By Kirran Shah
Come closer… over the past few months, hidden away in central Bradford, Displace Yourself Theatre’s The Place has been the vital ground and anchor for a special weekly gathering. Bradford’s very own Sacred Circle was born out of a calling Jen Nevin and I felt in deep synergy with, at a tumultuous, heightened emotional and busy time in both our lives. We wanted to bring women together in spiritual connection, for those ready to connect to themselves and others and take a deep dive into femininity, creativity, release and the essence of life force. An invitation to come together with earth-based spiritual practices, yoga, somatic movement, meditation, reflection, sharing and sound medicine. Calling on poetry, music, song, meditation, Celtic traditions, mythology and life cycles.
Women’s circles are rooted in ancient traditions. Often monthly gatherings for women to come together to share practices, stories, wisdom, passing on skills, dance, food, medicinal and herbal healing, support, community. At first, the focus of our retreats was centred around the Divine Feminine, travelling through our elemental nature with earth, water, fire and air on a sensual journey, allowing space for heightened emotion and release together. The space was open for all women, no matter what stage of life. A space to process emotions and connect with others around fertility, growth, loss and transformation. We invited slowness to balance out rapidly moving energies as the seasons changed. Space was held for dynamic movement and deep emotional release. We rooted ourselves. Jen led gentle restorative and grounded yin yoga poses. I facilitated journaling and sharing sessions, to help us to find moments of expression in the support of the circle. It was a time to be seen, heard and held, where women were free to express and find inner and outer joy. A time to resonate and connect with each others stories.
We felt we were responding to a real need in Bradford for a caring, nurturing sanctuary for people to explore mind, body and spirit, and ancient traditions. These sessions valued diversity of expression, experience and perspectives. We wanted to create a continuing sacred container for spiritual practice and holistic wellbeing and it soon became a monthly space and gathering for people of marginalised genders, including cis-women, trans women and non-binary people.
Wellbeing, collective healing and spiritual practice
Following on from our monthly gatherings and retreats, something deep within me was stirring and pulling towards this collective gathering and healing work, and with DYT’s gentle guidance, alignment and timing, Spirit Sisters and the Sacred Circle was born. I held six weekly sessions in September and October 2024 nestled in at DYT’s Place, each week a new manifestation and a chance to go deeper into this work and explore a range of wellbeing and embodied healing practices. I began to write my own grounding meditations for the group, inspired by poetry, ancestral stories, counselling, grace and compassion. I experimented with rhythm and somatic movement. I enjoyed creating soothing musical playlists. I poured love into creating and mixing ceremonial cacao with chai spices and recipes handed down from my ancestors: cinnamon, ginger, green and black whole cardamom, cloves, saffron, fennel seeds.
I am not dogmatic about spiritual or religious practices. The focus on earth-based spiritual practices and traditions was an offering. An offering to connect with ground, nature, roots, self, mind, body, spirit, a higher power, a connection to something greater than ourselves. Invitations and offerings, nothing rigid or prescriptive. Take what calls to you and disregard what doesn’t. Reaching for what helps creative flow, inner alignment and healing. We flow in cycles. Cycles of renewal. We are not linear. Healing is not linear, but a gathering up, a re-orienting, a collecting. A collective. Noticing our interconnectedness akin to the roots of trees mycorrhizal networks. A connection to community support, within ourselves and with others. Encouraging cultural understanding, the gifts from different cultures, faiths, traditions, mythologies. Our shared connection to sky. Spaciousness.
Each session was an organic, fluid, changing and collective journey with carefully selected ‘bridging’ elements that allowed us to go deeper into ourselves, connect with others and our spiritual practice. Led by the energy/flow/needs in the room, each week we welcomed in various practices including:
- Vocal expression and intuitive movement
- Gentle restorative movement and relaxation
- Rhythmic drumming and creative play to explore sensuality
- Journaling and a space for sharing
- Meditation, breathwork and Sound Medicine
- Intention-setting ceremonies
- Plant-based medicines such as herbal teas and cacao
Each gathering followed a loose framework/format:
- Arrival, grounding and meditation
- Reflection / Journaling
- Sharing
- Movement
- Release
- Sounds, refreshments and connecting
Deep dive
Creative expression, rituals and practices evolved week on week, responding to the energy in the room. Each week I allowed time for arriving, transitioning, and grounding. This was sometimes as simple as ensuring everyone had a hot drink, having come in from the cold, or from a busy day. Soothing sensual and grounding music was played as people entered the space. Essential oils were offered; lavender, bergamot, sandalwood, ylang-ylang. Creative materials were available: paint, pastels, pencils. A variety of Oracle cards were offered. In circle and sacred tea ceremony, we set intentions for the session, supported by herbal teas and heart-opening cacao. We often moved into guided gentle movement, keeping close to the earth, with soothing restorative poses supported by blankets and bolsters. We connected, sharing in circle, inviting in imaginal space and dreaming work. Space for free flow through journaling and mark making. Releasing in all directions through the voice and body. Shaking stagnant or stuck energy. Exploring sacral chakra flow and warming breathwork. Igniting inner fire. Lighting a candle for a loved one.
We moved with an embodied focus, to release what was ready to be let go. We explored rhythmic drumming and sensual play. We meditated together, opening our hearts and sinking deep into relaxation with soothing sound medicine. During heightened energies of the lunar cycle, we attuned to our higher Self, the vibration and offerings of the earth, changes in the climate, feeling into energetic changes in the wind, the fullness of the moon, and welcomed ancestors and spirit to guide us. We cultivated love and deep connection. Each week, I encouraged and held a sharing practice, inviting everyone to speak into the space, to release, to let go, to explore, held by attention, curiosity, openness, non-judgement and love. Sharing our experiences or intentions or just expressing was a powerful way of acknowledging each other in the space, to be witnessed, to show up as we are, and to co-regulate our nervous systems together.
Togetherness
Each week was co-curated, in collaboration with everyone who entered the space. Often participants arrived early to help set up the space and make an offering to the altar: arranging and lighting candles, symbols to honour the seasons (leaves, pine cones, precious stones, wreaths, colourful material, plants), arranging mandalas, essential oils, Oracle card decks (my favourite featuring the sacred language and poetry of Rumi), creative materials, musical instruments including soothing Steel Tongue Drums, poems, books, affirmations, flowers, yoga mats, bolsters, blankets, heaters, herbal teas.
I felt a deeply positive and open response to the gathering from participants who came back week on week, each attuning to something within themselves and others, and the space to come as they are, however they are. Many were new to DYT and the space, some travelled from further afield and many were Bradfordians looking for a sanctuary in the city centre. Whatever our origins or journey to get to the space, the bonds we have created are now so precious. It was a heart-opening space. It has felt like a celebration of togetherness and I’ve delighted in welcoming new faces and energy into the space each week too.
There was no obligation to prepare, have attended previous sessions or indeed set intentions for each week, but some participants found it helpful to spend some quiet time in reflection before and after the session, to think about where they were on their spiritual journey and where they longed to be. I offered various prompts: What intentions you would like to bring to the space? What thoughts are distracting you from being present? What scares you the most about making changes? How can you slow down and stay connected to earth, body, sisterhood, community, solidarity? What are you called towards? Is there something ready to release in body-mind-soul? What does your spirit need today? What does your body need?
Embodiment and Alchemy
Going through the process together, I have accessed solidarity and togetherness in a deeply embodied way. Addressing, processing and healing the constant stress and trauma that people of marginalised identities are under is my life’s work. It is deeply personal, but also enhanced by being in community. Together, we created new rhythms and healing pathways for the body. Spaces to be ourselves and bring our rituals, our practices, our supports. Showing up as we are. Figuring things out as we went along. Not trying to immediately fix anything. Not having all the answers. Being generous with ourselves and bringing grace to the body. Stimming. Wholeness. Authenticity.
Collective ease and healing is a practice. It’s about identity, rootedness and different forms of liberation. Noticing our interconnectedness amongst greater entities and forces we cannot explain or imagine or control. To honour nature and Mother Earth. Noticing when the universe and our ancestors offer us incredible synchronicities to gently guide us. A line from a poem that instantly reflects our experience or helps us move through a stuckness within us. A meditation that guides us out of despair. A reminder in a gesture, hug or gentle touch that we are not alone. To honour our ancestors is a practice. Honouring our lands. To honour and feel the rootedness of indigenous and ancestral wisdom. Remembering the strength of storykeepers and the stories that came before us and those that are yet to come. Cultural recognition to our inner wise elder. Ageing together. Accessing our inner raging hag. Recognising intuition. Natural cycles and life giving power. Honouring traces of the menopause and life transitions. Guided by ancient rituals that can help heal and transform in community. Celtic traditions. Alchemy. Using ancient tools and remedies as guides to shine a light on our experiences in the moment, noticing our responses, letting them land.
Bringing our whole selves
During each session it was important to explore intersectionality and how we can support each other in polarizing and dividing times. What it means to straddle intersections of faith, identity, spirituality, science and art. Challenging our biases and the way we view the world. An openness to what we know, but crucially, what we don’t know. Learning how to soothe and harmonise our nervous systems throughout. Nurturing ourselves before and during moments of conflict or disagreement. Restorative retreat and renewal. How we can continue to come back to a connected whole, in a capitalist, extractive world that strives to separate us. Each session was a re-harmonising and a re-humanising process.
It’s been a very vulnerable process for me. It’s felt exposing at times, overwhelming at times, and at times, I feel like I’ve found my calling. This is all part of the journey. Ways to feel fully alive again after experiencing trauma. Creating spaces where we feel comfortable enough so we can really show each other who we are, where we are and what we are processing. The space and time to do this is a gift.
What lies ahead
I hope there will be more manifestations of spiritual practice and holistic wellness in Bradford. I have many visions of intersectional spaces I want to continue to create. Thank you to DYT for encouraging me on this journey and crucially providing the space! Allowing that to shift and change too, allowing ourselves and our practices to be fluid, evolving, alchemising, and giving ourselves grace.
The next phase for me is in reflection and thinking about how the space can evolve and continue to be open, accessible, welcoming and safe. I’m working with a decolonisation lens and exploring how to apply embodiment practices and trauma informed facilitation to support communities and creative practice across Bradford. I want to encourage us to lean into the experience of ancestral work and practice, learning about our lineages to begin to work on deep intergenerational healing. It’s important to me to provide a space where people feel safe enough to do this. To craft and carve out sacred time, tracing the support of generations, held by community. We needn’t do this work alone. We can choose. To decolonise our minds and understand and integrate non-western traditions in our healing journeys. Using different forms of restorative authentic expression. Inviting voice, movement and dance into healing. Inviting ceremony and ritual. Inviting shaking, wailing, raging. Inviting release. Inviting support. Inviting slowness. Rest and slowness is deeply anti-colonial as we move into darker months. At the same time, not to fear or deny the darker months, or the darker, hidden parts of ourselves or our ancestral histories. As Jen so beautifully put it: Just as nature cycles through light and dark, we too hold both within us – that’s what makes us whole.
Shared Experience and Connection
The Sacred Circle is a chance to explore personal creative and life cycles, with the encouragement to learn about our own internal rhythms and therapeutic expression without judgement. We are all on our own individual journeys, but many participants recognised how powerful and transformative it was to do this inner work together, in connection. The sessions were designed to support wellbeing and wellness, with an invitation to participate however is best for each person. There is no ‘correct’ way to do it or a ‘wellness industry standard’. It’s all an invitation, to get closer to ourselves and to each other. Some participants came and used the space to drop into deep rest, get cosy against a bolster, wrapped in a blanket. Some found connection in deep journaling and sharing creative means of expression. Many cultivated friendships. Some used the opportunity to sing, to harmonise, to shout, to move, to let go. This work is about meeting edges and is energy stirring. At the same time, we strive to create a culture that is loving, accepting and compassionate. I also follow DYT’s emerging way of working, a different and much needed focus away from urgency and grind culture, a holistic framework that invites creativity and wholeness, invites embodied connection, invites thinking outside of the box. A space outside structures, a space that honours body, spirit and community in creative practice. A space that does not extract, but is trauma-informed and works with the body, not against it.
One participant provided the following feedback:
“The circles have been incredible. The altar always looks so spectacular and magical. I thoroughly enjoy the variety of activities that we do, such as the guided meditation, taking in turns to talk and listen to one another and the restful movement. Thank you”
This work is so crucial to healing and connecting in challenging times.
Thank you to everyone who participated. Thank you for bringing your openness, generosity and trust.
Thank you to Displace Yourself for the space and holding me so gently and supportively.
Thank you to all my teachers and healers.
About the facilitators
Kirran Shah is a Creative Facilitator, Arts Producer, Broadcaster, Writer and DJ. She is a Clore Leadership – Emerging Leader alumni of 2022, and works closely with the Re-UP! Restorative Care Practice and Programme as Leadership Development for People of the Global Majority. A Cultural Strategy Consultant, she was Co-Chair of Bradford’s Cultural Voice Forum and an ambassador for Bradford City of Culture 2025.
She produces audio, podcasts and narrative-led documentaries about arts and culture, and arts and wellbeing, for BBC National Audio, local and community radio, arts organisations and charities. In 2019 she produced ‘Out Loud’, a BBC Radio 4 documentary exploring Bradford’s emerging spoken-word counter culture, people-powered leadership, fearless activists and the radical spaces where people were speaking their truth. She chairs, hosts and facilitates live events, panel discussions and broadcasts for diverse literature festivals across the country including Harrogate International Festivals.
She is passionate about social change through amplifying marginalised voices and creating new platforms for creative expression. She is driven by care and compassion, is advocacy focused and works closely with arts organisations, charities, NPO’s and Disabled People’s Organisations to raise wellbeing awareness, advocating for rights and accessibility, working to break down barriers and inequalities, and supporting people to build, express and live the creative life they want. She works closely with Displace Yourself Theatre with a holistic approach to understanding trauma, holding space, encouraging participatory experiences and facilitating creative workshops and gatherings for people who have experienced displacement. She is also trained in counselling and mental health first aid.
Kirran is a change-maker, creating bespoke experiences that are trauma informed and guided by ongoing research, art, drama and movement therapy, emotional release counselling, collaborations, community initiatives, environmental wellbeing and sustainability.
Jen Nevin is a therapeutic practitioner with over a decade of experience holding space in the UK and around the world. A qualified Yoga Teacher and Reiki Master with specialisms in Yin and Restorative Yoga. Whether through unique retreats, workshops or creative sessions, Jen’s offerings are guided by intuition, are trauma informed and full of care. Jen is also the Founder and Co- Director of arts and wellbeing charity Displace Yourself Theatre.