You're courageous enough to try new things. You meet beautiful beings & generate some momentum in workshops or community spaces. You swap numbers, join the chat group, intend to stay connected to your shared experiences… but the space isn't held in the ways you need, and it feels really hard to sustain connection once you all return to your everyday lives.
You want to feel more connected to ritual & ancestors & to be able to notice your body’s wisdom, but life feels too full to give proper attention to it.
You sense that other ways of being are possible - feeling more spaciousness, more held, less jolted around, more clear about your role in the wider collective body - but that feels a little out of reach right now.
You get quiet, get overwhelmed by tech, life gets too busy. Someone needs your care. Something heartbreaking or terrifying happens in the news. You lose momentum. You start wondering if what you felt in the workshop was even real.
You end up feeling isolated and stuck, which goes against everything you want to be interrupting around individualism.
You know we need each other.
You know we're not meant to do this alone.
You'll be part of a seed pod of 4 participants, plus me, dia, as facilitator. Small enough that you'll get to know each other and receive one-to-one guidance from me, and big enough for a wealth of wisdom to come through the collective body.
It's a place to practice resting into belonging. Not as an individual way to disconnect you from the complexities of our world, but to deepen your sense of purpose as an interconnected being, help you discern where to flow your precious life force, and to practice different ways of being in relationship.
Show up tired, show up honest, show up not yet trusting, show up not ready. Everything is welcome.
After our in-person gathering, you get to plant into the collective soil, and become part of a bigger heart-led community of people exploring the same questions you are.
and connect more deeply with intention, without feeling drained. There's space here for unknowns and beyonds, for nuance and complexity, for unseen allies and the more-than-human.
We'll get right into it.
with people who are able to name the systems we live within, that centers the alchemy of marginalised experiences, and doesn’t require you to shapeshift or codeswitch or spiritually bypass to be here.
No frameworks to remember, no theory to learn. Just being guided to bring your presence to this moment with loving curiosity, noticing what's here, and meeting each other with care.
in a way that feels queer, expansive and in integrity, instead of appropriating from cultures that aren’t yours.
After your in-person seed pod gathering, you'll receive a one-month free membership into Tend, to grow friendship within a wider community of big-hearted people from across the world who are also returning to embodiment & ritual.
For as long as you're in Tend, you'll also have access to weekly one-to-one support directly from me, to support you to integrate what's emerging for you.
I'll welcome you with openness.
I know how hard it can be to find places where we feel safe enough to rest, safe enough to play, safe enough to bring our whole selves. Those relationships are precious. They deserve to be nurtured on their own timeline, with intention, at the pace they need.
I've put structure in place so that you don’t have to say goodbye forever at the end of the afternoon.
A regular rhythm of weekly & monthly anchors & rituals, somatic practice & social gatherings, that you can drop into as you'd like.
Expect in-person nourishment, guided somatic sensing, discussion, rest, shared ritual & intuitive creative expression. I'll guide you through:
Outdoors at Leith Links, we’ll explore how it is to receive holding from the earth & how to be in close relationship with more-than-human allies
Indoors at the studio, you’ll be invited to stay connected to that sense of rest, and encouraged to be however you need to be – cosy on the sofa / legs up against the wall / moving around / sitting on the floor, or all of the above. There is space for each of us to be as we are
I’ll teach you simple somatic practices that help you notice physical sensations, sensory experiences, images / visuals, thoughts, emotions & energetic awareness, so that you can attune to the wisdom of your body in different situations
Within group process, you'll also receive one-to-one attention & guidance as needed
We’ll open and close with rituals that tend to the collective soil of our time together & our wider roles, so we each feel connected within the seed pod
I’ll share my slow-grow relationship with the plant hibiscus. We’ll play with the sensory experience of making hibiscus tea, and I’ll invite you to explore significant plant allies in your own lineage
We’ll craft an altar and tend to it together, so you can follow your intuition and trust the ways you make meaning & offerings
Alongside discussion & dialogue, you can follow your intuitive creativity and express your insights, ideas & offerings as gesture, writing, mark-making, movement, sound, or any other way it wants to be shared.
There will be materials on hand to support this.
This is a body-based offering. You’ll be guided to connect with your somatic & sensory awareness. It’s important to name that it's not group therapy, and wouldn't be suitable as a substitute for therapy. It's likely not the right space for you if you just want to talk or problem-solve through thinking, or are looking for a framework or step-by-step guide.
You don’t need to have any experience in somatic spaces, just some curiosity & compassion towards physical sensations & feeling within your body, and a willingness to play with new somatic shapes.
that feel easy to integrate straight away into your everyday life
to bring more presence, intention & closeness to your relationships & daily rhythms
about where you’d like to offer your energy, and where you're located within a deep-time lineage
alongside a clear rhythm & structured vessels for how to stay in connection. Simple and accessible.
Dappled Light includes a month free membership within Tend.
A queer, alive, responsive place of shared rhythm, ritual & practice.
If you're finding it supportive, after your free month, you can stay on with a paid membership.
Here's the flow:
Within the Tend group chat, you'll be invited into the ritual of Call & Response every Friday.
I'll offer a prompt relating to somatics or ritual, and open up dialogue between you all.
You can share your response in the group at any time over the coming week. Respond intuitively, with movement / words / sound / artwork... however it wants to come through you that week
I keep every Monday for the Tend community's questions... about somatics, ritual & relationship-tending.
DM me directly by voice note or text to send me your question and I'll respond on Monday with ideas & resources.
Once a month, we meet for 2 hours on Zoom.
This is a time for witnessing, celebration & embodied practice. Expect a little teaching, shared ritual, guided somatic practice, music, intuitive movement & occasional guest teachers
If you can't make it live, you'll receive the recording.
Every 3 months, I host an informal & unfussy in-person social gathering for the Tend community. We'll share food & snacks, rest & play together.
A chance to be with each other's energy beyond the screen, and nurture the connections we've been forming online.
Potlucks take place in Edinburgh.
Signal for the group chat & weekly Call & Response prompts.
You can choose between Signal or Whats App for direct messaging me with questions for Open Door.
Zoom for the live calls.
Podia for video recordings.
Occasional emails.
"dia's approach is person centred, direct, practical and full of care. They allow you to show up as who you are in the moment with not only zero judgement, but with deep acceptance of who you are and what you are bringing. I am letting myself fall back into life more, softening into the challenges and feeling out that which I have avoided before."
“This is a beautiful, affirming way to experience politicised somatic practice that feels nurturing and expansive. dia honours consent and holds space for intersecting identities safely and joyfully."
"My life has totally transformed in the last 8 months. dia creates a space of pure possibility.
In a society that tells you what to want and what to value, dia’s openness and honouring of uniqueness, difference and personal truth is a much needed light."
"I now have tools to break away from difficult cyclical behaviour...
I can pause, stand my ground and not be as affected."
lived experience + professional skill + heaps of warmth
Ten years ago, the idea of sitting at an altar twice a day, of being able to attune to the subtle cues of my body, of feeling like myself within group settings, of not having to do small talk in friendships, of having a depth of relationship my spirit longed for, of feeling like I had any spaciousness in my day… felt so far beyond possibility that it feels almost painful to recall.
As a mixed-heritage Black person, as someone with a significant trauma history, as a parent-carer, as a queer person, as someone not neurotypical… it felt impossible to find communities and groups where I felt safe enough to name the nuances of my experiences in the world, let alone to bring my body into the room.
Through holding clients one-to-one, facilitating hundreds of group spaces, and being a member of different communities in my own life, I understand how challenging it can be, even with the best intentions, to sustain relationships when there is so much calling for our attention in the world. As people who care deeply, who feel the impact in our bodies, who are navigating systems of oppression & climate breakdown that impact our souls.
I’m not a fan of the word “consistency”. But I love the word integrity. Queering. Reciprocity. Return.
Somatic practice has helped me return to wonder, to trust intuitive creativity, to be in connection with ancestors even though there are so many unknowns in my lineage, and so many landscapes I can’t visit in person. Many of the external conditions are the same as ten years ago, some feel even more challenging. But there’s been a shift in how I’m able to be in the world. These days, I feel connected to the poetry of being alive, and I live like that.
As an experienced space holder & qualified somatic practitioner, I get to invite others into this way of being – connected to purpose, still wobbly at times, always learning… but rooted into the earth, feeling the support of allies at our backs, extending into connection with others, and letting ourselves be awed.
In my own life, my relationships & somatic community memberships keep me connected to a vision for collective healing. Being in conversation with the plant beings & trees in my neighbourhood. Attending the daily generative somatics practice space. Spending time close to water. Cultivating cultures of honest communication & queer intimacy with friends. Monthly gatherings with peers. Sitting at my altar as bookends to my day. Recognising musicians as ancestors who are here for me. Letting my body move when it wants to.
I love bringing my skills to create deep-slow-grow vessels that can hold you and us long-term, so we feel kept company in our transformations. When we support & celebrate each other, more becomes possible. Within Tend, I love to witness friendships grow, cultures of connection emerge, the ways we can queer relationship and build new worlds together. I love creating rituals of return that you can drop into again and again.
Before, During & After the gathering
The in-person event takes place on Saturday 12th September, from 2pm - 5pm, in Leith, Edinburgh.
When you book, you'll receive:
a hello email in your inbox from me
I'll invite you into a Signal group for your seed pod. I’ll facilitate introductions there, so when you arrive on the day there’s some shared ground already
2pm - Welcome & opening outdoors on Leith Links – we’ll share snacks, rest into the earth, set intentions together. You'll receive the exact meeting point location upon booking.
2.40pm - we’ll move together to the indoor studio, ten minutes away in Giles Street. We'll move at a pace that meets the needs of everyone in the group.
There, we’ll make tea, craft an altar and settle in together until 5pm
Throughout the day, we’ll explore guided somatic practices, and be in group conversation. You’ll be invited to express through writing, intuitive movement, mark-making, and altar tending, and any other creative expression. We’ll trust the flow of the group, and I’ll support any group or individual processes that emerge
We’ll explore which rituals of connection you’d like to co-create as a seed pod beyond this session
We’ll close with shared ritual & everything in place for you to stay in connection & dialogue in a meaningful way
As a seed pod, the four of you will agree how you’d like to stay in Connection. You’ll have your private Signal chat, and you can use it how you’d like!
Alongside that, you’ll receive 1 month free Tend membership. I'll invite you to the Signal group for the Tend community, and to the Podia portal where you can access recordings from live sessions
All the components you need to feel accompanied!
Your questions answered
No.
You don’t need to have any experience in somatic spaces, just some curiosity & compassion towards physical sensations & feeling within your body, and a willingness to play with new somatic shapes.
I'll adjust the practices to meet everyone where they are.
Everything is an invitation, without expectation.
My approach is centered around invitations for you to check in with your capacity and make choices based on what you sense you need.
Through professional learning and lived experience, I understand the need to respect and celebrate our body's edges and limits when being in this tender and expansive exploration of feeling. I honour & name the incredible wisdom of our survival shapes, and how our bodies have adapted to keep us alive.
This is not about pushing or getting to a specific place, just noticing. I call it becoming more fluent in the poetry of our bodies.
We move slowly, paying attention to the signals your bodymind is giving you - slowing down, changing route, pausing and stopping as needed.
I also offer different ways for you to process & integrate whatever's emerging, knowing that speaking isn't always what's needed.
If something comes up for you in the gathering that requires one-to-one tending, I'll support you with that.
Absolutely.
You can take breaks as you need and move as needed. There may be moments when you want to do something different to the rest of the group. This is welcome.
Within the studio, there are different communal breakout spaces outside the main room. You are welcome to use these if you need a break.
I'll also model rest to the group, pausing as needed.
You can find the access details for the Giles Street studio here.
If you have any accessibility questions before booking, please send me a message.
I'd love you to, yes. The paid membership is £36/month, and includes everything you receive in your free month.
Membership is paid for monthly, with no minimum commitment and can be canceled at any time.
No. Because this is a small seed pod and we'll be growing relationship ahead of the gathering, I don't offer refunds after booking.
Please double check the gathering date before booking your place and take some time to buy with intention.
If you're unwell on the day and unable to attend, we'll use the group wisdom to find ways to include you in the day so you still feel part of it.
Send me a message!
“I’m feeling like my body and I are friends, like the relationship between us is much friendlier now.
I’m more able to hear what my body is saying."
"dia holds space with intention, gentleness, sweetness, and lack of judgement— and I felt so safe in their care. The workshop left me and others feeling grounded and connected to our ancestors and our queer joy."
“I’ve never been in a space quite like this before.
Something has shifted.”