• Widening Circles

    The Healing Circles Lineage

Circles began 100,000 years ago, when our ancestors started to gather around their campfires. We’re grateful that indigenous and African peoples continued to carry the pattern of circle forward.

Our mentors, Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, say, “Circle started around the cook-fires of humanity’s ancestors and has accompanied us ever since. We remember this space. When we listen, we speak more thoughtfully. We lean into shared purpose.”

Our recent lineage for Healing Circles Global is The Circle Way work of Christina and Ann, who sought to correct imbalances of hierarchy and power by teaching that there is a “leader in every chair.”

Parker Palmer and the Center for Courage & Renewal taught that there was a “hidden wholeness” in each of us that Circles of Trust could help bring to light.

Michael Lerner and Rachel Naomi Remen, founders of the Cancer Help Program at Commonweal, understood that each of us has the capacity for “intentional healing” at physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. Building on their model, Gretchen Schodde at Harmony Hill, Janie Brown at Callanish Society, and Shanti Norris at the Smith Center created powerful retreats and local offerings for cancer patients.

Inspired by Remen’s “we heal best in community” and subsequent research into the tremendous impact community has on our health, Diana and Kelly Lindsay, co-founders of Healing Circles Langley, and David Spaw, founder of Healing Circles Houston, adapted The Circle Way and Cancer Help Program models to provide social support to anyone who asked for it in both a rural and urban setting at no cost to participants.

The global pandemic, combined with widespread adoption of video conferencing, has provided both the opportunity and the profound need to offer circles to a global audience.

Calling the Circle: A Leader in Every Chair

Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea

Join host Diana Lindsay in conversation with Christina Baldwin and Ann Linnea, co-founders of PeerSpirit and The Circle Way. Christina and Ann trained thousands of people in The Circle Way around the world. They consulted with organizations and communities who want to give more voice to everyone around the circle, whether the conversation takes place in a board room, a nurses’ lounge, or a community.

Circles of Trust: A Hidden Wholeness

Parker Palmer

Join host Michael Lerner in an intimate, wide-ranging conversation with Parker Palmer, accomplished writer, teacher, activist, and community organizer, as well as founder and senior partner emeritus of the Center for Courage & Renewal. Their rekindled friendship provides rich territory for embracing the challenge of becoming whole over the course of a lifetime.

Intentional Healing: Transformative Retreats for People with Cancer

Michael Lerner and Janie Brown

Join an intimate conversation with Michael Lerner, co-founder of Commonweal and the acclaimed with Janie Brown, founder of Callanish Society, a grassroots non-profit organization in Vancouver, BC for people living with, and dying from, cancer.

Healing Circles Global: Healing in Community

Diana Lindsay and Oren Slozberg

Join Oren Slozberg and Diana Lindsay, co-directors of Healing Circles Global for a conversation on the beginnings of Healing Circles and how it has evolved into a global resource for healing, social connection, and meaningful service.

Moving Forward: Circles for Healing and Coming Together

Michael Lerner, Parker Palmer, Christina Baldwin, Diana Lindsay, Lisa Simms-Booth, and Rahmin Sarabi

We are transitioning into a post-COVID world with challenges on many levels, from our own health, national polarization and the global polycrisis. Facing these challenges, the need for healing and circle work is as important as ever, maybe even more. Moderated by Oren Slozberg, executive director of Commonweal, an intergenerational panel with Christina Baldwin, Parker Palmer, Michael Lerner, Rahmin Sarabi, Lisa Simms Booth and Diana Lindsay will reflect on circle work in our new unfolding world.