The ancient practice of sitting in circle.

The circle is the primordial shape that embraces all, spiralling into the infinite. There is no beginning and no end. We sit in circle as a practice of remembrance that we are never alone on this human journey. We offer our raw experience, our vulnerability, through opening our hearts in the passage of our voices - we allow and invite the experience of being heard, of being seen and being accepted as we are. The generosity of this vulnerability creates a circle of authenticity, a field of trust and a portal of self enquiry and release. The natural healing of empathic listening is the felt experience, the embodied understanding, that we are all one. Through resonance, reflection and empathy; healing occurs in the harmonics of witnessing and being witnessed, holding and being held, loving and being loved. 

Gathering in circle is unbound by any lineage, untethered to spiritual dogma. It is an untraceable practice of our ancient humanness, like nature, our meeting and cross pollination of sacred diversity, becoming the circle. It is a symbol of unity, our inherent, ancient connectedness. It is a portal of transfiguration, an invitation to heal, to gain awareness, to refract and reflect our shared human struggles as well as to claim and integrate personal and collective change. Honouring life’s small and great thresholds and growth edges, learning through a sacred ecosystem the pathways of relating. It is a space of death and of rebirth. 

From repression to expression, we heal. 

The circle becomes a microcosm of the whole, unveiling and loving the human shadow as well as the great luminous beauty, the purity of each of our hearts. Circle is a cauldron of authenticity and transfiguring vulnerability. A place for the integrated wisdom of experience and invitational courage to express. 

There is no person who does not belong within circle. Within such great times of change we need to resource ourselves with human connection. We need safe spaces to drop our social masks and invite raw expression. Circle allows us to realise our deep belonging to each other and ourselves. We rise together, rooted in strong relationships. The sacred ecosystem of community which becomes the most important pillars of the rebirthing, rebuilding of our world and our global family. It begins with simple, sacred human practice. With accessibility, with support. Slowly the roots of community and local economies will grow over the individualism of our world and our conditionings, it is our return to wholeness, our return to nature. 

This is a global call for leadership. 

With this blueprint we invite you to begin or commit to this ancient practice of gathering in diversity, of embracing our shared humanness. Of healing through empathy. 

• We speak to release
• We listen to transmute
• We speak in ‘I’ statements
• We practice radical self care
• We honor sacred confidentiality
• We do not give advice
• We leave in sacred silence

Bringing intention to why we speak, we bring focus to our sharing with a purpose of taking responsibility for our experiences, thoughts and emotions and with this awareness & intent; the outcome is a release into a lighter state of being. Without intention, what we share can become stagnated (the energy does not move & is felt as a heaviness within the group). Bringing intention into the sacred agreements empowers the speaker to rest in self accountability rather than victimhood. 

Empathic listening is listening through the heart and the whole sensory body. It is a state of deep presence and emotional attunement to the feeling behind the words being spoken. The effect of such deep presence, the purest expression of love, is healing through acceptance. The healing of aversion, the rejection of our shadow, to an embrace of totality. The loving acceptance 0f the full spectrum of humanness and the untouchable purity within the human heart, understanding the root of all pain is trauma & the illusion of separation. In the circle, with clear defined boundaries, tools & sacred agreements we realize that we are truly, one.

Extra tools for releasing group energy:

When heavy energy is felt in the group, there are many tools which can shift and transmute the energy. 

• Taking collective deep belly breaths & sighing dramatically or expressively on the exhale (encouraging sound to express the emotional experience rather than holding it in)
• Toning as a similar practice yet instead of sighing using clear vocal sounds such as ‘ah’, ‘oh’, ‘ee’, ‘ohm’ in any tone.
• Sound is key to moving energy. Both from within the individual and supporting the group with any sound tools such as medicine drums, rattles, shakers, singing bowls.
• Demonstration of anger release is an important tool, where the group screams into a pillow or towards the earth. Many people are uncomfortable and inexperienced with how to feel and express healthy anger, for this reason you can support the group by explaining anger release and asking if anyone is uncomfortable, and if anyone feels unsafe with this practice.