Community Agreements
Guidlines for Skillful Relations
1. Commitment to Be Present
Each of us will play an integral part in our time together, with all of us relying on one another to show up on time and stay for our agreed upon time together.
2. Honoring the Sacredness of Your Experience
Vulnerability – What is shared in this space is held with care and kindness and will not be shared outside of the circle without permission. We also honor each other’s creative expression and agree not to copy each other’s approach or style, just as we would not plagiarize each other’s writing.
Every Voice Matters—We encourage you to show up as fully as you are able, offering reflections, asking questions, and participating in our shared dialogue. Your presence is a gift, and when you share, you help create the container we are all held in.
Listening & Speaking—If there are moments when you need to listen more than speak, honor that. But when you do feel the edge of hesitation, consider leaning in, speaking the truth, sharing your process, and trusting emergence.
If you are often the first to speak, please consider leaning back and giving equal space for those who may be more hesitant.
If group sessions begin running over the allotted time the group will agree on a method to let each other know when their time to share is up.
3. Circle Sharing: Take a Little, Leave a Lot
Brevity – Let your words be like a single feather placed on the altar—intentional, meaningful, and enough. Practice being present to what is being shared – not to withhold but to create space for others to speak and be heard.
Maintaining the Thread – While we honor wandering and the beauty of story, we ask you to stay rooted in the topic at hand. If your share begins to drift just a bit too much, a facilitator may gently guide you back.
Be in the Moment – Speak and create from what is truly alive in you. You don’t need to rehearse or perform—just show up honestly. Ask yourself: Does my share nourish the circle, or simply fill it?
4. Circle of Belonging
Diversity – We honor and respect all identities, ancestry, cosmologies, perspectives, and life experiences, knowing we have much to learn from each other.
No Cross-Talking – During harvest sessions a feather will be given to each participant to hold while speaking. If the feather is not in your hand, please do not interrupt or ask questions until the speaker has indicated their offering is complete.
No Advice-Giving – We practice discernment in how we engage with each other’s experiences—before offering advice, opinions, or assistance, we first ask if they are wanted.
Confidentiality – Stories, artwork, and experiences offered in the circle stay in the circle, unless we have explicit permission to share them elsewhere.
Boundaries – We ask each other not only if support is wanted, but how we want to relate to what we’ve shared. After someone speaks, we check in: Is it okay to follow up? Do you want reflection, witnessing, or space? We practice asking for and honoring permission.
5. The Gift of Discomfort
Transformation is often uncomfortable – Just as storms shape the land, inquiry and growth often invite us to stay present with what is challenging.
If something feels uncomfortable or unexpected, we invite you to pause. Ask yourself: Can I slow down and sit with the discomfort without needing anything to change? Can I take a deep breath and get curious–is what I’m experiencing something I can tend to from the within? Can I exercise discernment between what can be tended to as an inside job vs something I need to say or bring to another?
Rather than retreating or shutting down, bring your experience forward in private to Susan. Staying with what feels challenging opens the door to insight, resilience, and real transformation. If something feels truly unsafe, we trust you to name it. But discomfort, when tended to with care, can be a guide.
6. Tending to Your Body
Feel free turn your camera off (if online), to get up, stretch, lie down, walk around and go to the bathroom.
7. Navigating Challenges with Openness*
If a challenge arises that makes someone consider leaving our practice group, we invite an open conversation first with Susan. If there is a rupture, we will do our best to repair it. We value tending to what is here before letting it go.
Likewise, should there be a time when we must ask someone to step away, which is highly unlikely, we commit to approaching that conversation with care and clarity.
*While the practice group is a share time of creativity, connection, and personal transformation, it is also held within clear boundaries that protect the well-being of all. We ask that all participants uphold respectful and relational conduct throughout their time together in our sacred community