The invitation!
A warm, friendly and receptive space that we co-create together by sharing our experiences and listen spaciously to others. It’s the oldest medicine there ever was.
My intention and invitation is to make space for women to air experiences of womanhood menarche, menstrual cycle, birth, choosing not to birth or be a mother, motherhood, menopause and aging.
To be held by the circle of women, each experience unique, as we move through our inner landscape.
Would we feel richer for venturing in our lived experience as women in the company of other women?
I think we would!
Unfortunately most of us women go through life-changing life cycles (menarche, mother, menopause) isolated and put to the side as if it was insignificant.
Sadly we have have lost much of the understanding and appreciation of these rites of passage (menarche, mother, menopause) that perhaps was woven in a community/culture at some point somewhere.
We cannot know how it would have been or could be, but we can gradually re-weave that support for us and the future women.
Let’s start with how it is now and re-imagine it how it can be.
Women’s circle meetings
Menstrual or moon cycle awareness
During the meetings we share where in our menstrual cycle we are, how that feels. Tracking the cycle even mentally by checking in daily will enable us to know the ‘seasons’ that our menstrual cycle moves through.
Each inner season is influenced (amongst other things) by the hormonal dance that happens as a result of the fertility/creative cycle within a woman.
Our menstrual cycle is a feedback system, the fifth vital sign and our body’s way of communicating back. Learning to understand this ebb and flow helps in numerous ways.
In the circle we share where we are in our cycle, how we are and have some time to open out, share, stretch, move. Sometimes there is a theme or focus with guided meditations as part of the theme and sometimes just open to what’s present in us.
We are not a woo woo circle with mad rituals, rather very curious and relatable people.
Life is a repeated cycle of birth, growth and death.
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Peri - Menopause
These gatherings invite women of all phases of life whether you have a menstrual cycle or not. We encourage women who are not bleeding to track the moon cycle and sense how the moon phase affects your being.
Peri menopause or menopause can be a very challenging phase and an initiation in itself marking the last phase of the reproductive years. In the last 5 to 10 years there has been a rise in books, research and conversations that have started to sprout in different parts of the world related to menopause but more support and mainstream coverage and support from employers is needed.
I started peri-menopause at 40 (earlier then average age) and it has been very much a bumpy ride, isolating, confusing and big learning curves too. The circle would be enriched by the voices of different phases of womanhood. If this is you, come and join our conversations.
Meetings every two weeks
We will meet every two weeks on Tuesdays from 18:30 to 20.30. For dates and other practical info please click the ‘Learn more’ button.
About me
Hello, my name is Irida
I’m glad you are reading this and if this resonates with you, I hope you can join us.
I am in my mid 40s. I have lived in Schiedam (in Netherland) for the past 4 years with my husband and 9 yr old son. At the age of 40 I started symptoms that related peri-menopause. This took me by surprise. It was too early. I felt as if something so very familiar, a rhythm was gone and I was floating. Since then I became more aware and very interested in the process of menstruality, menopause, cycle awareness and how to support my body.
A few years ago I came across Wild Power book by Sjanie Hugo and Alexandra Pope, and found myself very drawn to what they had to share about menstruality and menopause. My being rang with the truths about being in a woman’s body and the reframing of these experiences felt like discovering a truth that was obvious and yet not quite recognised or talked about or acknowledged very much.
I decided to take this further and completed the Menstruality Leadership Programme held by Red School (founded by Alexandra and Sjanie). This was a deeper immersion into cyclical awareness and it left me feeling a bigger appreciation of how menstrual cycle awareness can support and hold us.
This brings me to how excited I feel to make space for women to share and listen to each other. I believe that the menstrual cycle whether you have one or not, it’s an underestimated commonality that brings us together. I also believe that sharing what you feel is an old medicine.
I am originally from Albania and lived for over 25 yrs in London and Oxford and life brought me and my family here in Holland where my husband and I run an art gallery. We are both artists and feel very lucky to have the space to create art and be able to share this lovely space also for the women’s gatherings.
I look forward to get to know you!
Irida
Love your cycle
Love your body
Women’s Circle
For women of all ages, phases, backgrounds who want to be in the company of other women, share, listen, explore in a safe friendly space.
© 2023 Cyclical Woman
