What is Circlework™?

Circlework™ is a group process developed by Jalaja Bonheim, Ph.D. that teaches people how to create loving, non-religious spiritual community by gathering in circles and by connecting to the circle as a powerful symbol of wholeness.

Since the infancy of our species, human beings have recognized the circle as a powerful healing agent and have gathered in circles for prayer, worship, ritual, and celebration. Today, contemporary Western society is suffering deeply as a result of having lost touch with the circle. Most places of worship have replaced the circle with more hierarchical forms of communion and have banished crucial elements of Circlework™, such as ecstatic circle dances.

In recent times, C.G. Jung was the first to recognize the importance of reconnectingwith the circle (or mandala, as it is known in the East). He called the circle "the archetype of wholeness," and used mandala painting as a healing tool with his patients.

While building on Jung's insights, Circlework™ addresses our deep yearning for spiritual community and invites us to once again experience the incomparable joy, healing, and intimacy that arise when a group of formerly separate individuals comes together as a harmonious whole. With great compassion, the circle helps us step out of shame and isolation into joyful connectedness. As we realize that our personal wounds are in fact collective wounds, we understand that with each step we take on our personal healing journey, we are making an important contribution to healing the collective.

If we hope to secure a livable planet for our children's children, we will need to hone our attunement and receptivity to spirit. Circlework™ deepens our capacity to hear the guiding voice of spirit-or, if you prefer, the voice of our own deepest wisdom. As a form of relationship practice, it teaches us the ways of peaceful co-existence, skillful communication, and compassionate love of self and others.

While Circlework™ respects and honors all paths, it does not imitate other traditions or seek to resurrect the ancient ways. Rather, we trust the circle to show us how to use its power in ways that address our current needs. Because Circlework™ is not a religious practice, it can unite people who hold widely divergent religious beliefs (or who have no beliefs at all). The only prerequisite for participation-the foundation that all members of a circle must share-is respect for life in all its forms, and a commitment to individual, social, and planetary healing.

Circlework™ may include a wide variety of activities and elements such as discussion, lectures, music, dance, poetry, meditation, prayer, communion with nature, writing exercises, art, and so on. Circlework™ revolves around four interconnected values: community, communion, compassion, and communication.

Communication is the foundation of all community. Without good communication skills, community invariably collapses. Circlework™ shows an alternative to the warfare and violence that pervades our world by teaching people how to work with conflict, how to honor both their own needs and the needs of others, and how to move through grief, anger and fear in a way that allows healing and transformation to occur.

Communion refers to the joining of hearts and souls that occurs when individuals come together with a sincere commitment to something greater than themselves - for example the welfare of our planet earth. Circlework™ evokes the experience of communion through music, dance, meditation, connection with nature, and heartfelt personal sharing, but without imposing any spiritual or religious beliefs on participants. Therefore, Circlework™ provides a place for people of all religious traditions to come together and experience their fundamental unity as human beings.

Compassion is a value sacred to every spiritual tradition of the world, and to Circlework™. Compassion stems from the clear realization that all beings are interconnected, and that we cannot separate our own welfare from the welfare of others. The practice of compassion not only transforms how we care for ourselves, but also awakens a sense of responsibility to each other and the planet.

Community is a basic human need. Circlework™ assumes that individuals have the capacity to make a unique contribution to the healing of their community. It helps people identify what their contribution is, clarify the steps they need to take towards making it, and receive the encouragement and support they need to succeed.

Within the circle, the center represents our spiritual source. Whether we call it Christ, Buddha, Spirit, or any other name, Circlework™ puts us in direct relationship to the ultimately unnamable source of being. The circumference represents the interconnected community we all belong to, and are called to serve, each in our own way. While Circlework™ includes many elements of traditional spiritual practice, such as meditation, prayer, and visualization, it also works with relationship practice, creating a field of loving compassion for our shared human condition in which obstacles to love such as shame, judgment, and fear can be recognized and transformed.

Circlework™ views all creation as sacred. It honors the physical world as an expression of spirit, and it honors the body as a teacher of great wisdom. Circlework™ invites participants to fully embody the light that shines through them. It supports each individual in claiming their gifts and taking the journey to full self-expression. While a circle may have a leader, in Circlework™, there are no gurus. Each individual takes full responsibility for themselves, for their well-being, their intentions, and their actions.