Meeting Outline

  1. Opening
    The host invites volunteer readers to read from the laminated Commitments and Living Agreements handouts. (2–3 min)

  2. Introduction & Readings
    The host reads the Introduction, followed by volunteer readers sharing the Living Agreements and Commitments. (5 min)

  3. Grounding Exercise
    The host leads a brief grounding or centering practice to help participants arrive fully in the space. (5–10 min)

  4. Focus Topic
    The host introduces the meeting's suggested focus, drawing from either the Living Agreements or the Four Areas of Focus. The topic may be expanded upon using stories, readings, resources, visuals, or personal reflections. (5 min)

  5. Open Sharing & Group Reflection
    Participants are invited to share their experiences, insights, and reflections related to the topic or their current integration process. (30 min)

  6. Intentions
    The host invites members to share intentions, commitments, or actions they would like to carry forward between meetings. (5 min)

  7. Closing
    The host closes the meeting with gratitude and a quote, reading, or reflection of their choosing. (5 min)

  8. Announcements
    The host reminds participants of the date, time, and location of the next meeting.

Commitments

These are agreements we make with one another — not rules imposed from outside, but a container we build and re-commit to each time we meet.

1.  Confidentiality. What is shared in this circle stays in this circle. We may speak about our own experience outside this room, but we don't share what belongs to someone else — their story, their name, their specifics.

2.  Consent before feedback. We ask before we offer feedback, suggestions, or interpretations of someone else's experience. “Would it be okay if I offered something?” goes a long way.

3.  Share, don't compare. Our stories can sit beside each other without one needing to be bigger, deeper, or more enlightened than another.

4.  Respect for every relationship to this work. Some of us are integrating recent experiences, some are curious and exploring, some are in a season of not using anything at all. Every one of those positions is welcome and respected here.

5.  No one is required to share. Presence is enough on nights when words aren't available. “Pass” is always a complete sentence.

6.  We are peers, not clinicians. We can offer presence, empathy, and our own lived experience. If something raises real concern for someone's safety, we say so honestly and help that person find appropriate support beyond this circle.

7.  We protect the container. We arrive as close to on time as we can, we stay off our phones, and we give the people speaking our full attention.

8.  We extend grace. We are all learning how to do this well, including how to facilitate, how to hold silence, and how to repair if something said lands wrong. We assume good intent and stay in repair rather than rupture.

Living Agreements

Our community organizes around a set of living agreements that support personal growth and meaningful change. These steps come from many different healing traditions and reflect patterns that people have found helpful across cultures and experiences. They are not meant to be completed or mastered. Instead, they offer gentle guidance along each person’s unique path of healing and integration. 

  1. We are Connected - We are each a consciousness within a collective consciousness. We belong to one another and the living world.

  2. We Seek to Know Ourselves - We identify what heals us and what harms us. We center self-love and acceptance, and avoid self-betrayal. 

  3. We Heal Ourselves to Heal the World - We take responsibility for ourselves and release attachment to outcomes beyond our control. 

  4. We turn insight into action - We commit to integrating our experiences through behavior change.

  5. We cultivate meaning - We follow what calls to our consciousness - creativity, connection, learning, spiritual or religious practice, etc. We follow a personal inner calling to thrive within participatory existence.

  6. We find joy in serving others - We are communal beings. Offer what you have received with love.

Four Areas of Focus

We encourage circle members to reflect on four important areas of life when thinking about integration. These areas can help people identify where change, healing, or growth may be needed after meaningful or transformative experiences.

Healthy and balanced lives often draw strength from four places: our body, our mind, our relationships, and our sense of meaning or purpose. When one of these areas is out of balance, it can affect the others. By paying attention to each of these parts of our lives, we may move toward a more whole and grounded way of living.

  

  1. Body - We cultivate embodiment through somatic practices and healthy choices.

  2. Mind - We seek a balanced and compassionate relationship with all aspects of the mind including thoughts, beliefs, and parts of self such as the ego and shadow. 

  3. Relationships - We build healing connections with others, free from dynamics of power, and full of humility, presence, and repair.

  4. Meaning - We nurture meaning in our lives through self identified outlets like nature, creativity, spirituality, service, etc.