Founder invites black women and women of colour to day of breathwork, movement, sound, food and dance
“Black women and women of colour need to be able to speak their truth and experiences”
A founder invites the black women and women of colour across Northampton to a day of breathwork, movement, sound, drumming, dance, shared food and rest at the end of the month.
Nicola Griffiths is the founder of Breathfolk, a business centred on breathwork offering women the monthly opportunity to step away from the demands of everyday life and spend an evening in good company.
This event is called WomenKin and the first gathering was hosted at the end of last month, the same month that Nicola launched Breathfolk in the town.
Through two hours of guided breathwork, conversation and shared moments of rest, Nicola creates a space for women to connect with themselves and others.
Separate from this venture and launched earlier in the year, Nicola runs the Grown Ass Women Collective – which is an artist-led initiative creating spaces for black women and women of colour to gather, connect and experience collective care.
Nicola is currently preparing for the upcoming Collective Care Day on November 28 at Resonate Studio on Barrack Road, which is a day-long retreat bringing together breathwork, movement, sound, drumming, dance, shared food and rest.
“I realised how tired black women and women of colour are, and I know it myself,” Nicola told the Chronicle & Echo. “It isn’t tired in the way of not getting sleep, it’s what we’re holding and carrying. We may not be able to express ourselves and systemic inequalities take a toll.
“A space was required for black women and women of colour, held by a person of colour. The conversations that are able to take place are centred around their needs and everyone has a shared understanding.
“Black women and women of colour need to be able to speak their truth and experiences, and share it in a way that they’re not having to navigate racial differences and bias.”
Since March, Nicola has been hosting monthly sessions based around a topic. One of them included safety and how it feels to be in your body when the political landscape is changing. The women breathe together, chat over drinks and snacks, and it is invitational time for themselves.
Nicola continued: “The topic of safety needed more time so I decided we needed a whole day for women to come together. They will be given the care they deserve. They can just arrive and be taken care of, after they have taken care of everyone else.”
The collaborative event is taking place at Resonate Studio, which is the home of Mandala Moon Therapies by Ashleigh Louise. The studio supports holistic practitioners among the Northampton community, and Nicola is passionate about being one of them.
Looking to the future of the Grown Ass Women Collective, Nicola hopes to put on more Collective Care Days and for Northampton to become the hub as they expand beyond the town to spread the ethos further.
For more information on the Grown Ass Women Collective, visit the initiative’s website here.