A gentle antidote to loneliness

Natalie Woodfull starts her mornings on Ocean Grove Main Beach, where she and other facilitators guide up to 100 people through gentle movement and mindfulness to help combat loneliness. The sessions run every Wednesday and Sunday at sunrise.

It’s a vehicle for her true goal: fundamentally shifting the narrative around loneliness and providing the community with a space where they can show up, exactly as they are, and find the connections they seek.

“I would really love to be able to leave the legacy and hang my hat on the fact that we have had an instrumental impact on ending loneliness.

“We’ve all been that isolated one in a room. Whether you’ve got children, whether you’ve turned up and you’re not feeling part of the clique. Been there – we all have.”

Each month, the CONNECT Initiative also hosts what it calls “Iconic” events, held at beautiful locations across the region. Think wineries, yoga in the vines, followed by pizza and a glass of wine.

Woodfull launched the CONNECT Initiative three years ago, a natural next step in her own journey toward wellness, after 10 years of working remotely from home left her feeling disconnected and socially isolated. It’s an experience, she soon realised, shared by many.

“I wasn’t necessarily alone — having the children, having the husband, having the family around — but feeling very lonely, not being able to speak my truth, be an authentic version of myself and that isolation and that environment created this version of me that I wasn’t proud to be.

“There are people that are in full-time employment and they’re out of the house every day — they’re surrounded by work colleagues — and yet they still feel lonely.”

Each session begins with a facilitated connection activity that encourages participants to introduce themselves to someone new and find a common thread of connection.

The stigma surrounding loneliness is one she is all too familiar with. But recognising those feelings, she believes, is the key to turning it around.

“When you’re feeling that way, some of the time, you really don’t want to get out. But on the flip side of that, the best thing you can actually do is get out and meet people and socialise.

“It changes how you feel. It changes the energy, it changes your experience for that point in time, and then that has a ripple effect on how you then feel for the rest of the day, or how you sleep that night.”

To illustrate this impact, she points to one of CONNECT’s regular attendees, a woman who lost her husband 17 years ago, who, after finding a new circle of friends no longer has to search for reasons to get out of the house.

Two others, primary school friends who hadn’t seen each other in 25 years, embraced the unexpected chance to connect again. Many others have found solace in shared challenges, or a welcome supporting hand.

Every event features “connection cards”, which give attendees the chance to write messages of motivation to someone they don’t know. Everyone receives a card and is encouraged to “pay it forward”, popping it in a mailbox, or under a windscreen wiper where it can be found by the next person.

“I got this beautiful email, it would be maybe two months ago now, from someone who had never attended an event, but was walking into Lake Imagery in Drysdale and saw, on the brown brick windowsill, this little card.

“She picked up the card and, on the back, it said ‘Keep going. You’ve got this’, and she needed to hear that message, at that moment in time.”

Everyone who receives a “connection card” is encouraged to “pay it forward” by popping it in a mailbox, or under a windscreen wiper, where it can be found by the next person.

It’s a small gesture, but one that ensures the “thread of connection” expands well beyond CONNECT itself.

In October, CONNECT will launch another location for its weekly events, this time along Geelong’s Waterfront, with Barwon Edge to supply the post-mindfulness coffees.

But, Woodfull has even bigger plans.

“I would love to see CONNECT in every local municipality leveraging local facilitators, bringing in alternative wellness facilities and practitioners from their local region.

“I think there’s a lot of modalities, there’s a lot of alternate wellness, that you don’t know about unless you go and experience it, and this is a soft, gentle way to experience that and see who you resonate with.”

Recognising that not everyone may feel she is the person to guide them on their healing journey, Woodfull says she sees CONNECT as an opportunity to help others find a practitioner they feel is the best fit for them.

“That is where the integrity lies; that is where that reach, and that expansion hopefully comes from. It’s much bigger than just me.”

This integrity carries through to CONNECT’s flexible ticketing system, which allows attendees to “pay what aligns” to ensure finances never become a barrier to wellness, and a soon-to-launch ambassador program that will pair newcomers with a “buddy” to help anyone feeling nervous about coming along.

“I have been in that position. I know what that feels like and how daunting it can be,” Woodfull said.

“But then I know what it feels like when you’re in it, and I know what it feels like when you finish that hour and you’re sitting down, having a coffee, and you’re so grateful you took that step.

“The community’s got you. I’ve got you. Please come because I promise you won’t regret it.”

For more, head to theconnectinitiative.com