Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Halter Bardin & Sian Lloyd.
Hi Claire Halter Bardin & Sian Lloyd, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The seeds of Sun&Moon were planted when Sian, my business partner and best friend, and I met at a women’s cacao ceremony and dance in Berlin in September 2022. The connection we formed there was quick and deep, and it served as inspiration for our own work with women. A few months after meeting, we talked about our dreams of hosting women’s circles and retreats, and I insisted that we host our own women’s circle in my apartment.
Our first circle in January 2023 was intimate. We learned through a few mistakes, but the consensus from the women who attended was that we created a safe space where they felt comfortable to be themselves. That was all we needed to keep going. We started hosting one circle a month, each with a different theme that we felt resonated with us and hoped would also resonate with other women. We made them our own, incorporating Sian’s yoga practice and my somatic movement practice, as well Sian’s mindfulness expertise and my facilitation skills that came from 10 years of teaching High School English.
We hosted our circles until I left Berlin to go home to San Diego and have my son. Before I left, we decided we would continue our work together and make our dream of a retreat come true. In the six weeks before my son was born and the first month after he arrived, we worked hard to finish our website and find a retreat venue, which we did! We continued to work together, creating circles that we hosted in our own cities and planning our first retreat. It wasn’t always easy, but our partnership was balanced and heart-centered; we made each other better, which is the best thing one can find in a partner.
Our first retreat in October 2024 was also intimate, and we also learned through a few mistakes, but once again the consensus from the women who attended was that we created “a transformative experience that was meticulously crafted with extraordinary care and intention.” (Jessica Donahue) We left that retreat on a high and fully committed to hosting another retreat. Since our retreat in October, I’ve continued to host circles in San Diego, and we’ve been eagerly planning our next retreat happening again in Portugal this coming October.
We see Sun&Moon as a lifelong journey and one that will be constantly evolving. We are excited and curious about what the future holds, and we are deeply grateful for the women we’ve met along the way who have enriched our lives and touched our hearts. I am particularly grateful for all the women I’ve met in San Diego, and the community they’re helping me build here.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Neither Sian nor I would call it a smooth road, but I think we would agree that the bumps along the way pushed us to grow, and each hurdle was a learning opportunity.
Our first retreat threw many challenges our way, and while we had each other, we weren’t in the same place, in fact we were separated across continents. Moreover, Sian works a full time job, and when we first started planning the retreat, I was only one month postpartum. All of that meant that doing the uncomfortable things, like putting ourselves out there and figuring out how to advertise our retreat effectively were really difficult.
There were some weeks when I felt disheartened about being in a new city, worried that women wouldn’t come to my circles, worried that I would get no one to sign up for the retreat. During those weeks, Sian would lift me up and remind me of how much I was doing as a new mom. There were other weeks when Sian felt uneasy about mentioning the retreat in her weekly yoga classes, never having put herself out there in that way before, she was uncomfortable. So then I worked to encourage and uplift her and remind her how her regulars valued her and her practice.
Our anxiety around filling the retreat, in the end, didn’t stop us from hosting it. Even though we didn’t have the number of women we wanted and needed, we learned so much about ourselves and what it takes to run a retreat from start to finish, and we came out the other side closer to each other and more excited than ever for our next retreat.
I know the road ahead will continue to be bumpy, and I try to remain curious about and open to the new challenges and surprises that await us.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
When describing the work of Sun&Moon Collective, we say the following: we create gatherings and experiences that take women on journeys to connect with their most authentic selves and each other. We create safe spaces where women can explore darkness in order to come into the light. We create healing processes that build self-love and compassion for others.
We talk about embracing darkness as a part of the journey because we believe that it is by going through the darkness that one can more fully experience the light. As all humans have, we too have experienced darkness on our own personal journeys, and we feel these experiences played an integral role in shaping who we are and helping us find our current paths and each other. The Sun and the Moon are representations of our philosophy and approach to supporting women. We believe that we all have light and darkness within us and in our lives, and when we can embrace both, we can fully accept and love all parts of ourselves – we can feel whole and come home to our truest self.
I think something that I’m both proud of and believe sets us apart is that we are not in the business of “fixing” women. What I mean by that is we believe that all the women who attend our offerings are whole as they are, and we want to support them in seeing their wholeness and worthiness. Our intention in everything we do is to guide women to express their full, authentic selves, including their dark parts. One of my favorite parts of this work is that when women show up as their full selves, they make even deeper and more meaningful connections with other women. I’ve witnessed the origin of many friendships, and I’ve experienced that magic for myself in circles and on retreat. For women who are seeking community, I feel our offerings are an amazing place to start.
Our current offerings are women’s circles and retreats. For those who have never been to a circle, our circles are intimate gatherings, typically capped at 8 women. They provide a safe and intimate space for women to come as they are, reflect on relevant themes in their life, and connect deeply with themselves and other women. Depending on the theme of the circle, we include a variety of modalities including: meditation, yoga, sound, and embodied movement. Featured in every circle is journaling and structured partner and group sharing. Vulnerability, authenticity, and feelings are encouraged and normalized in our circles, which enables women to truly open up to themselves and others. I facilitate most of the circles in my home in San Diego every month, and I also occasionally host women’s embodied dance experiences and mother’s circles.
Our retreats, we like to say, are extra long circles. All of the elements you find in our circles are integrated intentionally throughout the four to five days of our retreats. The beauty of the retreat is that you get days instead of hours to connect with yourself and others, and you have the opportunity to truly disconnect from your day to day life.
I plan to host a retreat in San Diego over President’s Day weekend, February 2026, so you can share this copy….The next retreats we will be hosting are for our communities in San Diego and Berlin. The retreat in Berlin will take place the second weekend of October, and the retreat in San Diego will take place in February 2026 over President’s Day weekend (13th-16th). To stay in the loop about all our offerings, women can visit our website to join our newsletter and stay informed and follow us on instagram.
One last offering I’m excited to share is a summer series: Soul Sisters Summer Sunsets. I wanted to do something fun and free for the community, and I thought gathering for the sunset is a perfect way to come together. I’m hosting this series at Marine Street Beach in La Jolla at the Sea Lane Entrance. We meet at 7:15pm, and women are encouraged to bring their own headphones for an optional silent disco in addition to an opening and closing connection circle and an optional sunset plunge. No RSVPs are required and anyone who identifies as a woman is welcome! I’ll be hosting these: June 11th and 25th; July 2nd and 23rd; August 6th and 20th.
We are thinking about offering trainings in the future on how to hold space and facilitate gatherings, and we have many other ideas floating around in our heads that we know will come to fruition if they’re meant to be.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I honestly feel like I’m an open book because in circles when I invite women to share openly, I too share openly about myself. I share openly about my past work as a high school English teacher, mentioning it in almost every circle because it truly did equip me with the skills needed to create safe spaces where women can openly express themselves. I share openly about my passions for music, dance, and community; I am not shy about telling others that I’m a DJ who is biding her time while being home with her child. I share openly about being a mother to my son and the very real challenges and very beautiful blessings that come with the role. I share openly about being married to my high school sweetheart and how his support makes my work possible, and that even with his love and support I still sometimes feel guilty about my path of choice. My hope is that in sharing openly and being vulnerable, others feel safe to do the same because I’ve always found connection through vulnerability. So, as a result, there’s probably nothing that would really surprise people who know me, and I’m okay with that.
Pricing:
- Retreat bring a friend: $1,400 ($280/night)
- Retreat early bird, ends May 31: $1,500 ($295/night)
- Retreat investment after May 31: $1,700 ($350/night)
- Average circle price: $35-$40
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sunandmooncollective.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunandmoon.collective/
- Other: https://amulherestrela.pixieset.com/guestlogin/returntoyournaturalself/?return=%2Freturntoyournaturalself%2F
Image Credits
Image credit: Renata A Mulher Estrela @amulherestrela
