The coaching, teaching, and/or facilitation of a communication system built on genuineness, attentive listening, and contemplative presence is known as circling. It is made up of several attributes, abilities, and concepts that improve relational intelligence and interpersonal communication while broadening our field of perception. With the help of this psychosocial technology, people may interact mindfully and gain a deeper awareness of themselves and one another. They can also share this knowledge and develop closeness, mutual understanding, trust, and psychological safety. Transpersonal experience and emergent collective intelligence among communities can also be facilitated by it.
What is circling?
As a revolutionary 21st-century wisdom practice, Circling uses innovative yet simple approaches to help you find and articulate your innermost truths with impact and sincerity.
This exercise broadens your horizons and improves your ability to accept and remain receptive to new people. A strong sense of individual and group trust is the end outcome, which is both productive and liberating.
Fundamentally, Circling functions in the nuanced but fundamental domain of relationships and communication—an often-ignored foundation that affects almost every part of our lives. It acts as a doorway to interacting with people and oneself in a more genuine, empowered, and connected way.
Additional capacities acquired for circling
Among the extra skills acquired during the Circling training are:
- Accepting accountability for our personal experiences and how they shape our viewpoints, decisions, actions, etc.
- letting go of expectations and seeking to be present in the moment
- frank examination of one’s blind spots and/or unconscious tendencies
- extending our emotional range and allowing ourselves to be completely present with our feelings as well as the sentiments of others
- combining curiosity, kindness, and compassion with sharing our thoughts and reactions
- expanding our understanding of how interrelated reality is
It began with the application of contemplative mindfulness to our interpersonal relationships. Circling can disclose a new way of being in a relationship, just like a microscope can expose a whole other level of reality.
How does circling works
A Circle always begins with you (or the person being “Circled”) receiving the inquisitive and open attention of a group of individuals (usually four to ten) or a single facilitator.
Then, with the facilitator’s assistance, they take note of your presence moment by moment, exchange insights and impressions, and jointly investigate your experience and the environment around you. This is essentially developing a close relationship with what is most genuine and alive for you.
We don’t try to fix people or offer advice. The goal is to simply connect with you, accept and remain in the present moment so that we may accept the reality of our experience, feel supported, and realize we are not alone
You can discover aspects of yourself that you were previously unaware of as the Circle deepens. Emotions that have been buried, trapped, or numbed may come to the surface. It’s possible that you’ll find yourself releasing secrets and letting go of guilt and emotions of unworthiness. You might discover that by stating your truth, you have the bravery and freedom to express your wishes.
Through living in the now, transcending narratives, assumptions, and preconceived notions about oneself, Circling® fosters the ability to uncover your own self and forge meaningful connections. As people interact with you out of real curiosity and share their own unique experiences of being with you, you learn that the amazing person you are is greater than any constrained notion of who you “should” be. This is why Circling® can result in spiritual revelations and awakenings and is frequently quite nourishing.
Among the most fulfilling sensations we may have as humans is the feeling of “being seen” for who we truly are. That is precisely what Circling® teaches us—how to appreciate and value every individual for the distinct flavor they contribute to the world.
Benefits of circling
Discover the essence of what matters most to you.
Even though Circling might be a voyage into the unknown and an intense experience, it never stops revealing the deeper levels of what truly matters.
Expand your emotional spectrum.
Emotional intelligence is accelerated by circularity, which enables individuals to embody and be present to a far greater variety of experiences within and among themselves.
Making use of conflict
We sense the dynamic dynamism between polarities in Circling. In order to honor and integrate the entirety of our humanity and enable all of us to thrive, we can recognize how to dance them together.
Develop your own trust
For many, circling has provided a direct path to transpersonal experience. Because we begin with what is present and don’t “attempt to get anywhere,” unity and flow states of awareness become extremely common in Circling. This is what makes it so beautiful.
Relationships as an addiction treatment
The Circling paradigm is built around connection and is highly sophisticated in its facilitation of a deeper connection between ourselves and one another. We can transcend unhealthy patterns when we start to feel higher levels of connectedness.
Healing
A rich environment for healing can be created by circling. Parts of ourselves that have remained hidden for decades can become visible due to the depth of connection. There is plenty of room in Circling to explore the entirety of what is genuine and alive within you. This kind of environment has shown to be very healing and uplifting for many people.
What Sets Circling Apart from Coaching and Therapy?
Reducing symptoms or harmful patterns and enhancing psychological well-being are the main goals of treatment.
Therapy operates under the premise that the client needs to have something fixed or healed, and it frequently concentrates on the past. Psychotherapy is not provided in Circling programs since it is by definition the practice of certified professionals.
Taking ownership of one’s accomplishment and improving performance are the main goals of coaching.
When a client receives coaching, it is assumed that they are already highly functioning and capable of taking continuous action toward their life goals. It is generative, results-driven, and demands that the client take responsibility for their life. It frequently focuses on the future, particularly the future that the client wishes to build.
In contrast, Circling’s main goal is to transform your way of being through genuine relationships.
It centers on the degree to which you may access aliveness and connection right now. Only to the extent that they are alive in the present moment can we investigate our thoughts, feelings, and wishes concerning the past, present, and future.
In order to use Circling in a professional setting to support a client’s aims and wishes, we integrate it into a coaching framework as part of the Art of Circling Practitioner Training.
You will acquire the Circling abilities that have the power to bring about deep change and the emergence of more genuine states of existence. Additionally, you will acquire the coaching techniques required to build strong bonds with others.
Circling in the healing of insecure attachments
I suggest that the process of experiencing safe attachment through Circling is not the same as the process of treating attachment scars through relational psychotherapy. I’m not advocating that parts of the therapeutic process be added to Circling. Psychotherapy can be more of an unconscious process, with the exception of expressly attachment-oriented psychotherapy, whereas Circling is more of an explicit activity.
The goal of psychotherapy is to create a safe, dependable, and consistent environment for the development of secure attachment. Psychotherapy can cover a wide range of experiences, therefore it’s possible that the reasons and effects of insecure attachment won’t always be highlighted.
To name a few of the dynamic realms and methods of exploration that can occur through psychotherapy, more time may be spent, for instance, processing perceptions and concerns of the past and future, addressing practical concerns, exploring dreams and myth, and studying and working with options for cognitions, beliefs, and feelings in order to learn new resources. Additionally, the therapeutic alliance has always served as an implicit holding space for the examination and healing of attachment wounds.
On the other hand, experiencing secure attachment through Circling involves combining all of Circling’s practices and intentions, which include—but are not limited to—the nine elements below. This creates the framework for understanding what a securely attached state of mind looks like.
On what basis is it based?
Technology of the twenty-first century, Circling is the result of a combination of insights from modern philosophy, psychology, and spirituality.
Standing on the shoulders of years’ worth of wisdom, Circling is able to be specially weaved and condensed into a remarkably useful and practical technology that may effect change. This probably would not have been conceivable without such modern, thorough access to the best information and practices available on how humans can grow and develop. ‘Circle Wisdom’ that dates back a century is included at the same time.
It’s also, at its core, quite straightforward, very real, and basically about exposing the obstacles to our love and clarity for one another.
