Heart Space Girls Circles

Empowering Girls To Love Their Bodies, Speak Their Truth, & Know Themselves!

I am a Girls Mentor, having trained with Journey of Young Women, and plan to offer circle-based mentorship and rites of passage for girls in future here in Austin, Texas. Reach out if you’re interested:

Circling is transformative, empowering, and life-changing for girls.

Journey of Young Women

Guiding Principles

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Circle Outcomes

In our circle work together each girl will learn to:

Love, honor and understand her body and her natural cycles;

Claim her self-worth and take charge of her own wellbeing;

Navigate all her emotions effectively and know that her feelings matter;

Trust herself and rely on her inner wisdom and intuition;

Cultivate a kind and compassionate heart towards herself and others;

Speak her truth and share her voice with comfort, power and confidence;

Connect with her values, strengths, passions and vision for her unique future;

Access her inner wellspring of calmness, clarity and awareness whenever she needs it.

In our circle work together each girl will cultivate the qualities of:

Assertiveness | Confidence | Awareness | Compassion

Emotional Intelligence | Resiliency | Authenticity | Wisdom

Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough.

Brene Brown

Circle Topics

Physical, Emotional, Social & Spiritual Wellbeing

The core of Journey of Young Women‘s Mentoring Girls Training is to guide mentors on how to help girls thrive by teaching them to take charge of their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual wellbeing.

Cosmic Education is education concerned with the whole person and their overall wellbeing, not just their academic wellbeing. “At its core, Cosmic Education tells the story of the interconnectedness of all things. It describes the role of education as comprehensive, holistic and purposeful; to encompass the development of the whole person within the context of the universe.” – Montessori Academy

Each of our circles will address aspects of physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing. In particular, we will cover some or all of the following topics throughout our series of circles together, with some topics varying according to age group:

And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.

Mark Anthony

Format & Structure

Our Girls Circle will consist of a series of 8 circles held over a 2-month period. A circle will be held every week, with each circle lasting 3 hours. The optimum number of girls in our circle is 8, but we can run the circle with 7 – 10 girls. The circles will be a balance between structure and free style; listening and expressing; stillness and movement; inward contemplation and outward creativity. The following is a description of some of the key elements of each circle.

Emotional Safety

The circle is a safe space for the girls to share their thoughts, feelings, and what matters to them without judgement. It provides a kind, supportive and encouraging environment in which each girl feels free to truly be herself, however that shows up. In our Heart Space Girls Circle we look for each other’s gifts, celebrate each other, and accept one another as we are.

Sacred Space

We sit in a circle surrounding our beautiful sacred altar space. In the middle of our altar is a crystal singing bowl attuned to the frequency of our heart chakra (or energy center). Our singing bowl will set the tone for our circle time together – calling us all into our own heart spaces. Our altar honors the sacred elements and all the natural cycles in our lives. Offerings from the Earth, Water, Fire and Air elements are laid out to represent the wheel of the year (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall), the cycle of the moon (New Moon, Waxing Moon, Full Moon, Waning Moon), and the rhythm of life (Death, Birth, Maturity, Old Age). Encircling our altar are “Ask the Light” Miracle Cards, offering beautiful messages of inspiration and guidance.

Our altar offers us a sacred and inspiring space to gather around and be ourselves. A place that the girls know is special and created just for them. It creates a powerful container for our work together, and offers many interwoven layers of teachings and guidance for our lives.

Talking Circle

The talking circle is an important part of our time together. Following the Native American tradition of the talking stick, each girl has a chance to share, as we move clockwise around the circle. Our talking stick will be the singing bowl mallet – encouraging the girls to speak clear and true from their heart. When holding the talking stick, it is a time for the girl to look within and share what matters to her, while everyone else gives her their full undivided attention. There are no interruptions or talking over and back allowed during this time. No advice or fixing. And nothing leaves the circle without permission. It’s a time for sharing and being heard deeply.

Discussion

After our talking circle, we have a time of open discussion and shared exploration. We may elaborate on some themes that were brought up during our talking circle, and/or discuss topics that are specific for our week’s circle theme (see the section above on “Circle Topics”).

Activities

After a short break and some snacks where the girls can move around and chat among themselves, we rejoin our sacred circle space for some activities. This part of our circle is about living out some of the themes that we just discussed in our talking circle – putting into action what we just discussed together. Depending on our week’s topic, we may: get in touch with our bodies with some yoga or dance; explore and express our emotions with art; practice our self-compassion or assertiveness with role plays; get creative with some crafts; play some intuition games etc.

Take Home Task

Before we close our circle, the girls will be given a task to carry out before we meet again the following week. These tasks may include: creating her own sacred space at home where she can connect with herself and her own heart space; visual and/or written journaling; practicing self-care; paying attention to her intuition; putting her new self-compassion or assertiveness skills into action etc. Parents will also be notified of the take home task via email after each circle, as well as given an overview of the topics covered in our circle that week.

Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery, Teach me how to trust my heart, my mind, my intuition, my inner knowing, the senses of my body, the blessings of my spirit. Teach me to trust these things so that I may enter my Sacred Space and love beyond my fear, and thus Walk in Balance with the passing of each glorious Sun.

Lakota Prayer

Tools & Techniques

I draw on a wide range of tools and techniques to use in our circles, sourced from my own personal experience and official trainings, as well as from multi-cultural wisdom teachings from around the world. It’s important that a parent or guardian feel fully informed and clear on what I am sharing with their daughters, and I am very open and willing to answer any questions that you may have. In an effort to offer as much clarity and information as possible, I’ve included some further explanation into the tools and techniques I use and resources that will be instrumental in our mentorship.

Meditation

I’m a big proponent of meditation, and am very grateful for the many gifts it has given me in my life. Living in Nepal and India for a year in 2009 (visit my Book page to learn more), I practiced Tibetan Buddhist meditation in monasteries and meditation centers, and completed a course in Vipassana meditation. I am also influenced by the very practical and pragmatic presence teachings of Eckhart Tolle, and completed his School of Awakening course in 2019. Through meditation we gain access to our own inner wellspring of calm, clarity and authority. I’m passionate about sharing the inner freedoms it provides with everyone, especially girls. Our meditations will be short and practical in their focus (i.e. without any religious or philosophical teaching), with the aim of bringing our full attention to the present moment, instead of being carried away by the chatter of the mind. We’ll focus on our breath and on our inner body to anchor us in the now and bring us to a state a calm alertness.

Heart Coherence

Having a background in science (see more in my About page), I’m excited when science and spirituality merge. The scientists at the HeartMath Institute in California have been studying heart-brain communication and its relationship to managing stress, increasing coherence and deepening our connection to self and others. By practicing a simple technique they call Heart Coherence Breathing, we can achieve a state of inner balance, mental clarity and emotional stability. We will use this technique throughout our circles together, and will be part of the girls’ resiliency toolkit as they go out into the world.

Self-Compassion

Dr. Kristin Neff is a world-renowned expert in self-compassion and an academic here in Austin, TX. I had the good fortune to co-organize and attend one of her self-compassion workshops in 2019 (see more in my About page). Research indicates that self-compassion is healthier than self-esteem, offering all its benefits (less depression, greater happiness etc.) without its downsides (source: Why self-compassion is healthier than self-esteem). Developing self-compassion is a key skill for everyone, especially young girls. It’s about becoming mindful of the negative things we say to ourselves, and replacing it with kindness. Essentially it’s about cultivating a more friendly and supportive inner world for ourselves, so we can live more confidently and easily in the outer world.

Self-compassion has been an important tool in my own personal journey (read my blog post The Life-Changing Gift of Self-Compassion). It has greatly effected my life for the better, and I retake Dr. Neff’s self-compassion test every year to keep me on track with my own self-compassion practice. I invite you to do the same: Test How Self-Compassionate You Are! Self-compassion will be an ongoing theme discussed and demonstrated throughout our 8 weeks together. The girls will take the self-compassion test during one of our first circles and then retake the test on our last week, to calibrate their progress towards a kinder, happier more confident and compassionate self.

Assertiveness

Similar to the self-compassion test, the girls will also take an Assertiveness Survey to determine how assertive they are, and identify opportunities for growth. Our circles together will reference and demonstrate assertive behaviors, and we’ll retake the survey after a few weeks and see how they are mastering assertiveness in their lives.

Yoga & Dance

Yoga is a wonderful way to move our body, shift our energy, and optimize our wellbeing. I studied and practiced hatha yoga for 5 months in Nepal in 2009, and base my own ongoing yoga practice on that guidance. I’m open to doing more of it if the girls really resonate with it. Otherwise it will feature occasionally.

Dancing is a fun, playful and powerful way to get us in tune with our body, our femininity and our joy. I love going to ecstatic dance here in Austin, and did tribal bellydance and bollywood dance classes while living in Ireland too (and yes I learned Irish dance as well, of course!). During my work with the girls I want to particularly encourage intuitive dance and personal expression through body movement. We can also explore global music and cultural dance.

Ask the Light Miracle Cards

The “Ask the Light” Miracle Cards are a deck of beautiful underwater light images paired with a word of guidance or inspiration. All the images in this deck were taken by my husband, Brian Leonard, while underwater looking up at the sun in Barton Springs here in Austin, Texas. You can see these cards encircling our sacred space in the images above. These cards are simple yet powerful tools to deepen conversations and add focus and guidance to our sharings. Healers and wellness practitioners use these cards with their clients here in Austin and elsewhere, and they’ve been shared with hundreds if not thousands of people around the world as giveaway messages of the moment!

Journaling

To help the girls continue to process their thoughts, emotions and circumstances, I invite them to journal. If they’re not attracted to writing, they can visual journal – using art to communicate what’s real for them in the moment. I started to write a diary when I was 9 or 10, and it still remains one of my main techniques to understand my own inner world and bring me to a new level of purpose and understanding. Each girl will be gifted a beautiful journal at the start of our mentorship work together.

Wouldn’t our world be profoundly different if girls were empowered, guided, and celebrated as they transition into womanhood?

DeAnna L’am

Logistics

Length & Duration: 8 circles held over 2 months (so meeting every week), lasting about 3 hours per circle.

Day & Time: The day (potentially a Saturday) and start time (morning, afternoon or evening) of our circles are yet to be decided. These details are open for discussion with the parents and guardians.

Circle Size: The ideal circle size is 8 girls, but we can run our circle with 7 – 10 girls.

Age Range: The ideal age group are girls between 9 – 14 years old. However, it’s important that all the girls in each circle are closely grouped by age (within about a year of each other).

Cost: The cost is estimated at $88 per girl per circle, with a mandatory commitment from each girl to attend all 8 circles. This totals $704. This cost includes facilitation and all materials. The girls provide their own snack food. Self-select partial scholarships up to 15% off.

Paying It Forward: It is my intention that every paid girls circle I run in the West is matched by a circle I can offer to girls in the East for free, at a later stage. So essentially, when you pay for your girl’s circle, you are also gifting that same 8-week empowerment experience for another girl in Nepal or India! See the About Me section below for more details.

Location: TreeGarden, East Austin or elsewhere

Start Date: TBA

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About Me

Even though I do not have children of my own, I know that I am meant to work with girls and have felt this calling for a long time. As girls, we grow up with a lot of harmful societal programming. Whether hidden or overt, girls are constantly been told that we should be seen and not heard. That our job is to please others and muffle our own feelings. That what matters most is that we look pretty and are “good girls”. Social media only adds to these negative messages been sent to young girls today. So what truly beautiful and important work it is to instill in girls from an early age that their voice is important. That their feelings matter. That they are beautiful no matter what they look like. That they are powerful beyond measure. And that they are loved without conditions.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson 

To share a little bit about my professional background, I have a degree in Earth Science from University College Cork (UCC) and a masters in Sustainable Development from the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). I received first class honors in both my BSc and MSc, and was awarded the honor of “College Scholar” two years in a row. I started my professional life as a postgraduate researcher in the Futures Academy, DIT and then moved back to Cork to work for The Cleaner Production Promotion Unit, UCC, as an environmental researcher, consultant and trainer.

When I was 29 I traveled East to seek truth and find deeper meaning in my life. I lived in Nepal and India for a year and practiced meditation and yoga, learned Reiki and Pranic healing, and worked in the Mother Teresa homes for children and for the dying. I’m currently writing a book about my 2009 truth-seeking journey, so visit my Book page if you’d like to learn more!

While living in Nepal in 2009, I set up a Girls English Conversation Club in a village outside Kathmandu. Initially, I was friends with two girls from this village in rural Nepal. When I’d be visiting them I’d notice how their girlfriends wanted to chat with me and practice their English, but were either too shy to approach me or were beaten to the post by the local boys! So I decided to create a space just for these girls, where we could meet every week for an hour and chat, get to know each other, talk about what mattered to us, and play some games – all while practicing their conversational English and building their confidence and trust in themselves.

Every Saturday a group of us meet at our local youth centre in Bungamati, Lalitpur for our ‘English Conversation Club’. This club was started by our friendly sister Brenda, who is from Ireland. Altogether we are 15 girls and we are all good friends now. This club was organized only for girls. Boys are not allowed! In this club, we do different things like playing games, talking about ourselves, our families, our hobbies etc. Our ‘English Conversation Club’ is very helpful for us. It helps us to learn, to have fun, and to improve our English. In my view, this type of club should be open in every village.

Prabha Khadgi – Nepal, 2009

I agree with my wise Nepali sister Prabha. It would be wonderful to have a Girls Circle in every village! My ideal is to match every paid Girls Circle I hold in the West (whether in Austin or Ireland) with a free circle I can offer girls in the East (mainly Nepal and India). In essence, the payment for your girl attending my 8-week Heart Space Girls Circle, also gifts another girl that same privilege in Nepal or India.

I moved here to Austin, Texas at the end of 2011 to be with my husband Brian. We had met in a Buddhist meditation center in the Himalayas two years earlier, during my solo travels. With a vision of working for myself, helping people directly in person, and engaging my organizational skills, I started my own professional organizing business and worked for various clients in their homes and home offices. In 2016 that work transitioned to becoming operations and sustainability manager for a new eco-friendly wedding venue and wellness retreat in the Texas Hill Country.

While living in the States the last 12 years, I’ve gathered in many sacred circles including women’s shamanic wisdom circles, Reiki circles, meditative circles of intention etc. Inspired by these experiences and feeling the call of the divine feminine rising in our world, I completed a women’s circle facilitator training course with Moon Mná (“Mná” is Irish for women), and started facilitating Women’s Circles here in Austin, Texas and online, in 2021. I’ve also been facilitating women’s circle-based Rites of Passage events since 2022.

I have been trying to find the words of the experience of being in circle, and the word that keeps coming to mind is simply “magical.” Of course, now that I’ve written that, there is a flood of other words: empowering, connected, free, comforting, beautiful… It was truly wonderful, and I am so grateful to you for all that you have invested in your own spiritual path and expansion to be able to hold such a welcoming and transformative space for others. Thank you

Heather – Austin, 2023

To read more visit my About page.

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About Mentorship

Journey of Young Women trains, supports, and connects a global community of mentors who guide girls on their transformative journey to womanhood. “A mentored Girls’ Circle is powerful and empowering for the girls, their families and the mentors. And it’s essential that we re-member the art of mentoring girls. No matter how awesome her mother and father are, girls need the guidance and listening ear of caring, wise women outside her immediate family.” – Katharine Krueger, Journey of Young Women

As girls navigate adolescence, they face the challenge of moving through physical, psychological, sexual, and emotional development with a healthy sense of self intact. A mentor at this stage in a girl’s life can have a broad impact on her successfully navigating the years to adulthood … The mentor has the opportunity and privilege of offering feedback, teaching, affirmation, support, and guidance … Other benefits of mentoring include improved self-confidence, leadership, and communication skills.

Girls Empowerment Network
The Importance of Mentors for Girls and Young Women

Further Reading & Helpful Resources

For Parents, Mentors & Girls

4 Seasons in 4 Weeks: Decoding the 28-Day Female Body Clock for Health, Business, & Love, Suzanne Mathis McQueen (Tobacco Road Press, 2012)

Beautiful: Being an Empowered Young Woman, Naomi Katz (ibooks, 2016)

Beautiful Girl: Celebrating the Wonders of Your Body, Christiane Northrup, M.D. with Kristina Tracy (Hay House Inc., 2020)

Becoming Peers: Mentoring Girls into Womanhood, DeAnna L’am (Red Moon Publishing, 2007)

Cycle Savvy: The Smart Teen’s Guide to the Mysteries of Her Body, Toni Weschler (William Morrow Paperbacks, 2006)

Menarche A Journey into Womanhood: A mums and girls guide to celebrating her first period, Rachael Hertogs (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013)

Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Understanding the Crucial Link Between Mothers, Daughters, and Health, Christiane Northrup, M.D. (Penguin Random House, 2006)

The Goddess in You, Patricia Lemos & Ana Afonso (Womancraft Publishing, 2017)

The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook: A Proven Way to Accept Yourself, Build Inner Strength, and Thrive, Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer (The Guilford Press, 2018)

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Girls Empowerment Network: Help Girls Become Unstoppable – https://www.girlsempowermentnetwork.org/

Journey of Young Women: A Coming of Age Community – https://www.journeyofyoungwomen.org/

Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens – https://centerformsc.org/msc-teens-adults/

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A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and only herself.

Maya Angelou