The woods as wisdom: A poetic autoethnography of a nature-based women’s circle

Interdisciplinary research has consistently demonstrated that contact with nature supports wellbeing, yet this evidence is largely grounded in quantitative, exposure-based frameworks that position nature as an intervention. Less attention has been paid to the lived, subjective, and potentially transformative dimensions of human-nature encounters. At the same time, circle-based practices, particularly women’s circles, have been shown to foster relational connection, reflection, and personal growth across therapeutic, educational, and community contexts. This paper brings these strands together through an autoethnographic account of a nature-based women’s circle attended over several years. Drawing on embodied reflection and poetic inquiry, the study explores how encounters with nature are mediated and consolidated within a communal setting, and how these experiences give rise to connection, transformation, and meaning, positioning nature as unassuming educator. In doing so, it responds to calls for more qualitative and experiential approaches within nature-wellbeing research and contributes a transpersonal perspective that foregrounds relational, embodied, and meaning-making dimensions of human-nature engagement. The findings suggest that communal practices in natural settings can support deeper connections with self, others, and the more-than-human world. However, access to such spaces remains uneven, shaped by broader structural inequities. The paper highlights the value of transpersonal and creative methodologies for understanding human flourishing and rethinking human-nature relationships beyond instrumental models.