Cultivating Personal Awareness & Growth Through Circle Process

September 2026 Sedona Soul Integration Blog

Cultivating Personal Awareness & Growth Through Circle Process

Circle Process is one of the oldest documented processes for group communication known today. To this day, it is still the most effective means of achieving group homeostasis when the ultimate desired goal is to listen, to hear, and to create group resolution that results in win-win situations for everyone. My first experience with the ancient organizing principles that define Circle Process was reading Christina Baldwin’s book entitled Calling the Circle, the First and Future Culture. Studying this book over a number of years, while creating and facilitating Circles from 5 to 30 or more people has changed the way I communicate with others forever, so I highly recommend this book to each of you, as learning how using this ancient process of ordered council can greatly benefit your group, your work, and your life!

“A circle is a healing and connecting prescription accessible to everyone. Every family, any group of people anywhere can form one. In preparation for the 5th UN Conference on Women and the United General Assembly Session on Children, the Millionth Circle 2005 planning committee wrote this statement of intention: ‘Circles encourage connection and cooperation among their members and inspire compassionate solutions to individual, community and world problems. We believe that circles support each member to find his or her own voice and to live more courageously. Therefore, we intend to see and nurture circles, wherever possible, in order to cultivate equality, sustainable livelihoods, preservation of the earth and peace for all. Our aim is to celebrate the millionth circle as an idea whose time has come.’”

~ We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For, Alice Walker

(with credit to Jean Shinoda Bolen for her book, The Millionth Circle)

The above quotation by Alice Walker is the best description of Circle Process that I have seen. The benefits you and your group (whether it be family, organization, community, large corporation or anything in between) may receive by gaining practical experience and understanding of Circle Process can be quite significant. This experiential understanding provides a natural system that supports consensus, win-win decision-making and healthy group collaboration. As you learn to use this powerful tool for human interaction, you will notice both individual and group growth in the following areas:

• Increased inspiration, creative expression, and motivation for achieving desired goals
• Heightened Self-awareness
• Development of more effective problem-solving skills
• Full consensus and implementation of solutions for the highest resolution
• Ultimate increase in productivity with decrease in “unproductive” or wasted time
• Increase in both self-trust (confidence) and mutual trust among group members
• Greater openness to being vulnerable, authentic, and transparent, and to proclaim and offer your Sacred Medicine for the benefit of the Whole
• Increased acceptance and decreased judgment in group settings
• Expanded sense of both self and mutual respect
• Increase in compassion, understanding and willingness to effectively collaborate among group members
• Creates overall, a more positive and safe environment, and consequently, happier, more positive attitudes for all involved
• Supports you in honoring your own voice as you open to honoring the voice of others

As we begin to look deeper into the significance of Circle Process, it may be helpful to also expand our appreciation of the corresponding significance of the Circle itself.

Let us begin with taking a look at the conventional definition of Circle from Oxford Languages:

Circle, noun

1. A round plane figure whose boundary (circumference) consists of

points equidistant from a fixed point (the center).

2. A group of people with shared professions, interests or acquaintances

Verb

Move all the way around (someone or something) especially more than once

However, in this context, a circle is more than a 2-dimensional geometric figure.

In support of eventually coming into consensus for a new definition of Circle, I have highlighted a significant “point” that can serve as a bridge between our old and our new perceptions of and appreciation for the Power of the Circle.

First of all, I would like to begin by reminding us all that every cell, molecule and atom of our Beings, trillions of them, are Circles, or to be more accurate, 3-dimensional spheres. Energetically, our Chakras are Circles of spiraling energy radiating out to every other Circle and sphere within us, and in resonance with our cells, molecules and atoms. As a collection of resonant Circles, our bodies radiate the True Power of the Circle – We are That!

If indeed, the circumference of a Circle consists of equidistant, individual “points” around a central point, then what is clear, is that the circumference of a Circle is not a solid boundary, but a collection of energy points that have been (for a specific reason) magnetized around a Central Point.

In much the same way, when individual human beings sit in Circle, each member of the Circle contributes their unique individualized Sacred Gifts/Medicine that are magnetized to and around a center focal point (Purpose). Therefore, that Central Point matters greatly to the quality of the collective frequency radiated from the Circle. For example, if a pebble is tossed into a pond with Love, then that pebble, imbued with Love, becomes the Center Point, and Love will ripple concentric Circles throughout the pond, affecting every drop of Water in the pond as well as all Life in and around the Pond. Likewise, if we are feeling angry, and throw a pebble into the pond, that anger will also ripple out to every drop of Water and all Life within and around that pond.

When the ripple reaches the shores all around the pond, there is a less obvious ripple that then begins to move from the outer reaches of the pond, back to the Center Point in cyclical fashion. This is the way Circles function, and this function serves to magnify and reflect back to us (without judgment) whatever it is we are radiating from our own Center, outward. Inherent within this cycle of energy flow from the Center Point outward, and from the outer points back to the Center, we receive back, exactly what we are contributing to the Greater Whole. Thus, A Circle/Sphere, alive with energy flow, is a continuous pulsing of information flowing in all directions: around the Circle, from the Center Point outward, and from the outer points towards the center. Whether we are radiating our frequency consciously or unconsciously into the entire Web of Life in an Infinite Macrocosm, or contributing our frequency into a pebble and casting it into a microcosmic pond matters not – for all is ONE!

This may seem like a strange concept if we perceive Circles as inanimate, one-dimensional geometric shapes. Thus, the very fact that Circles and Spheres have magnetic properties requires explanation.

What we know is that a Circle is a series of “equidistant points around a Central Point. In order for that to happen, what holds each of those points in place around the central point? Why don’t they just float away into the surrounding empty space? The force that holds these outer points around the Central Point is Magnetism. Here is the Oxford Languages definition of Magnetism:

Magnetism, noun

1. A physical phenomenon produced by the motion of electric charge, resulting in attractive and repulsive forces between objects.

2. The ability to attract and charm

This “physical phenomenon” is not magic – it is basic Physics 101. There is a relationship between any given 2 points, and ultimately, because all objects are composed of positively and negatively charged atoms and subatomic particles, all electrically charged particles exert a force of attraction between them. At the atomic level, the nature of this relationship depends on the electrical charge, mass, and frequency of any 2 given points. A negative and a positive charge will attract each other, whereas two negative charges will exert a repulsive force on each other, just as 2 positive charges will repel each other (like charges repel and opposite charges attract). These attractive and repulsive forces create a dynamic interchange of equal and opposite forces between gravity, mass, the distance between any two points, and the position and charge of the points along the circumference of the Circle.

In this dynamic interchange, each radius point along the circumference of the Circle is not just a measure of distance to the Central Point. There is also a magnetic attraction between each circumference point and the Center Point. The centripetal force created by these points of tension within the Circle moves energy from the outer circumference point to the inner Center Point. At the same time, the attraction/repulsion dynamic is created as Gravity’s impact on the Mass of the points, causes energy to be pulled from the Center Point outward to the circumference of the Circle.

This natural dynamic forms the basis for the Healing Power of the Circle through the relationships between the individual points (Circle participants) that dynamically and continually evolve with every trust-building, mutually supportive interaction. As the bonds between the points strengthen, transparency naturally develops and through the dynamic relationship of the individual points, coupled with the unified attraction to the unified group Purpose, the Whole becomes more cohesive and unified. As this happens, each individual point along the circumference of the Circle also becomes more cohesive and unified. The reciprocal and complementary nature of this relationship creates a positive feedback loop that continues to strengthen both the Whole and each of the individual parts of the Whole.

The second installment of this Blog next month will bring in further dynamics that will deepen your understanding of the Healing Power of the Circle. In the meantime, please feel free to ask questions and post comments about this content. I look forward to hearing from you!

Many Blessings,

Debra, Your Remembrance Facilitator