When Yo’Lauder Holt needed connection during a pivotal moment in her life, she found it in a women’s circle.

As she became her mother’s caregiver toward the end of her life, Holt wasn’t able to go out and be with other people, but she still craved connection. It finally came through Sacred Women’s Circle in the Rockies at Unity Spiritual Center in the Rockies.

“It was a blessing,” Holt said. “It was a real outlet for me, through Zoom, to say my feelings and what I was going through. A lot of other women took care of their parent or siblings, so they could relate. They were always asking how I was doing and what they could do.”

Finding an empathic group of women to spill your guts to isn’t a new thing. Since time immemorial, ladies have gathered to share stories, provide a listening ear, empathize and advise. Our female ancestors gathered to share food sources, cook meals, honor gods and goddesses, and sit in the sacred spaces of red tents and moon lodges, particularly during menstruation. And that natural inclination to gather hasn’t left us, despite our whirlwind lives that leave us all catching our breath by day’s end.

Nowadays women gather in the form of coffee klatches, book clubs, happy hours, walking groups and, more officially, organized women’s circles. Connie Greisz, a certified holistic empowerment coach, started her Women’s Empowerment Community Circle 18 months ago. Greisz caps her meetings at 10, a number she feels allows everyone to be heard, and asks for a $25 suggested donation. They meet the last Sundays of the month at The Next Us downtown co-working space.

“It’s a place where women can connect and feel supported, heard and seen,” said Greisz, founder of Room to Bloom Empowerment and Inspirational Coaching. “I focus on leaving women feeling empowered and strong within themselves. I do whatever I can to help people feel better about themselves and get unstuck and create lives they want.”

Greisz’s circles begin with grounding, meditation and breathwork to unite the group, then proceed into a topic du jour, such as living with an open heart. Greisz speaks about each month’s topic, then poses open-ended questions to the group. A talking stick is passed around and each woman who holds the stick gets the chance to speak uninterrupted for five to seven minutes about whatever she wants. There’s no cross talk and nobody responds to what each person says. It’s just a chance to be heard.

“Most people don’t get the space to open up and be that raw,” Greisz said. “As they hear other women talk about their experiences, people are more free in their expression. Most people come to their own aha moment when they’re talking. You‘re working through stuff and being witnessed in transformation.”

To close the circle, Greisz gives attendees some sort of resource or tool to take home, such as worksheets, journal prompts or life balance exercises.

Chaya Vituk started a women’s circle in 2017 at Chabad of Colorado Springs Jewish Community, a center that provides educational and spiritual opportunities, including Torah classes and lectures and Shabbat dinners. For Vituk, it was about tapping into the way women learn from each other.

“According to Judaism, women have a special elevated role,” said Vituk, co-director of the center. “Women are considered to be the more refined of the two genders. How God created the world, there are four levels of creation. And in the very last, God created Eve from the rib of Adam. Being the last creation she was also the most important one. There is benefit for women to learn from women.”

Her circle meets based on the Jewish calendar and around the new moon every month. Every month in Judaism has a theme, according to the Kabbalah, and the circles are themed around that energy and how the women can find inspiration in it and apply it to their everyday lives. Circles also include a hands-on activity, such as macramé, making tambourines or aromatherapy bracelets, whatever fits in with the month’s theme.

The two-and-a-half-hour circle attracts up to 25 women of all ages every month and is also open to non-Jewish women. A donation of $20 is suggested to cover refreshments and materials.

“l get so much inspiration from other women from different walks of life and different backgrounds,” Vituk said. “As we learn and dive into the inner dimensions, we take a moment for everyone to reflect. It’s inspiring how every woman takes it into her own life and interprets it and draws lessons from it.”

The women’s circle at Unity Spiritual Center is so popular leaders are trying to add a second event every month. Right now the group meets the fourth Saturdays monthly for different activities, including celebrating the new moon, watching movies, walking labyrinths, hiking and entertaining different speakers. Sometimes the meeting is done in a circle format, with each member speaking whatever’s on her mind.

“Women need to talk about things and be together,” said Holt, co-founder of Sacred Women’s Circle in the Rockies. She’s also Unity’s office administrator. “Most of us are going through similar situations. And with Unity being a spiritual-based center, there’s a connection of prayer and meditation. We try to have a positive outlook and do positive things.”

Contact the writer: 636-0270