Photography- Daisy Arnold

I am very delighted that The Red Tent Norfolk has been asked to be part of the First Edition of a Women's only paper in the Eastern Daily Press (EDP)

I feel very privileged to be supporting women to find meaningful connections and create a community of women so we can all draw strength from each other in a healthy way. 

To read more click here

Claire Cartwright

“Regular drumming connects, harmonises and synchronizes us to the greater symphony if life”.
 
The power of the drum relaxes the tense, energizes the tired, and heals the emotionally wounded.
 
Home educating husband and wife duo from Norfolk are promoting the many amazing benefits of drum, by holding drum circles, natural rhythm sessions, and drum making workshops throughout East Anglia.  Last year they traveled as far as North Wales to promote drumming where they held workshops for Forest School Association’s National Conference.
 
“Drumming is a universal language free from words and concepts.  It provides a platform for ones self expression in a place without fear of judgment thus breaking down social barriers. Drumming encourages empathy, resilience, emotional intelligence, deep listening, patience, acceptance, and self respect.  It deepens connection to self, others and the world around you.  It instills a sense of calm providing a platform to freely express oneself and promotes unity and harmony.  It provides a safe place to be heard and listened to, a place to find your ‘unique’ voice and rhythm.”
 
 
 In previous years they have personally witnessed the transformative effect of drum within their family life.  They have used drum ‘medicine’ for all kinds of reasons including pain relief during labour, teething, weaning, earth blessings, unions, deep healing, meditation, stress, anxiety, shifting old behavior patterns and healing trauma.  They feel that the drum has infinite potential for bringing positive change within our everyday lives.
 
Over the last year they have carried out research, to find evidence that supports the benefits of the frame drum and the many benefits of regular drumming in circle.  Recent research found that drumming can be equally as effective as anti-depressant medication and psychotherapies. Research by the Royal College of Music has found that drumming has a positive impact on mental health, with a 10-week programme of group drumming reducing depression by as much as 38% and anxiety by 20%.
 
“Until now the frame drum has been largely forgotten although it was the first instrument ever made.  It is like no other drum.  It resonates throughout the entire body, promoting healing and well being to all who play it”.

This wonderful meditation is lovingly gifted for the Sacred Sisterhood Community. 
​Enjoy. x

Connecting with your winter energy

Hypnosis is a fantastic mediation tool which you can use to connect with, listen to and learn from your body.

In this busy, modern world, it’s easy to live from the neck up, paying attention to you body only when something goes wrong. Many of us have lost the art of listening to our bodies, or, more accurately, interpreting their message. Rarely, for example, is a headache a sign that of a nurofen deficiency.

Take a moment to really enter your body. You can begin to do this by focussing on your breath. Bring your attention to the small dent above your lip and below your nostrils, just noticing any sensations there as your breath enters and leaves your body.

Be curious about the journey of your breath. See how far you can trace your breath as it saturates your body, just as water, poured into a vessel, will find every crevice.

Like the tide coming in…and out.

Feel relaxation washing over you with the tide of your breath.

Notice the relaxation on the very top of your head, spreading from your scalp to your forehead-your eyebrows-your eyelids-heavy and relaxed.

Feel the relaxation spreading NOW through the features on your face, your eyes, nose, your cheeks, mouth, the back of your head, your chin-calming, soothing oxygen, filling your body like an incoming tide fills the rockpools.

​Allow your upper back to relax fully, dropping your shoulder blades like knives sliding through butter.

Relax your chest and upper back.

Relax your stomach and lower back.

Relaxation now eases into your hips and pelvis, your upper legs, your knees, flowing into your lower legs, your ankles and over your feet. Easing any remaining tension out through the tips of your toes.

Scan your body for any areas of lingering tension and breathe into them as though you were blowing up a balloon, notice how the tension eases the way the latex of the balloon smooths as it inflates.

And I want you to know, that, as you are most definitely alive, at least 85% of your body is working well for you and yet, we are far more likely to focus on any ailments or parts of our bodies that displease us.

It is important to know that our bodies are constantly striving for balance and health, though our lifestyle choices can limit the resources available.

Take a few moments to think about all the ways your body has served you recently:

You might experience this process as a series of images/ as feelings/ perhaps through symbols/ maybe words or just an awareness.

Maybe it allowed you to see a beautiful sight, perhaps you grew a human, recovered from an illness or regenerated through a good nights sleep.

As these thoughts cascade through your mind, you might notice emotions attached to them: appreciation, humour, joy, maybe frustration, anger…

Allow/ don’t judge

Maybe your body enabled you to hear a beautiful sound, feel a wonderful sensation, enjoy a delicious meal. Has it healed a wound, trembled with orgasm or kept working despite being exhausted?

NOW I want you to focus on one thing that your body has done that you can be truly grateful for. Bring up that image/ feeling/ symbol/ those words, that awareness. Amplify them. Turn up the colour/ volume/ brightness/ sound/ sensations associated with this gratitude. What do you feel, where? See? Hear? Smell? Taste?

Allow a message of gratitude to form in your mind. A phrase, an affirmation/ a mantra that you can repeat. Address your body in your mind. Flood it with this sense of gratitude.

We women are cyclical in our nature. Hormones ebb and flow in our bodies from puberty to menopause, causing powerful shifts in our energy, our focus, our needs and our skills.

Like a tree experiences the four seasons of the year, we experience four seasons every cycle. Often a health issue in a woman’s body can be eased by addressing a neglected season. And, after menopause, it is as though the training wheels come off allowing us to access all the seasons and trusting us to find the balance in our own lives.

Picture yourself now as a tree in winter. Your roots spread deep into the earth, grounding, securing, nourishing you. Your bare branches outstretched, but, like the tree, you have withdrawn into yourself, from the outside, there is little sign of life, your energy is drawn inward, you are passive, intuitive, creative. This is a time of renewal, of rest and regeneration. A time for you to retreat from the world in any way you can. You bear no fruit or foliage and, instead spread your roots deeper and wider. Letting go of responsibility (as far as possible), letting go of any negativity that has built up over the month. Forgiveness. A time for taking nourishment from the earth,


Take a moment to reflect on how you meet this need in your own life, at menstruation or at other times. Is there an allowance for your need to let go of anything that no longer serves you and to regenerate? 

Kerry, from Wombservice is a Hypnotherapist and NLP Master Practitioner specialising in mind/body techniques for fertility, pregnancy, birth and menopause.
www.wombservice.co.uk
​

​I've been attending Red Tent for a little over a year now so it feels like the right time to reflect on what is "Red Tent". This time last year I was struggling with the thought of returning to work after a year on maternity leave. I'd left my job full of excitement about my impending arrival and full of ideas about what I thought motherhood would be like. I was putting on hold that career driven, hardworking, fiercely ambitious side of me that had risen up and up in her job, through nothing but my own dedication. I was ruthless in achieving my goals and was absolutely determined to prove that I, a young woman, could rise high in any career I set my mind to. Anyway, a few weeks after packing away my desk, my daughter arrived! But so did a completely new version of me, the mother. That determination that had been previously thrust into my career was immediately directed at ensuring that this wonderful, yet tiny, human being had the very best I could possibly give her. My views and opinions changed about so many things. Sleep, previously a favourite pastime, was now a willing sacrifice to provide my daughter with food and comfort through the night. My independence was no longer necessary in a world where I needed to fight for hers. I felt empathy with every parent in the world and cried for every baby who I felt was suffering. This new person no longer cared one bit about whether a masters degree would be good enough to get to where she wanted to go. Or whether that high up person felt she was performing to her best. All of that could fuck off as far I was now concerned. But this left me stuck. In a kind of limbo as I was leading up to my return to work. How was this new me going to fit into this life that old me had created? How was I going to fit this softer, calmer and gentler version of me into a fast paced life? In the midst of this mental turmoil, I read an article about how women were gathering across the world in "Red Tents". It explained that the idea had sprung from Anita Diamant's book "The Red Tent" and women were coming together to support each other and embrace their femininity. Anyway a quick Facebook search later and I have joined the Red Tent Norfolk group and had the date of the next gathering in my calendar. I was nervous on the night of my first Red Tent. With no idea what to expect, I had asked on a Facebook group if other people had been and what it was like. I got thirty plus different answers. Not particularly helpful in calming my nerves. Anyway I showed up with a packet of chocolate biscuits and my favourite socks and was welcomed like a friend into a room full of strangers. That evening we sang, played instruments, listened to storytelling, drank tea and feasted. However the most memorable part for me was during counsel sharing. We were asked as a collective to say what we needed from the space. I knew exactly what I needed. "I need a space to be me. To sit without guilt or pressure. I need to not be needed. And I need to cry." And I did. No one asked me to be anyone. No one stopped me crying. No asked me to make dinner or put the kettle on. No one hugged me. But I was thanked. I was thanked for sharing with the group and for being honest with myself. I was buzzing as I drove home that night. I vowed to go back the next month and I did. I cried again that time too, and the time after that. But as I did I felt that I was being truer to myself. I wasn't trying to be the career-driven woman nor was I trying to be the perfect mother. I didn't have to be a good wife, a good friend or anything at all. I just showed up, did what I wanted, took what I needed, offered what I was able and left. As the year has gone on I have attended as many Red Tent evenings as possible. Each evening I have met new people, watched the seasons change, celebrated, reflected and been heard, but my experience is just that, it is mine! What I take from each session is personal and unique therefore describing it to someone would not do it justice. It needs to be experienced to be understood. However I can say with absolute certainty that my Red Tent is a space for me to acknowledge a whole me, where I lay myself bare and vulnerable, and in turn feel empowered.
Article by Charlotte Jessop
For more articles by Charolotte follow her @The Free From Mummy