Episodes

  • Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Circle Facilitation with Mike Irwin

    Part 2: The Nuts and Bolts of Circle Facilitation with Mike Irwin
    Jan 31 2025
    In this episode with Mike Irwin, he and Julia discussed: • It’s okay as a facilitator to be learning and not be perfect! People are looking for authenticity and not superconfident • Your nervousness can be a gift to the nervous attendees • The first part of starting the circle is to get present yourself as a facilitator • You can start with a centring question e.g. ‘What’s preventing me from feeling comfortable here?’ or ‘What do I want to feel like at the end of the session?’ • As important aspect of guidelines is to open up the requirements around confidentiality to the attendees eg.’if you see me in the supermarket ignore me’ through to ‘let’s swap phone numbers and keep in touch outside the circle’ • You may also want to discuss how the circle will deal with conflict. A ‘hygiene measure’ that might help is to make ‘I’ statements • There is a tension between what people want to talk about and what they don’t want to talk about but would be good to, like emotions! For example, relationships with parents, family, sexual relationships, with money. ‘Tell me a time when….(e.g. your relationship with money was difficult)’ • One exercise is to put an empty chair in the room and imagine putting someone in it e.g. mum, partner, • There is a tension between facilitation and participation – Mike feels you can’t fully be in the group and facilitate • The process involves understanding ‘Where am I?’ now and being in an intermediary position where you don’t want to be before you can get to ‘Where I’d love to be’. You might ask ‘Can you inhabit this inbetween place?’ • In closing the circle, you might give people a chance to say what they got out of it. • Circles are important because they counteract the influences on young men from what is on social media
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    28 mins
  • Setting Up a Circle

    Setting Up a Circle
    Jan 30 2025
    In this episode, Tessa Venuti Sanderson ask Julia Davies about her most recent circle, which is six months old. They cover who the circle was for, charging, venue considerations and much more.
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    26 mins
  • Running Your Circle At Home (and Plant Medicine) with Nicky Yazbeck

    Running Your Circle At Home (and Plant Medicine) with Nicky Yazbeck
    Jan 24 2025
    In this episode with Nicky Yazbeck (https://nickyyyoga.com/) and Julia, they covered: • How Nicky holds a women’s circle for those who’ve experienced plant medicine • Ayhuasca is a serious plant medicine and need to prepare through clean diet and other preparations • A circle is important for creating a container for the experience • There is a WhatsApp group important for the integration of what came up after taking the plant medicine – everyone in the group has shared experience • People are welcome whether it’s a good or bad day • Separate women and men’s circles are held because they’ve found a different level of sharing when the sexes are separated • Pre-circle phone call with Nicky to set expectations • Opening is an opportunity for someone to share – might be a chance to grow through vulnerability e.g. singing in from of the circle, teaching a meditation • She’s found that having done plant medicine, people are willing to go deeper: there’s no hesitancy about sharing • She asks people to be specific about what they want: to have space held for them, support given, reflection and / or advice. Definitely not there to rescue people. Attendees may check “Are you open to feedback?” • In a 3 hour circle, there are usually 9-14 women and Nicky doesn’t keep time for how long people speak for. • A firm guideline is that we don’t talk about people who aren’t present. • Closing is an opportunity to ask everyone how they want to close the circle to give ownership e.g. singing a song, rolling oms, holding hands
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    37 mins
  • Embodied Listening: Using Focusing as a Technique in Circle with Marta Fabregat

    Embodied Listening: Using Focusing as a Technique in Circle with Marta Fabregat
    Jan 17 2025
    For the video interview and transcript, go to In this interview with Marta Fabregat (https://martafabregat.com/), we covered - How the practice of Focusing works - Focusing is listening from the body, but can’t separate the experience from the environment - Focusing is about the art of living rather than a method or technique - Marta and Tessa both share a short focusing practice - Focusing creates a pause and stillness through being more fully present and honouring your experience - With practice, it becomes natural to keep company with what’s happening internally all the time - Marta shares an analogy of gardening and rewilding: the former is the way we’re conditioned to communicate and be with our experience through different lenses compared to there being no imposition, judgement or belief - For ‘true’ connection to happen we need non-interventional, non-judgemental company - Through this practice with the body, this is not ‘spacey’ but very much grounded - Your own experience of a moment, of a situation makes it a totally new thing just as a poet will experience their own poem newly some time later - As a facilitator, keeping company to what comes in a group situation is crucial, ideally with a beginner’s mind without psychotherapeutic training or whatever your background may be.
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    11 mins
  • To Share or Not Share Expertise in Circle with Julia and Tessa

    To Share or Not Share Expertise in Circle with Julia and Tessa
    Jan 15 2025
    A common question is trainings is how to balance the role of facilitator and the role of being an expert within a workshop context, in which a talking circle will be one activity. For example, if you run a menopause workshop and teach the first part, how will you shift to a sharing circle where everyone doesn't just turn to you for answers? How do you create an atmosphere where people feel empowered to share their experience? Julia and Tessa share some reflections and tips on how to manage this issue of expertise and power dynamics.
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    19 mins
  • Part 1: Diversity and Inclusion in Circle with Mike Irwin of Mankind Project

    Part 1: Diversity and Inclusion in Circle with Mike Irwin of Mankind Project
    Jan 10 2025
    In this episode with Mike Irwin ([https://mankindprojectuki.org/circles](https://mankindprojectuki.org/circles)), he and Julia discussed: - the evolution of men's groups and GBTQ+ groups - how to introduce ice breakers and discussion starters - circle as a conduit for emotional breakthrough - the breadth of development opportunities through circle in the corporate world - how men's circles have changed and are addressing current challenges
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    37 mins
  • New Beginnings - An Antidote to New Year Resolutions

    New Beginnings - An Antidote to New Year Resolutions
    Dec 1 2024
    In this episode, Julia and Tessa talk about creating a circle to look back over the last year and forward to the year to come. This could be with a group of friends in your home or in a special class or workshop.
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    18 mins
  • The Ups and Downs of Circle Facilitation

    The Ups and Downs of Circle Facilitation
    Oct 20 2024
    In this final episode of Series 1 of the Circle Holding Podcast, Julia and Tessa reflect on what they learnt from the diverse circle facilitators who were interviewed. They also look back on their own experiences of being in circle and holding space, remembering magical moments and some challenging ones!
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    13 mins