the magic and science of women’s circles

We have disconnected from our ancestral ways of gathering and bonding with other women and our health and happiness are suffering because of it. Some sort of magical healing happens when women come together and stand in their power. But there is science behind the magic too.

When asked why she thinks high cortisol levels resulting from the fight or flight response negatively affect the brains of women more than men, Dr. Sara Gottfried refers to what was happening while our DNA was evolving on the Savanna:

Because of our evolutionary societal roles, women spent their days amongst other women. Back then, tend and befriend was the reaction our bodies were most likely to use in response to threat because it worked much better to gather in a protective community of women than to fight off the threat. This suggests we have not evolved as well to effectively process cortisol in our bodies. As women, we need to look at how we can rise above all the stressors that trigger fight or flight and spike our cortisol levels in modern life.

It would seem that we’ve been designed to deal with stress by connecting with our female friends, but how many of us actually know or take the time to do this?

A few years ago when dealing with a particularly stressful situation at work, my mentor suggested that I try out attending women’s circles to support my mental health - something I’d never heard of before. Once I discovered this seemingly secret world of women’s events it became easier to find more gatherings, activities, and retreats. But, like me, other women I met at these events said they’d struggled to find them in the first place and wanted to know how to find more.

I’m a service designer by trade and problem solver by nature so I knew I had to create something that promotes awareness of women’s gatherings and makes them more accessible and easy to find. On my own journey, I have met so many wise and passionate women who host events, facilitate gatherings, and mentor other women to come into their power. Their knowledge deserves to be spread and shared with as many women as possible – something I hope this platform can do for them too. There are not enough spaces for women to just be themselves without societal pressure and expectation. Women deserve to have safe spaces to gather. I’m creating Coventina so we can find them.