rubyredcircle

What is a sacred circle and who can join?

A sacred circle is a supportive gathering for women seeking connection and healing. Throughout history women have gathered in circle to provide a safe and inclusive space to allow for community within a supportive space that is held. This space and allocated time is an invitation to give time for yourself and to slow down. By slowing down and connecting to yourself, you are then able to hear yourself and your own needs, personal experiences, sensations and emotions. Within the circle the intentional space is created to allow the participants opportunity to share their awareness’s and thoughts and their feelings. A sacred circle is a safe container with a beginning, middle and an end. The sacred circle is to meet and gather in. It is a place to be, not a place where you will be given advice or how to fix. It is a space for being held with intentional presence. Presence is not about being the loudest or most visible voice. It’s about being clear, grounded, and purposeful, even in moments of quiet. It is an opportunity to meet and be met. To be listen to and be heard. Following the circles own rhythm and flow.

How often do the circles meet?

The gatherings typically happen ONLINE and IN PERSON in small groups on a weekly basis this allow for time to reflect in between circles.

Both circle groups are open to book onto and details of the location are below. Crosscrake Community Hub has a church and quiet countryside and a river nearby. There is also ample car parking which is free and unrestricted during the time of visit.

Why might you want to join the Ruby Red circle?

The intention of this sacred space is to provide a regular place of meeting that is confidential and is safe. Our experience of living can be so different and varied from each person to person and within this experience many of us can feel at times disconnected and isolated either through choice or circumstance. Lives are full and often busy. Barely taking a breathe to pause. Sometimes we have families, partner and friends we can talk to sometimes we do not. You might feel that you want a space that is outside of your own circle and that taking yourself to a space such as this could be a different type of space for you. Here is a place where you can just be. No demands, a space to be held. A space that can give to you.

The purpose of this circle is to hold a space that offers an invitation. The invitation is, to come and to take some time to sit with yourself and with others to develop the practice of self awareness and self reflection along with the practice of listening both internally and externally. With this awareness you may choose to speak or be still and through this process develop your quality of listening. This space is primarily a place to be, to find and explore connection within and discover who you are and what is here and now within you in this present moment.

By noticing and becoming what we call self aware it helps us to develop insights into ourself and our needs and wants and choices we make along with awareness of what we might be holding in our body such as tightness, or sensations in the body such as pain or numbness. We might become aware of what it is we are choosing that is speaking to us through our body awareness. Within this circle group we learn to hear our own self and stories along with developing listening skills to be present to others and their experiences and stories. In hearing others stories we might learn or be touched as we reflect on something that has been said this can often be healing in its own right. Within the circle this could also be a space to experiment with your new found awareness’s. For example, to try out holding back when you might normal talk or speak when you might normally listen. Exploring and listening and discovering who you are and what you might need are all benefits of belonging to this circle. Through this process you can find your own unique voice and sharing. Developing a deeper connection to who you are and who you might becoming.

We are more than minds we are embodied i.e. we have a body as well as a mind. It is through these practices and experiences we can develop deeper awareness and connection to ourselves in our bodies and our being and in doing so we come home to ourselves. It is an art of self care to bring attention to ourselves in this way and by participating you will have your own unique experience and developing relationship to you, which in due course will impact upon your relationship with your world and others. With this information we can develop and grow our capacity to self care . Allowing ourself time to nurture and tend to our own inner voice and needs. As a balance to caring for others.

Here within the circle there is an offering of stillness and reflection along with a meditative focus on being here in the present moment. This space is a unique container that supports our conversation with ourselves to allow for sharing and expression. This is not an emotionally driven space – it can be a pace to share your emotions but it can also be a place to share what is on your mind or what thoughts are sitting within you. Sometimes, it can be a reflection or a memory of something that has touched your soul. It is whatever is present to you that holds meaning – to you. When you speak it is your time and your space. A place to be and a place to be witnessed – which is held within a community of women who also value the richness of experience of being in a circle. There is no hierarchy – we are women with an interest in supporting other women by listening and being present to others experience’s and offer our presence as a lifeforce that is needed within our world today. You don’t need to be any particular type of person or style. You just have to be a woman and feel the draw to join us here. If you haven’t tried it before you are welcome and then you can make up your own mind how it is for you. Your uniqueness is your gift. Just be you.

What activities are involved in the circles?

A time to just be as you are. A held space to connect and be present. Allowing yourself time and space to notice what is here within you. This held and supported space allows for you to listen to yourself and give your voice to share if you so choose. There is no pressure. The intention is to create a space to share with others in the group or to be still and listen. The group space offers stillness and ground with no advice giving or fixing. It is a respectful space where we don’t talk over each other we allow each woman to speak as she feels is right for her. The intention of this sacred space is to bring intentional presence in a mindful way to each sharing. The gift of participating in the circle is receiving the experience of being witnessed and listened to by other women in the group. In turn offering your own gift of presence to listen well to others honouring and respecting other women’s personal experience, confidentiality and process as true for them. The circle is a place to develop all sorts of skills and most often developing empathy and compassion towards oneself and others is central to our practice. The art of being present offering our full attention and time is a gift that costs nothing but can mean everything to some. Being heard and feeling validated in our own uniqueness. This is your own perception and reality and your truth your sovereign right. Allowing space for speaking your truth into the circle. The circle holding this. The circle is here to respect and honour you in your sharing. You will not be made wrong or be shamed. This is a non judgemental space created to hold you in your here and now truth. The circle is a opened gently and the invitation is to bring yourself just as you are. You will be guided to walk through the threshold and gently supported throughout the two hours. This is a gentle process and is not a therapy group although it could be considered therapeutic. Leaving the space in a safe and contained way. This is a required commitment of the group space. Are you open to listen and be heard and to receive? Are you willing to allow yourself an experience that offers you belonging. If so step in – All women are welcome.

Is prior experience with spirituality necessary to participate?

No experience is needed; the circle is inclusive and welcoming to women at all levels of spiritual understanding. This is not a ‘spiritual’ group there is no focus upon any spiritual development or any particular orientations. It is spiritual in the sense that we are connecting to our spirituality as part of our self as a person. It is a space for women to be received as they are. It is not a therapy group. it is an inclusive group for all women who are interested in developing increased self awareness, connection and ground. Which will assist in creating a deeper quality of connection with themselves and within their relationships in all walks of their life. You do not need to be anything other than you are. It is a space to welcome you and if you want to be here then you are welcome, that is all you need.

If you are interested and want to discuss with me please contact me on 07880761177

If you would like to research about sacred circles please visit.

www.sisterstories.co

www.womenscircles.co.uk

In regard to influences on this way of relating I have been shaped by my trainings and teachers (of kinds who have walked with and through my life) whom have taught me and demonstrated to me how these principle’s of relating make a difference in ones’ life and how they can be applied. A have much to be grateful for and many to be grateful to.

I have always appreciated Martin Buber an existential philopsher Martin Buber (1878–1965) built his philosophy on something simple yet radical: the way we relate to one another. Born in Vienna and later moving to Jerusalem, he became one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century. While many philosophers chased abstract systems, Buber turned to stories, dialogue, and lived experience. He believed that life takes on its deepest meaning not through theories, but through encounters, moments when we meet another person, the world, or even the divine with full presence. His groundbreaking book I and Thou captured this vision, showing that our lives are shaped by whether we treat others as objects to be used or as beings to be truly met. For Buber, philosophy wasn’t about escaping everyday life, but about transforming it through genuine connection.

I And Thou : Martin Buber : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archivehttps://archive.org/details/IAndThou/mode/2up

On Loneliness: The Difference Between Being Alone and Lonely – Examined Mindhttps://examinedmind.com/blog/on-loneliness-the-difference-between-being-alone-and-lonely/