I have been working in the shamanic circle for over eighteen years, it is a place I love to be, a place I love to share.
What we uncover in the circle is our shared humanity and as our heart opens in compassion for the sufferings of others so our heart opens more to our own wounding, so that we do not deny it and yet ultimately we come to embrace ourselves, all of our being, so tenderly that the separation and limitations dissolve. We do not construct an identity out of them any longer. We learn to trust our NATURE, not our conditioned self.
A willingness to BE human and to open to receiving the love that is always here can be learned. As can a willingness grows to nurture your tender child aliveness, love the woundedness in the little boy or the little girl in you and equally nurture and express the extraordinary, shimmering, creative child spirit in you and live him/her too!
We have all been wounded. A wound that we cannot bear to be with (that we feel we have to shed, or process away, or that we feel we shouldn’t have been given by whoever we think gave it to us) is much more dangerous than a wound held tenderly, with consciousness, with gratitude even for its hidden gifts. And, with a choosing to be happy ANYWAY even when life is impossible and your heart is breaking.
Being friendly with our fear gives us courage to act and choose. Fully acknowledging our anger allows forgiveness. Welcoming sadness we open to surrender to life and its wisdom. Joy embraced is naturally generous. Finding compassion allows us to love and serve highest potential in our being, life or another.
Sometimes you may need to move deeply into your body and your volcanic sexual energy in order to increase the energy available to you, sometimes you need to feel more deeply the feelings and sensations of your woundedness, sometimes you need an intellectual context to understand your human nature more deeply, sometimes the need is deep diving into the past to loosen its grip and the automatic responses you go into when threatened, sometimes you need to constellate an old family situation in order to resolve it inside us, sometimes you need to be held and nurtured, seen and heard in a way you have never received before.
Sometimes you may need different elements of your nature to be in freer dialogue with each other, sometimes need arises to pay attention to what works in life and achieve mastery over emotional wounds, sometimes see that the story and identity you have invested in isn’t really true at all in the realm beyond duality. Over and over the circle finds its way into love and truth.
In essence Circle work is LOVE unfolding and a surrendering of demands and judgements layer by layer, through relationship. And discovering acceptance and enjoyment of the stories (especially the ones we think we don’t like) is just one way to bring more love into our being. So when you hear and feel others in their stories and aliveness - are you loving them or resisting them? That’s why circle work is so profound - we begin to see beyond easy judgements and assumptions and drop into love and connection and compassion for shared humanity. And real life can show us this too
In the circle we can love and nourish, learn to skilfully parent and celebrate ourselves on our journey and find connection and intimacy along the way. We learn how safe it is to open, and to love to be full-bodied, to breathe, and to feel and to make mistakes. Spirituality is otherwise a tool for the ego to avoid dealing with these wounds, a way to judge others and separate.
This work is truly the way to materialize or embody, the spiritual, to integrate body and soul. As you acknowledge the past with friendship, we are more and more fully present, here, now, alive in this body, this man, this woman that we are. You learn that your simplicity, your humanity, is enough, that fighting yourself is not required, that deep self-honesty is helpful. You learn how to treasure and care for those who enter your life and see the gifts. Life is no longer frightening or lonely or tragic or a chore. Thus we grow, integrate, deepen our capacity for joy, openness, health, passion, fulfilment even on a very ordinary day!
And our beings, our radiance and positivity, our deep sense of life’s safety, and exquisite beauty, is there in service for creation to use as is required. We can learn how safe it is to open, and to love to be full-bodied, to breathe, and to feel and to make mistakes. Spirituality is otherwise a tool for the ego to avoid dealing with these wounds, a way to separate from ordinary life and even judge others. Secret Garden is a way to materialize the spiritual, to integrate body and soul.
To acknowledge the past and be more and more fully present, here, now, alive in this body, this man, this woman that we are. Life is no longer tragic or a chore, frightening or lonely. A Secret Garden circle is intended and held as a very strong satsang field. The unfolding is held very safe by the energetics. It is so often a blessed oasis, a cosy refuge, a beautiful blossoming of life’s joy and creativity. And sometimes it may be scary when old wounds or limits or judgements come strongly into awareness. So is life sometimes.
The circle raises awareness and allows more opening and freedom and trust in ordinary life, more friendship with all that is in existence. Secret Garden circle work and shamanic work are a profound call to stillness, silence, deep work and self-inquiry for those who are looking for deeper fulfilment in their lives and an awakening of or deeper realisation of the truth of who they are.
This is spiritual work that is authentic, sane, potent, grounded, and full of passion for Love and Truth. Gatherings and circles happen in a spirit of not knowing what will be, in openness and willingness to be with the aliveness, the extraordinary, ordinary miracle of life unfolding between us. Every experience, every feeling, every circumstance, is an invitation to let go, and be the love, the aliveness now.
This realisation is always new. Dogma and belief are nothing to do with this. You are not required to give anything up, though things may fall away. The rewards are joy, true community, authenticity, sanity, spiritual discernment, integrity, love and fulfilment, whatever we choose to spend our time doing on the planet (footballer or executive, mother or drama student, healer or artist, father or carpenter)
For those who wish it, here is the art of living happily, whatever one’s apparent personal circumstances. This work is natural and profoundly humane. As a by product, the rewards are greater freedom, ease, effectiveness, joy and happiness in relationship, work, life. However the message is that there is nowhere to go, nothing to get, nothing to become. And to love what is, love yourself like your own best lover.
Love what you feel right now. Let what is, be. Rest in the silence beyond stories and time and discover that you are endless joy without reason. Give up the fight with yourself, with your responses, with your nature. Working on yourself doesn’t work! Secret Garden circles offer a direct invitation to let go into the love and aliveness that you are, into the truth of life, the essence, the aloha, the joy, the endless love, in manifest creation.
This way of being grows compassion, and at the same time, freedom to be in all the facets of our humanity. Old patterns are seen clearly and dissolve gracefully. Spiritual kinship becomes a delight we wish more of for ourselves. We become love in all its ways of expressing, and let go of trying to get love and joy from outside. The unfolding life of a circle, its laughter, tears, awe, its absolute coherence and intentionality to support consciousness and soul growth is an awesome mystery.
What a gift to be able to be so friendly with all the life in ourselves and others that everything is simply an invitation into awareness, wholeness, joy, interconnection and presence ! Secret Garden is at the leading edge of our evolving humanity, and is for you if you are wishing for nourishment, for connection, maybe for tender space to heal your heart, handle transition or enquire about a question. It is for you especially if you value love, truth, silent awareness that embraces all (aloha), celebration of soul and enjoy good company. Let the circles give you space to explore how to live a spiritually awake life that is also an embodied happy, authentic, earthly, natural one. Enjoy!
In endless gratitude to all my teachers and guides Aloha, Joy Hicklin-Bailey Please email joy1@secretgarden.eu.com or call 07866 470238 or visit www.secretgarden.eu.com to find out more about forthcoming circles you can experience.
