The Way Of The Circle
In this 4 day immersion, participants will experience the potency of circle practice and the essential elements of a circle. This course aims to develop participants’ capacity to lead a circle or council, both within and beyond the context of forest therapy, and to cultivate an awareness of how our shared stories illuminate our interconnectedness.
Combining forest therapy and the practice of circle, we will explore ways of listening deeply to ourselves, our human companions and the more than human world. We will ask powerful questions, deepen our perception and practice how to build authentic community.
When we sit in a circle with the intention to show up with our whole selves, we may experience the ways in which our stories weave us into community. Alone, we can only see the world through the lens of our own experience, but together, we can witness reality from all angles. Each of our stories are like ingredients in a great soup that sits at the center of every circle. What we each bring forth from within our hearts blends with all that is offered and in turn nourishes us all. In the center of every circle we find the common themes of our existence, illuminating our shared experience of this world and eliminating personal and cultural isolation.
But showing up with authenticity does not only apply to our relationships with each other; it is also critical in how we relate with the more-than-human world. How do we listen to the sky and the animals, the stones and the rivers? How do we give expression to what we perceive?
In the circle, we learn to bear witness to what is real and to harvest the wisdom generated by authentic community. In this way, we may more fully experience our connectedness with the world around us. When we are open to listening, we find the medicine we are carrying within us and in our community.
We will experience forest therapy walks, circle and triad practice and a presentation by Ben ‘Crow’ Page on the ways in which consciousness can incorporate increasingly complex levels of perception through the practice of deep listening, from his master’s thesis work ‘An Exploration in Living Council.’
What you can anticipate in this course:
Skills and Learning
Personal Development
Experience