A six-month journey in Circle holding
For women called to gather others and deepen the care, skill and responsibility with which they hold space.
Circle, embodied practice, ritual and the craft of being human together.
The journey at a glance
Register your interest in the next journey. Go to the form
The invitation
Perhaps you already hold a circle, a class, a group or a community space. Perhaps you are the person others turn to, at work, in your family or in your neighbourhood, and you want to bring more skill and steadiness to that.
What you have lived through can inform this work. It is not enough on its own. Holding others asks us to build skills, to recognise our limits and to stay accountable to the people in the room. DEVOTED is where you practise that, over time, alongside other women doing the same.
We live in a time shaped by isolation, division and speed, and many people have few places where they are listened to and welcomed as they are. Learning to create those places, with care and responsibility, is practical work. In DEVOTED you practise it: designing a gathering, making agreements, staying with what comes up, and reflecting on what you did.
Every space you will ever hold begins with the one inside you.
Who this is for
DEVOTED is for women who gather or support others, or who bring substantial relevant experience, and want to deepen their practice. You might be a facilitator, therapist, teacher or community builder, or someone whose leadership happens informally.
Experience can come through community and lived practice as well as formal training. You may not think of yourself as a facilitator. These skills travel into your relationships and leadership, but the central practice of DEVOTED is learning to gather and hold others.
DEVOTED is held as a space for women, including trans women, across different races, cultures, sexualities, ages, abilities and backgrounds.
What you will learn to practise
These are capacities we build through practice and reflection, not skills to be mastered. They keep developing after the six months end.
The six modules
Arrival, orientation, agreements, relationship, the context of Circle and the intentions we bring.
We arrive, slow down and meet one another beyond the surface. Together we build the agreements that will hold the group, and we look at where Circle comes from, in its many forms and traditions, and what it asks of us. Through reflection and embodied practice you begin to find your own relationship to ritual, presence and the sacred.
Body awareness, capacity, resourcing, consent, boundaries and staying connected to yourself while present with others.
You deepen your relationship with your own nervous system: recognising your edges, grounding and pacing yourself. We explore what capacity means and how consent lives in the body, yours and other people’s. We practise co-regulation, and look at the boundaries that let a group be honest without being overwhelmed.
Who feels welcome, whose voice is heard and how our social positions shape participation.
We look at who feels welcome in a circle, who may not, and why. We name racism, white supremacy, privilege and structural inequality explicitly, and examine how our own social positions shape the way we take part and the way we hold others. Self-location, humility and responsibility are part of the practice. We work with language, presence and relational awareness, and write your own commitment to equity in the way you gather.
Witnessing emotion, noticing group dynamics, recognising rescuing or avoidance, working with tension and understanding the limits of our role.
We explore what it means to stay present when emotion moves or something long unsaid surfaces. You practise witnessing without fixing or rescuing, noticing group dynamics and avoidance, working with tension and repairing ruptures, and understanding where your role ends.
Purpose, invitation, practical preparation, the arc of a Circle, ritual, balancing structure with emergence, and supported facilitation practice.
Your circle takes form. We look at the natural arc of a gathering (arrival, deepening, harvest and closing) and at balancing structure with what emerges. You design and lead a short ritual element with the support of the group, and receive feedback to refine your practice.
Reflection, feedback, collective closing, next steps and identifying where further learning or support is needed.
We gather what has been learned and name what is still unfolding. The group creates a closing ritual together, and you leave with a simple, grounded plan for your next step, including where you need further learning or support.
How we learn
DEVOTED is not a fast training or an information-heavy course. It is learned through relationship, practice and reflection, with space between sessions for the work to settle.
DEVOTED is a live, relational learning space, so attendance matters. Recordings and materials are shared where appropriate.
Meet your guides
Initiator and steward
Tanya Forgan is a circle facilitator, ritualist, somatic practitioner and teacher whose work is devoted to restoring community, reclaiming the wisdom of the body and remembering the sacred art of gathering.
DEVOTED is my work, and I teach it and steward it. I’m mixed-heritage, and belonging has been a lived question for me. That inquiry, together with my embodied practice and my attention to power, shapes how I teach: who feels welcome, whose voice is heard, and what each person needs to take part.
My work spans retreats, workshops, circles, grief rituals, seasonal ceremonies and community gatherings across the UK and beyond.
It is rooted in the philosophy of Ubuntu, “I am because we are”, and in the belief that we learn and heal in relationship, through being witnessed and held, and that this is often untidy, unhurried work.
During the journey we are joined by two Elders, ALisa Starkweather and Mama Lula Christopher, and by Blanca Leon, who supports vision, mission and values.
Elder catalyst
ALisa is an Elder and a catalyst whose work has inspired women to gather for decades. She founded the Red Tent Temple Movement and is a Shadow Work® and breathwork facilitator, speaker and ritualist. She joins DEVOTED as guest Elder and Guide.
She has devoted over four decades to women’s empowerment, collective healing and community work. She also founded Daughters of the Earth Gatherings, the Women’s Belly and Womb Conference and Priestess Path Women’s Mystery School, and co-founded the initiation Women in Power: Initiating Ourselves to the Predator Within.
She co-produced the award-winning film Things We Don’t Talk About: Women’s Stories from the Red Tent.
Elder ritual guide
Mama Lula is a healer, educator and social activist devoted to the health and wholeness of Black women and their communities, and a nationally recognised facilitator of Sister Circles. She joins DEVOTED as our Ritual Guide.
She believes women’s gifts as leaders and healers should be recognised, affirmed and nourished throughout life. She is an Initiated Elder in the Dagara tradition of Burkina Faso, West Africa, having completed a three-year apprenticeship and two years of study in Indigenous African Spirit Technology and African healing wisdom under Elder and Shaman Dr Malidoma Somé.
Anchor + Align guide
Blanca helps purpose-led women find language for what they know to be true, through her work Anchor + Align. She is an Embodied Lawyer and Creatrix, and joins DEVOTED as guest guide for a conversation about the values that underpin how you gather, hold and lead.
She supports women building businesses in service to meaningful change to articulate their vision, mission and values with clarity and integrity. She sees values as a lived practice, a compass that shapes our decisions, relationships and the spaces we create.
Together you will explore how you want people to feel, relate and belong in the spaces you create, and begin crafting values that reflect who you are.
Practical details and investment
Questions and access
DEVOTED is designed for women who are already gathering or supporting others, or who bring substantial relevant experience, and who want to deepen their practice. Experience can come through community and lived practice as well as formal training. If you are unsure, tell me about your experience when you register your interest.
DEVOTED is a training in Circle holding. It is not an accredited qualification, and it does not qualify anyone to practise therapy.
It confirms that you have completed the programme. It is not an accredited or regulated qualification.
No. DEVOTED is learning and practice for holding groups. Some of the work is personal, but it is not therapy and is not a substitute for it. If you have a therapist, you may want to talk through the programme with them.
DEVOTED is a live, relational learning space, so attendance matters. Recordings and materials are shared where appropriate, but refunds or credits are not available for missed sessions (see the participation terms). If this is a concern, please ask before you commit.
The two practice days in Berkshire are a central part of the journey, where you practise holding a circle in real time. Details for the next journey, including what happens if you cannot attend, will be confirmed with the dates.
People process and engage differently, and each person’s way of participating is welcome. You might prefer to move, be still, speak, listen, write or simply breathe and observe. Content is offered with care, consent and clear advisories. If you have access needs, please tell me when you register your interest so we can talk about what is possible.
Payment plans have been offered, and choosing one is a commitment to the full programme fee (see the participation terms). Bursary places have also been offered for women for whom the fee is a barrier. The arrangements for the next journey will be confirmed with the dates. To talk about a bursary, email tanya@tanyaforgan.com.
I will be in touch personally about the next steps. Registering your interest does not secure a place, and it is not an enrolment or a commitment to pay.
Register your interest
If you feel drawn to this journey, I would love to hear a little about you and the people or communities you hope to gather.
Register your interestThis opens an email to me. Registering your interest does not secure a place or commit you to anything.
Participation terms
These terms apply if you are offered and accept a place. Registering your interest does not mean you have accepted them.
When you join Devoted you are not simply signing up for a course. You are committing to a shared process of learning, practice, and transformation within a living circle. Devoted is a six-month Circle holding initiation. It is an intimate, carefully held container where a group of women journey together over time.
Because places are limited and the integrity of the group field is essential to the work, the following terms apply:
By enrolling in Devoted, you commit to the full six-month journey. Each place in Devoted is intentionally limited so that the circle remains intimate and supportive. Once the training begins, places cannot easily be filled by another participant. Your presence contributes to the depth, trust, and continuity of the group.
Payment plans are offered to support accessibility. However, choosing a payment plan is a commitment to the full programme fee, not simply the months attended. All payments must be completed regardless of attendance or early withdrawal.
A deposit is required to secure your place in Devoted. Deposits are non-refundable, as they reserve one of the limited places in the circle.
If you cancel your place more than 30 days before the programme start date, you may receive a refund of payments made minus the non-refundable deposit and a £150 administration fee. If you cancel within 30 days of the programme start date, payments are non-refundable as preparation for the cohort will already be underway.
Once Devoted has begun, refunds are not available. If you choose to leave the programme early, the remaining balance of the programme fee is still payable. This policy exists because each place in Devoted is held with intention and cannot be replaced once the circle has formed.
In cases of serious illness or unforeseen life circumstances, participants are encouraged to contact Tanya directly. Where possible, compassionate solutions may be explored, such as transferring participation to a future cohort.
You are encouraged to prioritise attendance so the group field can develop over time. Devoted is designed as a live relational learning space. While recordings and materials are shared where appropriate, refunds or credits are not available for missed sessions.
By enrolling in Devoted you acknowledge that you have read and agree to these Commitment and Participation Terms.
Restoring the art of being human, together.