If something resonates, sparks a question, or inspires you to share your own story, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to send me an email at colleen@colleengracekelly.com

A ‘Sacred Feminine Immersion’

This was the name of a two-week retreat I impulsively, yet serendipitously, signed up for when I was 25. I was backpacking through Southeast Asia, and Bali was my last stop. I saw the retreat listed online and thought it sounded unlike anything I’d ever experienced—but also like something some deep part of me ached for.

To say those two weeks changed my life is an understatement. It was a whole new world of honoring our feminine bodies and essence. Each day was filled with intuitive movement and dance, nourishing and devotional touch, profound sisterhood, and learning to slow down and listen to my body—discovering she had so much to say. It was a space where our wide range of emotions wasn’t just welcomed but encouraged. Here, we weren’t “too much” or “not enough.” Here, we were remembering the sacredness at our core.

It was all brand new, yet somehow so familiar. It was as if the hidden knowledge I carried in my bones, my DNA, and my soul—came rushing back to the surface.

A Homecoming

For the next few years, I continued to study with Sofia Sundari, the teacher from that retreat, attending and assisting at additional trainings in the feminine healing arts. I also immersed myself in the work of Michaela Boehm, Tami Lynn Kent, and Kimberly Ann Johnson, alongside countless workshops and courses on the feminine body, pelvic floor health, and feminine archetypes.

I learned to love and honor my body in the most beautiful ways. I began looking at my body with kinder eyes and saw beauty where I once saw judgment. I discovered agency and sovereignty—realizing my body wasn’t an object for the male gaze; it was mine. I came to see the beauty and power in all women’s bodies, appreciating their miraculous, creative, and sacred design. I learned about my cycle and my unique feminine anatomy. I realized my body is not a burden, my cycle was not a curse — but a blessing.

Through my trauma-informed studies, I learned that fear didn’t need to live in the root of my being. I could cultivate safety in my body. I began to unwind and soften years of chronic tension and bracing—the result of living a frantic pace of life, living from the neck up, disconnected from nature, my cycles, and my rhythms, pushing my body past her limits, combined with the ever-present background fear I felt being a woman.

I regained my home. I found my sanctuary.

The Paths Home

BREATH AS A PORTAL
Breathwork became a transformative tool, unlocking emotions and creativity I didn’t realize were trapped inside me. Through intentional breath, I released grief, anger, and fear—making space for joy and inspiration to flow freely. My breath reconnected me to the Divine presence within me in a way I never felt before

FREEDOM FROM MOVEMENT

Movement shifted from performative and goal oriented to a liberating expression.  Intuitive movement classes, ecstatic dances, and Kundalini yoga became powerful allies, connecting me to my aliveness and grounding me in my body.

THE MEDICINE OF MY VOICE
Through vocal work, toning, and singing in sisterhood circles, I discovered the healing vibration of my voice—the strength to speak up for myself and the joy of expressing my truth.

Deeper in We Go…

Another pivotal step was a year-long training in Sex, Love & Relationship Coaching with Layla Martin. It was a year of profound unlearning and remembering.

My heart cracked open with compassion that year - for myself and my journey and for all the women in my program who I was practicing with, learning how to hold them, their stories with care & reverence.

It was a year of self-discovery like I never knew before. Layla’s method is deeply inspired by the Internal Family System (IFS) model - so the entire course revolved around tending to the inner landscape - learning to hold all parts of the self - thoughts, emotions, sensations with curiosity and kindness.

In that tenderness with myself, I experienced deep transformation in every layer of my being—my body, my inner world, my sexuality, and my relationships.

A Sanctuary of Women

At the heart of my journey lies sisterhood—a deep wellspring of wisdom and connection. Since my first women’s circle in 2014, I’ve attended and led countless women's gatherings around the world. Through women’s retreats, women’s programs and courses, creating new friendships and nurturing friendships that span decades, I’ve been blessed to be held in this web of belonging and remembering every step of the way.  I am grateful to continuously find myself in a sanctuary of women, holding one another through the seasons of life, offering our unique medicine of experience, resonance, and so much laughter. I am continuously reminded of the magic that happens women gather, the value of true sisterhood.

Navigating Life’s Tender Terrains

Life moves in rhythm. Everything we love, everything we touch, moves through seasons. We are asked again and again to cross thresholds and enter new territories—sometimes with excitement and readiness, sometimes with hesitation or fear, and sometimes through the heartbreak of loss.

There are so many ways we meet these crossings: launching a project or business, writing a book, sharing our creations with the world, tending to relationships—their beginnings, middles, and endings. We cross thresholds of marriage, motherhood, menopause, moving homes, even moving countries. Life keeps moving; nothing lasts forever. And yet, there is beauty in every season, even when it’s hard to see.

We are not meant to traverse these tender terrains alone. Some of my most profound healing has come when I allowed others in—when I accepted the hand reaching out, when I let myself be witnessed.

I’ve learned that the courage to be seen is both the greatest growing edge and the greatest blessing.

This is at the heart of my work: creating spaces to exhale, to set down the weight, and to be held—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—without judgment. Where witnessing each other becomes medicine, and belonging becomes a practice.

Catholic Upbringing: Leave the Church, Take the Christ

I grew up Catholic, cradled by rituals yet restless within the Church's rigidity. From a young age, I felt a deep connection to the Divine—God, Christ, Mother Mary, the angels, and saints. My prayers felt like conversations with a best friend, my heart holding this tender belief in a spiritual team guiding and loving me.

Yet, I struggled with the institution itself, it didn’t match the warmth of my inner faith. The hierarchy felt stale, the Masses dry.  Still, the seed of faith planted in my childhood grew—rooted not in rules but in love, safety, and belonging. I know how rare that is — too many carry wounds from religion, burdened by shame and fear. It’s heartbreaking. My hope has always been to hold space for healing, to help others rebuild faith on the unshakable ground of love.

My journey hasn’t been linear. I’ve stumbled, doubted, been misled by fear, and wandered—especially when life didn’t go as I’d hoped. I’ve wrestled with the age-old questions: How can God allow all the suffering and evils of the world? Why do prayers often feel unanswered? And if we are so loved, why does God feel so far away at times? But no matter how far I strayed, I always found my way back—welcomed home by the unrelenting grace of Divine love, humbled and amazed.

Eastern + ‘New Age’ Spirituality

In my twenties, I sought wisdom in a variety of spiritual practices, feeling particularly drawn to those that made the Spirit feel alive in my body: meditation, yoga, kundalini, breathwork. These practices awakened something deep within, making the more Divine tangible.

Living in Bali—a hub of spiritual exploration—expanded this journey, introducing me to profound healing but also unveiled the shadow sides of modern spirituality: ego, manipulation, spiritual consumerism, and performative practices that felt hollow.

Faith in the Chaos

Then came Covid—a season of chaos that exposed the cracks in my faith. Like so much else, it felt shaky. I craved more than belief; I needed to feel God present, with me in this season, alive within me…

I turned to the embodied practices—breathwork, kundalini yoga, meditation, chanting—and tailored them to my Christian roots. They became my bridgd back to the Divine, restoring my faith, and deepening my relationship with God in ways I will always cherish.

A ‘New’ Christianity: Mystical, Feminine, Celtic, Ancient

During this time, I also began studying a Christianity that felt alive:
I dove into the contemplative and transformational works of Cynthia Bourgeault and Richard Rohr and wept with the deeply moving revelations of the longing mystics—Julian of Norwich and St. Teresa of Avila. My heart melted open with the wisdom gospels of Mary Magdalene, Thomas, and Philip. I delighted in the poetry and beauty of Celtic Christian teachings from John Philip Newell and John O’Donohue. Jan Richardson’s blessings inspired me to see creativity as a sacred task, and infused wonder into my days. And Christy Bauman helped me meet the feminine face of God that is woven into my female body in Theology of the Womb.

This path honors the sacredness of all creation, recognizes the wisdom of inner transformation that Jesus taught, and has a deep longing for oneness with God underpinning the journey. This path feels passionate, rich, inspiring, poetic, kind.  It feels familiar,  a remembrance of innate wisdom that lies deep within, while also an evocative invitation into the greatest love story, a deep dive into the mystery of the heart of the Divine

Walk With Me...

My faith is a deep well I draw from daily, grounding me and guiding me through life’s ever-changing seasons. My mission is simple: to walk this path with curiosity, share the treasures I find, and extend my hand to anyone who’d like to journey with me.

I don’t claim to have all the answers. I’m not a preacher or theologian, but a fellow seeker—an Anam Cara, a soul friend. Whether you consider yourself a follower of Christ or a non-denominational seeker, you are welcome here. My hope is to help others experience God within themselves, to know their body as a sacred vessel of devotion, and to walk through life grounded in Divine Love that will not let you go.