I’ve always considered myself a natural kind of girl.  So when one of my bestest friends, Kinsie, mentioned she was going to be barefoot dancing in the mountains of North Carolina, I jumped on the bandwagon.  We participated in the Wild Woman Sisterhood’s Wild Feminine retreat.  The Wild Woman Sisterhood focuses on reconnecting with Mother Earth and getting in touch with the inner wild feminine inside.  They began in the Netherlands as a response to the conflict so many females find with other females.  I’ll admit it.  I’ve said it before: “Oh, I just don’t connect with other girls.”  But after high school, I had the opportunity to travel the state of California for a girl’s service organization with a group of amazing young women. And I connected with them. For the last 15 years, I’ve shared many unforgettable experiences with these three ladies.

We recently celebrated 15 years of friendship with matching tattoos.

The Wild Feminine retreat wasn’t what I expected.  It was so much more.  Three whole days of self-introspection.  Three days of group therapy.  Three days of getting in touch with emotions I stifle and brush aside in order to get through my daily routines. Three days of dancing and meditating and singing.  It was exhausting.  And like any detox, the hardest part is entering back into the real world.

 The whole time I was there, I felt light, that weightlessness that comes with emotional release.  It rained the first night we were there and living in California, this was glorious.  I felt connected with nature.  I felt strong and powerful in my femininity, dancing in flowy skirts with scarves and anklets made of bells will do that to you.  I felt quiet and still.  Reality is a culture shock.  And I’m still adjusting, slowly incorporating all the things I learned into the chaos so that there’s balance.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the chaos.  But the quiet is nice too.