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In this episode, we covered:
Talking circles are called by different names, including conversation circles, listening circles, sharing circles and groups (women's groups, men's groups, girl's groups)
Circle time can be very straight forward or contain lots of ceremony - it depends on the purpose and the demographic
Ceremony can be missing in many people's lives and be enriching
Having familiar words or practices (or rituals) can create a sense of safety and familiarity that helps settle people's nervous systems
There's space for all sorts of different circles
If you're unsure about going to one, contact the facilitator and ask...

In this episode, Julia and Lee covered:
• How men are often attracted to circle when they’re at crisis point
• The application process for the closed group after being part of an open one
• The structure of the meeting allows deep sharings to happen: ‘freedom within form’
• How he provides several opportunities to talk, with longer each time for more depth
• Silence can be part of a person’s allotted time
• Structure, intention and timeframe are three important aspects to consider
• Rites of passage for men include grief and facing fear
• Working with 14-16...

In this episode, Julia and Tessa covered:
The hidden costs and time spent in running a talking circle
Avoiding facilitator burnout by being compensated for your time
Different models for running a listening circle
Getting funding to make the circle free for participants to attend
Experiences of trying to run a circle by donation

In this episode with Jane Bennett, we covered:
• How a circle format can work well for sensitive topics in general and to differentiate it from puberty lessons in school in particular
• We talked about how having a conversation before the circle can help manage expectations of what will happen
• How circle time can lessen feelings of shame or embarrassment and increase positivity around taboo subjects
• When crafts or other ways of keeping hands and eyes busy can be advantageous
• Why the process of normalising talking about difficult subjects is so important and how circle facilitators...

In this episode about listening with Julia and Tessa, we covered:
The importance of the listener being attuned and not having an agenda
How wonderful when listening is reciprocal and the listener isn’t trying to fix anything
The signs of someone not listening to you
How to do a Listening Partnership
The joy of a longer term listening partnership
That self-worth can grow as someone feels their voice is important

In this episode, Julia and Ben covered:
• How breathwork can be transformation and does involve deep feelings and going to somone’s edge
• Breathwork is not regulated but you can check whether facilitators are signed up to the voluntary organisation Global Professional Breathwork Alliance (GPBA)
• There are two main aspects in facilitation: framing (doing, the structure, organisation) and the felt sense, which guides you to know when to push someone, when to ease off, when to offer touch (with consent)
• Breathwork session can be really different, rather than knowing the exact number of people to have in...

In this episode, we look at the common fear of new circle facilitators around managing big, raw feelings and diverse personalities. We discuss the balance between all feelings being welcome and allowing time for everyone to speak, between people being they're authentic self whether they tend to talk (a lot) or be very quiet and encouraging all to speak.

In this episode we talked about:
• How co-facilitation can flow
• How preparation is key in forming the container to hold space and arrive empty to attune to what happens in the gathering
• How holding space is a creative process that also creates a new you
• A held space is a safe one, but also an emergent space for something new to happen
• That inner work is an essential part of being a facilitator
• Allowing your humanness is a gift to others when you are a facilitator and humanness in leadership is radical
• Bringing...

In this episode we will be talking about the role of the circle facilitator.

When we talk to people about our book we are often asked the question:  What is circle holding or holding space?

When we dreamed up the title we knew exactly of the book we wanted a step-by-step approach as you can see from the subtitle: "A Practical Guide to Facilitating Talking Circles" clarified our intention.

Included in this overview is the following:
*It is about having someone who takes responsibility for the space
* As the facilitator you will have to make decisions about who speaks,...

In this episode, Julia talks to Lee Keylock of Narrative 4 and they covered:
* Storytelling around controversial topics build community through revealing nuance
* How exactly Narrative 4’s Story Exchange works through experiencing radical empathy in circle
* That empathy starts with the courage and generosity to try to listen
* Hearing your story told by someone else lets you see it in a new light
* Facilitation is key to handle the emotional space and a co-facilitator helps keep the flow going
* That there is nothing soft about the skill of facilitation and it improves through practice...