The Power of the Circle

Today I want to write about the circle and what it evokes in me.

The circle, as symbol, metaphor and as a living and dynamic form is “alive”.

A circle has no beginning and no end. It is an open system; a symbol of wholeness, integration, oneness, eternal, presence and continuous self-renewal and as Rumi so beautifully expressed, the circle is an invitation to

“Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.

It is those same values that are found, shared and embodied by members in the open circle that is the Kaizen Healers’ Circle – a welcoming and inclusive group of Therapeutic Touch practitioners, I have the honour and privilege to mentor.

What’s wonderful about this group is the intentional and shared agreement of every member of the circle to connect with and honour themselves, each other and the Universal Healing Field and allow the energy to circulate freely, directing it with compassionate intentionality for healing.

Kaizen Healers’ Circle was launched due to the prompts I received from some of my Therapeutic Touch students who’d completed the basic level workshops, attended some continuing education workshops  and were looking for a small group learning and mentoring environment within which to grow their knowledge and understanding of Therapeutic Touch, develop their healing abilities and build their confidence.

 

Structured for Learning

Our group of 8 Circle members meets every two months for a ½ day workshop designed based on questions that are showing up in their healing practice which they want to explore. The workshops balance theory and practice with opportunities for giving and receiving Therapeutic Touch sessions and the case study reflections that follow.

We’ve discovered the power of the circle through outreach healing events we’ve organized collectively. Circle members often find that their own power and ability to sustain centre and compassionate intent to facilitate healing increases while with the group.

Last year’s Invitational Healing Event was held at Verity, an executive women’s club in Toronto where Circle members offered back to back Therapeutic Touch sessions over the course of an afternoon to the club’s membership seeking relief from stress and minor aches and pains to great response.

In reflecting at the end of our first year, last June, Circle members recognized the experience gained at the Invitational Healing Event, conducted at Verity, as a highlight, so this year, we committed to organize two outreach healing events.

High Touch for High Tech

The first of these has been at Google Headquarters in downtown Toronto. As part of Google’s Enhance Wellness Month, Therapeutic Touch sessions were on offer to Google staff on two consecutive Wednesdays in March. The high-tech savvy young professionals that showed up with Blackberry or laptop in hand were “wired” literally and metaphorically. The electro-magnetic field on the 10^th floor of the office tower enclave where we set up our “wellness clinic” too felt very highly charged. The foundational practices that we use in a Therapeutic Touch session, “grounding, rooting, centering and visualization” were very useful to help us as a collective, create harmony and flow, within our circle, and set the stage to establish a positive healing environment. We felt very much appreciated – 35% of those who attended our first session returned for another Therapeutic Touch session a week later!

 

How Learning Happens

Each shared experience, whether workshop or outreach healing event, creates an opportunity for reflection, practice, sharing, knowledge and growth.

Our next outreach healing event will be at Heart House Hospice in early April. This time, practitioners will have the opportunity to offer sessions to palliative patients and their caregivers at one of the popular monthly spa days the hospice offers.

Just as with a Therapeutic Touch session, each of the workshops and events is unique. What holds it together and gives it structure and continuity is the concept of the “circle” – a circle that is centered, open, breathing freely, with members who are ready to receive, experience, learn, respond, share and grow.

The positive, intentional healing energy the Kaizen Healers’ Circle  generates radiates outward, like a ripple, in an ever expanding circular motion.

As members learn to trust the circle, they learn to trust themselves, lose their fear of their inherent power and instead focus on learning to modulate it and with sustained commitment, practice and support, we can all learn, as Gandhi said, to “Be the change we want to see in the world.” 

The Kaizen Healers’ Circle  is a TTNO continuing education program, approved for 25 education hours towards achieving or maintaining Therapeutic Touch Recognized Practitioner status.