It is our belief that we must develop and nurture healthy relationships with ourselves, each other and the planet if we are to build a better world. There is a tenet in Transformative Justice that says there is a core self in all of us and that core self is good, wise and powerful. This self cannot be taken away or removed. It exists in EVERY BEING, beyond any emotion or action, and is the source of all dignity. This is our inner light.

The harsh realities of the world, however, often cause that light to become covered, dimmed or hidden.

Without a daily recognition of that light and practices to bring the core self out into the open, it will likely remain in darkness. When this happens, our potential is minimized as is the world’s. Because without each of our lights, we are less capable of living our purpose and of creating a world that is full of safety, belonging and possibility.

Return to the Roots reminds us that the light is there and there are ways of bringing it back out into the open again.

How do we do this? Through Transformative Movement Practices, Storytelling + Theater + Deep Connection to Nature.

Return to the Roots creates spaces for healing through movement, nature connection, and the honoring of voices that have long been silenced.

Ways to Access the Light

Transformative Movement

Movement helps us come home to ourselves and build a relationship with our bodies, intuition and our internal voice/light. It turns down the mental noise and allows us to access a purer knowing.

Whether through Nia, Qoya or other modalities we offer, our movement experiences are inspired by forest pathways, flowing water, deep roots, and open sky and are designed to help us attune, process and metabolize a range of emotions and enhance feelings of groundedness, aliveness, joy, and transcendence.

• “Guided using nature-based imagery, breath, rhythm, and intuitive flow.

Storytelling + Theater

We move towards Storytelling because by sharing our truth with others, we let both our light and our darkness be seen. This way we can be heard, held and related to by others instead of hidden away.

At Return to the Roots, we honor lived experience as sacred knowledge and center voices that have often been erased, silenced, or marginalized. Understanding healing as relational, embodied, and collective, justice lives in how stories are held, whose stories are told, and whose pain is not turned away.

Topics have included: Women's Health, Disrupting Racism and Segregation through collaboration with MacArthur Genius Award Winner Tonika Lewis Johnson and her Folded Map Project, and now Challenging Adoption Mythology with new documentary theatre pieces like Twisted Motherhood.

Deep Connection to Nature

Founder Brighid O'Shaughnessy will complete her certification in Nature and Forest Therapy as of May 1, 2026, deepening her practice of guiding people back into relationship with the living world as a source of healing, nervous system regulation, reciprocity and belonging.

Forest Therapy has its roots in Forest Bathing (Shinrin-yoku). It is not about hiking or building our knowledge of plants or animal life as delightful as both of things are.

This practice is about slowing ourselves down, awakening the senses, cultivating centeredness, and helping us remember that we are not just connected to the natural world, we are a part of it.

Contact Us

Rooted in story, body, land, and justice.

We are located in the Chicagoland area.