Why women-only wellness circles are essential today

As women juggle work, anxiety, loss, and isolation, these circles enable connection and collective healing

- Debarati Chakraborty

It was the beginning of 2022 when my husband dropped a “we need to relocate, again” bomb on me. While everyone seemed excited, I quietly panicked. I didn’t know a single person in the entire state of Goa. So, here I was, suddenly without any support system and craving for the company of loving women. I began looking for a community where I could belong, but since the ones I found felt performative, I decided to create one, not just for others, but for my own sanity. That’s how Urjaa, my Goa-based holistic wellness startup, was born.

What I was seeking is something many women silently crave, especially those living away from loved ones, juggling work, health issues and anxiety: a space where they can remove their masks and stopperforming the roles they've been taught to play. As Prachi Saxena, clinical psychologist, certified trauma therapist and relationship and dating coach from Lucknow, puts it, “women have been conditioned over centuries to live for others”. She explains that we live in a society that celebrates “masculine qualities like mindless ambition, conquest, aggression”, while rarely allowing women “to lean into their softness, where they can discover their real power”.

Now, after two years of curating holistic circles and impacting the lives of at least a thousand women, I realize that sisterhood is no longer optional for the modern woman; it’s vital infrastructure. Here are four reasons why I feel every woman needs a healing and joyful community.