There is a woman beneath the one you show the world.

She is not your job title, your role, your reputation. She isn’t even what may best ‘please’ the world. She is the deeper centre beneath all of it, shaped and strengthened by everything you’ve lived.

We call this your heartwood.

A tree’s heartwood isn’t grown fresh each year. It forms slowly at the core as the tree grows. It holds the history of the tree, settled into its centre.

Your heartwood forms through the seasons of your life. At your centre is your own unique soul essence, something that has always been there. Around it, life unfolds, each experience shaping, strengthening and refining you.

Heartwood is an invitation to live from this place. To make decisions based on what you actually want, rather than what you think you should want. To say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. To recognise which roles, habits and expectations still belong to you, and which you’ve simply outgrown.

From this place, you can move through life with less force and more flow. More open, more present and more magnetic to the people, opportunities and experiences that are truly aligned with you.

This is Heartwood.

An 8-week course to reconnect with the embodied wisdom, strength and truth that have been forming within you all along.

How will this benefit me?

Heartwood is for you if you’re ready to understand what’s changing within you and begin living from a deeper sense of who you are.

You’ll recognise more of what no longer fits. Identify the roles, habits, beliefs and expectations you’ve outgrown, and begin to let go of what no longer belongs in this season of your life.

You’ll turn experience into wisdom. Explore what your life has taught you, including the difficult seasons, and uncover the strength, insight and resources you carry because of them.

You’ll make choices from a deeper place. Get clearer on what you actually want and become more confident saying yes to what feels right and no to what doesn’t.

You’ll create more space for flow. Release some of the force and striving, becoming more open to pleasure, connection, possibility and the people and opportunities that feel aligned.

You’ll not be alone doing this. Be witnessed and supported by a small circle of women moving through their own seasons of change.

The Practicalities 

Weekly 2-hour live session
Sundays, 5pm–7pm*, our core space for exploring, sharing and doing the work together.

Weekly 30-minute practice
A pre-recorded embodiment, dance or storytelling practice to deepen the work and keep it moving between sessions.

A small, intimate group
Limited to 12 women, creating space for connection, trust and meaningful participation.

A WhatsApp group
For check-ins, reflection and staying connected between sessions.

*  If Sundays don’t work for you but you feel called to join, get in touch. We may be able to explore an alternative time depending on demand.

The Approach

Heartwood draws on the wisdom of the natural world, mythology and storytelling, authentic relating, embodiment and somatic practice. The course is influenced by the work of Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Martha Beck, Deb Dana, Kasia Urbaniak, and True Nature founders Gaia Harvey-Jackson and Alana Bloom.

We welcome all women, trans women and non-binary AFAB who feel the call to come home to themselves and to do so in the company of others rather than alone.

Our belief is that coming home to ourselves is not just personal work. When we become more rooted in our own truth, needs and boundaries, we begin to change the systems and power structures that have taught us to abandon them. 

What starts within us ripples outward into our relationships, our communities and, ultimately, the world we create together.

Who Heartwood may not be for

Heartwood may not be for you if you’re looking for a quick fix, a step-by-step formula or someone else to tell you what to do. This is a space for exploration, reflection and discovering what feels true for you.

It may not be for you if you’re looking for a space focused solely on personal development without considering the wider world around us. We’ll explore how our lives are shaped by the culture and systems we live within, and how personal transformation can become part of wider social change.

It may also not be for you if you’re looking for a space where everyone thinks the same way. Heartwood is about honest exploration rather than agreement. You don’t need to arrive with the same beliefs, experiences or answers as everyone else, just a willingness to be curious, listen and participate.

Heartwood isn’t about becoming a better version of yourself. It’s about becoming more fully yourself.

Your Facilitators 

 Maya Bahoshy  is an experiential facilitator, coach and educator, with over 15 years of experience in the non-profit, social impact and education sectors. She draws on participatory and experiential learning design, as well as her knowledge in behaviour change, psychology and ritual, to create and facilitate spaces for learning, collaboration and development.  In particular, she has a focus and passion for the inner development needed to support a thriving world. Her work includes designing and delivering online and in-person programmes such as ThoughtBox’s Education and Leadership programmes, Empower Women's Facilitator training, and leading the London IDG Hub. At the heart of her work is a focus on inner and outer regeneration through community. She is also launching Stand Tall Together, a wayfinding journey and community for all those looking to stand strong in their values, hopes, and efforts for a more thriving future. 

Experiences/Qualifications: 

• Qualified MOE Foundation Coach
• Foundations in integrated and transpersonal psychotherapy
• 10 years of experience designing and delivering learning and transformational journeys
• Grounded in systems thinking, embodied and experiential learning approaches
   

Faye Sylvia is an advocate of women's empowerment and a mother of three. Over two decades, she has worked with various charities focusing on domestic violence, survivors of modern slavery and female homelessness. In 2022, she spent 40 days wild camping on Dartmoor to explore what it means to embrace her inner wild woman and is now writing a book about the experience. Currently, Faye works with True Nature as the Communication and Community Manager, supporting retreats and leading online gatherings for women. Through True Nature, Faye continues to inspire and empower women, guiding them to reclaim their strength, freedom, and inner wildness.

Experiences/Qualifications: 

• Degree in Community Work with over 20 years working within social change and supporting people in vulnerable situations
• Trained with Clarissa Pinkola Estes
• Qualified MOE Foundation Coach and currently training as a Psychotherapist with The Human Givens Institute
• Leads The Women's Fire, a community of women  that intentionally connect with each other, nature and their inner worlds.

ABOUT TRUE NATURE: A platform for feminine and ecological empowerment, True Nature guides women to rediscover their wild authenticity and deepen their connection with the Earth. Through transformative retreats, events, trainings and membership, they blend soulful ritual, embodiment practices, authentic relating and nature immersion to inspire growth, healing, and community. Rooted in a vision of co-creating cultures of wholeness, one women at a time, True Nature nurtures a movement of women embracing their power and living in relationship with the more-than-human world. Learn more by visiting our website and by following us on Instagram

REFUNDS POLICY: Please note, we do not arrange refunds or exchanges. When possible we encourage reselling on Ticketswap.

ACCESS: We do our best to include everyone in our events, regardless of health circumstances. If you have access requirements please email the event organiser directly to discuss. Many facilitators are able to offer reduced ticket prices for those truly unable to afford the ticket price. If this applies to you, do please get in touch with the event organiser.