Practicing Circle

Learning how to hold safe, supportive circles for healing is the work of a lifetime. It’s work we can practice in every interaction—with ourselves, close family and friends, colleagues, and strangers. Being present with others, listening with compassion and curiosity, and respecting each other’s path to healing increases the quality of our own lives.

The more we practice, the better we get at hosting circles. We become less nervous and less judgmental of ourselves. We understand that what happens in each circle is both unique and universal. We lean into the grace—or as some would say, the magic—of being in circle.

The following blog posts reflect what writers learned about and within circles:

Welcoming People Into Circle

Listening Within

The quality of listening to others relates directly to the quality of listening within. But it’s not easy.

Opening and Closing a Healing Circle

Practicing Circle

Imagine yourself entering and leaving circle to these beautiful words by circle host Rob Feraru.

Ideas for Harvesting

Searching for Soul Through Poetry

Discovering Self through the Arts

Poems touch in us a core, our inner teacher, our innate wisdom we sometimes forget to access.

Asking Open and Honest Questions

Learn post, Practicing Circle

Learning to respond to others with honest, open questions instead of counsel, corrections, and advice can be a life-altering practice.

A Theme a Month for Hospitals

In Your Organization

Being able to anticipate a theme over the course of a month guides us into deeper meaning and clarity.

Healing Art Circle

Accessing Emotion, Addressing Meaningful Questions, Discovering Self through the Arts, In Your Organization, Practicing Circle

At St. Paul's Church in Houston, we explore self-discovery topics, such as emotions, stress, loss, strength, self-awareness, and transformation, by pairing them with specific art activities wrapped in healing circles.

Creating Trust for Heart-Sharing

A single tree in winter against a blue sky

Finding meaning in circle

Accessing Emotion

by Chris Camarata I've been facilitating a healing circle on death and dying for more than a year with Nicolas and Robin. Nicolas had been studying these often-avoided topics and wanted a forum where people could talk openly about their feelings…

A Conversation with a Widow’s Nervous System

Addressing Meaningful Questions, Cancer post, Grief post

The pain of loss is such an isolating experience, where the outside and inside of us are not aligned. We are out of sync with humanity, and yet we are inside an experience that each and every one of us will have.

‘I Am Rushing:’ a Mantra of Love and Memory

Addressing Meaningful Questions, Cancer post, Grief post

I have just returned from spending time with a dear friend and her husband. They are living in what I have come to call “Illness Time” not a period of time spent ill, but time itself defined by illness.

Managing the Time Warp of Loss: Why Do They Want to Marry the Widow off?

Addressing Meaningful Questions

When our parents die, no one tries to comfort us by saying, "You can love like this again with a new mother, new father, or a different grandparent.” Yet, with the loss of a spouse, people quickly start talking about a new companion, a new sexual partner, a new friend.

What Makes a Circle Healing?

Deepening circle practice, Front Page, Front page post, Learn post, Practicing Circle

The only person who can accurately perceive a circle to be healing is the individual circle participant. Healing, as with pain, is what the person says it is.

Dropping in for a Cup of Tea and a Circle of Two

Addressing Meaningful Questions, Practicing Circle

As humans, we are happier and healthier if we have someone to talk to when we need it. For people who are newly diagnosed, grieving, at a turning point, or simply needing to connect, we offer circles of two at Healing Circles Langley.