THE WILD WOMAN'S CIRCLE™
Discover the Power of Feminine Embodiment
“In my Wild Women’s Circles, we explore these motifs in a more structured way, which I offer here as inspiration and a possible starting place for your own local group. At the beginning of each meeting, each woman shares about herself. I usually post a few guiding questions, such as, “What are you bringing to this group today?” “How are you today?” “How was your last month of practice?” “What would you like to have happen in the group today?”The questions are just a starting point to bring everyone into the group. As each woman talks, we give her our undivided attention; only she is speaking, there are no comments made.
After the check-in, we engage in the various embodiment practices […] to sensitize our bodies. From there, we engage in themed explorations, perhaps around expression, or movement, or sharing of gifts. Each woman learns from the others and offers her own unique flavor. We end each group with a ritual. Sometimes we share chai or raw chocolate, sometimes we play with oracle cards, smudge and bless each other, or use essential oils for anointing and massaging each other.
Each group is different, but the elements are always the same:
Create connection and share with a check-in. Embodiment and sensitizing practices.Partnered exchanged through dance, practice,and talking. Ritual and closing.
By creating a structure and specific format, the group becomes a safe and relaxing container. We speak and share in a way that allows each woman to be heard. We practice the embodiment and sensitizing exercises shared with you in this book to encourage gentle and gradual re-wilding, and we use ritual as a means to connect us with one another and the divine.
As a leader of women’s groups and as a woman in business, this is an ongoing exploration of mine, and an issue dear to my heart. I do believe that we need a community-based paradigm to truly thrive. Fostering women’s community and connecting back to the tribe with the format described above, and using the exercises I am sharing with you in this book, are my offering at this time. My vision is to connect women to themselves and their bodies. As that gives us more capacity and availability toward others, it will open the door for deeper connection and collaboration.”
~~~~~
The Wild Woman’s Circle™ is derived from Michaela Boehm’s The Wild Woman’s Way® curriculum, an original body of work and draws from her decades of experience leading women’s groups, 30k+ hours of counseling practice, her early training in a Kashmiri Shakta tradition of which she is now the lineage holder.
The Wild Woman’s Circle™ uses potent embodiment practices, women’s group exercises, and sacred rituals originally conceived by Michaela for her own women’s circles. The material is designed to provide a transformational immersion into this body of work.
Graduates of the Wild Woman’s Circle™ teacher training are trained to offer this material in freestanding sessions, weekly or monthly circles, and in conjunction with other modalities such as the Non Linear Movement Method®.
The Wild Woman’s Circle is available on zoom as well as in person. If you would like to participate in an ongoing Wild Woman’s Circle, find a teacher on our Certified Teacher Page.
Click here for more information about the Wild Woman’s Way® and its principles.
In the “Tribe” Chapter of “The Wild Woman’s Way” book, Michaela describes the background, founding principles and history of The Wild Woman’s Circle™.
~~~~~
“All of my women’s events start with an opportunity for each participant to introduce herself. Depending on the venue, we might sit in chairs, or cushions on the floor, but always in a circle, so each woman can see the others while she speaks about herself and her reasons for attending.
It is always thrilling to enter the room and see everyone for the first time. I am fortunate enough to have women of all ages, nationalities, and orientations attending my events, and it is not uncommon for women to bring their daughters, their friends, and even their mothers. Participants range in age from twenty all the way into their eighties.
I have taught all over Europe, the US, Canada, and Australia. Though every country has a unique flavor of women, the introductions always have the same elements and often the same stories.
Some women are thrilled to be there, some look apprehensive, some defensive, and there are always one or two who look aloof, holding themselves a bit distant from the others, as if they had ended up in the circle by accident.
One by one, the women introduce themselves, sharing their names, where they are from, what brought them to this event, and what they wish to experience. The first few women are usually matter-of-fact, saying only a few sentences about themselves.
Then, as more women take their turns to speak, the initial shyness begins to melt, and the stories start to emerge: stories of love and loss, of triumph over illness and abuse. Deaths are mourned. Pregnancies are revealed. Affairs, new romances, and fantasies of divorce are confessed. Tissues are passed to someone who is crying, and riotous laughter is shared. Someone will talk about her mistrust of women, someone will exclaim her joy in being among women only. At some point, a woman will usually say something like, “I feel like I have lived and felt everything that has been said so far, these are all my experiences and emotions, too,” and everyone agrees.
A circle of women holds ancient magic. I don’t mean that in the “New-Age-goddess-sisterhood” understanding of such words, but in the sense that such circles are the oldest form of communion among women.
When I look around these circles, I can envision the same configuration in a cave, a clearing in the woods, a tent, or a longhouse, a circle of women talking while preparing food or medicine, working on baskets, hides, and looms, a circle where laughter, ritual, discussion, conflict, and song are all shared in community.
From the beginning of humanity, women collaborated, sharing food, ritual, and childcare as a way of culture. Men, for most of human history, have been outside of this circle, risking their lives by hunting, sacrificing themselves in defense of their dwellings, as well as exploring and discovering new resources for the benefit of the tribe.
As a woman, being part of the tribal construct was essential for survival. Younger women were taught life skills, from food preparation, healing and medicines, and initiations into womanhood to child-rearing and rituals. Childbirth was assisted by more experienced women. Children were watched and tended to not only by their mothers, but also by aunts, grandmothers, elder siblings, and cousins; all the women of the tribe contributed. The stories, history, and myths of the tribe were transmitted in these circles.
To this day, when women come together, the magic of this long standing, shared cultural experience is effortlessly remembered when we sit together. Our bodies remember. We still resonate with one another. We learn about being a woman from other women. We find solace in shared stories and benefit from each other’s experience.
Finding your “tribe” and enjoying the support that comes from being in the company of other women is more important than ever. We are no longer living in communities, and most of us are without the support of the women in our family. With our busy lives, many women are deprived of the regular in-person meetings with girlfriends and the seemingly mundane but deeply connective activities of past times. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and e-mail have replaced actual exchange, and instead of talking on the phone, texting is the way we often communicate.”
– From The Wild Woman’s Way by Michaela Boehm