Inspired by Ängsbacka: As practised at Ängsbacka, Ananda Gaorii and Sieben Linden

This is a conscious reflection practice that gives each individual the space to look inwards to gain insight and understanding of their current position. 

What is it/ How do you do it?
The Volunteering Community is divided into small ‘sharing groups’ of 4-6 people, usually within their own working teams, and they attend the sharing practice twice a week. 

This practice involves:

• finding a quiet private space for your sharing group and standing or sitting in a circle 
• having an introductory 5 minute silent meditation to ‘land’ in the room. (Usually there is one person with a timer set on the phone)
• Once 5 minutes has passed, the group hold hands to join the circle and form the circle of trust: they close their eyes and connect with each other. (There is no set time for this part. It lasts as long as one of the members of the circle feels ready to start and then):
• Gently squeezes the hands he/she holds. 
• The one who got their hand squeezed repeats this motion until all hands have gently signalled to each other. (Often this happens so fast that it is hard to tell which member started the process)
• After the hands let go of each other, each member has 5 minutes of uninterrupted attention. (Again this is usually set by a timer.) 
• The person whose turn it is to share, shares about what is happening for them in that moment. (It is not usually about your day, or what happened the day before, but rather what is alive for you at that present moment. The purpose of the sharing is for the one who shares to experience what is alive in them- not for the listeners.)
• If the person comes to a stop during their 5 minutes, they still get the remaining time of the 5 minutes. 
• Whilst the person is sharing, the purpose for the rest of the group is to simply hold space and to witness this person, without reacting or responding. 
• As a general rule, you do not comment on someone’s sharing either during it, or after it is finished.
• Once everyone has shared for 5 minutes, the group holds hands again to close the circle. 

The Sharing Circle Steps condensed:

• 5 Minute silent sitting together (timed)
• Group holds hands, to form the circle (Someone squeezes when they feel they have held hands for long enough)
• 5 Minute sharing for each member of the group (Can be longer in case of less participants.)
• Group holds hands to close

Usually the whole process lasts 30-60 minutes, depending on the group size.

Another version of this practice could be to hold a bigger whole group circle of the Volunteering community, where each member of the circle has a short time to express what is alive in them at the present moment. 

Be aware that this approach will be time-consuming. Can be a good choice to set a 1-2 minute on a timer as a maximum time for one person in this context.

Guidelines:

• Even though for many of us an urge arises during the process to express our views or offer helpful advice, the main purpose of this practice is to just be a listener- and to gift our attention to others. The beauty of this type of sharing is that safety is created by just being seen and not receiving any reaction-  especially not advice. 
• Everything shared in this space is confidential and is not to be spoken about to each other or anyone else. 
• If however you feel there is something you would like to speak to a member of your group about, you wait 24 hours and if you still would like to, you then ASK the person ‘May I ask you something, or mention something about what you shared yesterday?’. 
• It is then down to that person to answer yes or no. 
• It can bring safety to have a fixed sharing group but sharing with new groups can bring valuable new dynamics, too.

Pluses: 

• The intention is to create a peaceful environment for the practice and to ensure privacy, by guaranteeing that no one’s intimate sharing is interrupted by other community members.
• This practice can therefore create interpersonal trust between community and team members and help act as a coping mechanism, in particular during the busy seasons when there is relentless work pressure
• People often resist sharing at first but then feel liberated afterwards, for having received the space to be seen and heard. 
• It also is quite common that being gifted this 5-minute space with the non judgemental attention of the group can create a safe container to allow the release of any emotions that may be underneath the surface. 
• Whilst you are talking, a conclusion or a breakthrough can often occur.

Minuses: 

• If confidentiality is breached, it can lead to a loss of trust and potential harm.
• If someone doesn’t feel particularly safe in their sharing group to engage in the practice or to dig deep, it can have an adverse effect, whereby issues/problems become ‘bottled up’ and can therefore cause more stress and instability for the person. 
• Some people might find their sharing group challenging because of group size, gender balance, and/or lack of trust in personal connection.
• There might be sensitivity and insecurity regarding changing a sharing group after being in the same group for a long time.
• This practice, which is designed to be regular, can eat into work time e.g. if a particular sharing opens someone up into a vulnerable or overwhelmingly emotional state, some members of the group could feel responsible to then console them after the sharing has finished, which can spill over into working time.
  (This can happen with short term Volunteers, who may not have yet learned how to balance their volunteering hours in relation to the time devoted to holding space for someone’s emotional process).
• Sharing every day in the busy months can become tiresome and can lead to one feeling pressured to share something significant.
  In particular, those work leaders who hold a heavy workload can feel that it is a costly and inefficient use of their time.
  (Holding the practice less often might be the solution.)

What is Needed:

• Time is needed: 30-60 minutes-  depending on the group size  
• Also a Timer.