and themselves in a bigger way than any of us had expected. Women who hadn’t met before bonded over intimate life stories, shared challenges, and genuine caring. Everyone could benefit from this, they said. How rare for women to step away from their daily lives full of work and caregiving to focus on themselves, and how restorative it is. It’s like putting on the oxygen mask yourself first before helping your child to put one on. Connected in a circle on the last morning, we committed to aligning our actions with our purpose, and harnessing the support we need to follow through. It feels like a jolt to leave the cocoon of connected sisterhood, mountain beauty and sweet animals to go back into “the real world” of routine and expectations. The hope is that we are all now more focused on and grateful for what’s most important, which will guide us toward living aligned with our true selves. 

More retreats are coming. Supporting people to live into their purpose and feel aligned with their true selves is an honor, and the world needs more of this. 

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman