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In this interview Rob and Julia discussed:
• How Rob came to attend his first circle
• Had transferable skills from being a personal trainer, knew how to give person space to speak
• Co-facilitates the circle at Uncommon Man – bring different skills and give each other support e.g. debriefing and planning
• Also has support through Whatsapp group with other men’s circle facilitators
• Charges for men’s monthly circle and a lot of this goes back into promoting sessions, including having a videographer there for marketing e.g. clips of breathwork to demystify what happens at the circle
•...

In this episode Julia & Tessa talk about how to create space for examining feelings:

* Alternatives to "how are you" to create space for heart led conversation
* Creating questions that lead to sharing stories
* The value of lightness and humour
* Starting shallow, going deep

Tessa and Kate talked about
• Poems can create the shared space; poems that are appropriate for and speak to who is there
• Poetry as a joining-in activity to be shared aloud as in the tradition of oral history, not like a pressed flower in a book
• The poem creates a structure for people and children to organise their thoughts and even learn a language
• As a facilitator, she narrates the experience to support the momentum of writing: a series of cues of what they could try, reading parts of the poem again
• Poetry circles can...

In this episode, Tessa and Julia talked about how circle time can utilise the special environment of a retreat to deepen practices and sharing. They give some examples of where circle was used well and where it wasn't used at all.

In this interview with Davis J Williams and Julia Davis, they talked about:
• Moving from the competitive field of football coaching where some young people struggled to participate to supporting youth in the community
• In Gambia, found that young boys went through a rite of passage at 13 years old and saw the difference that made to their self-respect, discipline, self-control and ambition
• The journey to manhood builds throughout the boys’ lives, involving the whole community
• Wanted to bring this rite of passage experience to the boys becoming involved in violence in London whose parents are...

In this conversation, Tessa and Julia talked about what open and closed circles are, what the benefits are and what you might consider when setting them up. Enjoy!

In this interview with Ariel Kahn and Julia Davis, they discussed:

Building relationships through a shared passion for literature

The importance of creating spaces where everyone feels comfortable

Changing the location of your circle

The use of food and drink to build community

How creative writing can be used as a bridge between communities

The power of curiosity

Literature as an olive branch for constructive conversations around difference

The use of literature as a tool for crossing cultural boundaries

Using circle in an education setting and the use of educational tools

Enabling listening amongst cultural conflicts: modelling disagreement

Circle as...

In this episode, Tessa and Julia shared their highlights of the past 14 episodes including:
- the power of circles with children and young people (Roy Leighton, Sophie King-Hill and Nellie Harden)
- the importance of embodiment in talking circles for the participants and as a circle facilitator (Henika Patel and Marta Fabregat)
- the spectrum of circles from in your living room to an international, decades-old organisation (Nicky Yazbeck and Mike Irwin)
- the gift of being authentic as a group facilitator rather than being 100% perfect or professional!

In this episode, Tessa and Nellie talk about:

• Circles show up in all sorts of places like music groups and choirs

• Growth happens in relationship, not isolation, which makes circles perfect for change

• Modern life with devices and social media makes it hard for families to do active listening with each other

• Get clarity about your child’s learning language so your message gets through e.g. pictures, words, movement

• Playing loud music really helped to prepare the 12-18 year olds for listening later – think of your attendees’ needs

• A clarity board enables you to...

In this episode, Julia and Tessa covered:
- The benefits of both online and in person circles
- The challenges of online and additional guidelines you might put into place
- The additional work that an in person circle might involve in setting up the physical space
- Examples of how both online and in person circles have worked with different demographics.