I recently co-facilitated on an online Peace Circle that ran over 8 weeks and had participants from UK, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Colombia and Egypt.
As a Peace Circle facilitator, I have run several Peace Circles online and in-person in the 6 years I have been involved with the UK branch of Creators of Peace and I find that every time I facilitate a Peace Circle I delve further into reflections on my own journey as a participant, and as a facilitator and trainer.
I discovered Creators of Peace in 2015 whilst studying for my Masters degree in Australia and was very impressed with the content of the circles. It helped me in my own life at a turning point of what to do next to bring more peace into my own life and I knew very quickly that I wanted to get involved.
This recently completed peace circle had some amazing women taking part who had a lot of experience and so working with them gave me lots of insights and helped me go deeper in my own experience. In particular, I found the section on inner listening really helpful and a great reminder to get back to my own practice. The insights were all there waiting for me to listen to, but I had been neglecting this habit for a little while.
The session on the power of forgiveness is also always an interesting topic for me. It was this session that gave me some huge insights whilst in Australia and led to me returning to my hometown to make deeper peace with my family. This time I found the work opened me up to self-forgiveness and has set me off down this road to look more into how this can help me move forward in my life.
It’s always amazing to facilitate on a Peace Circle and to be a part of other people’s process and to further deepen your own along the way. It’s like this group of women come together perfectly to share in a way that speaks right to your heart just where you need it.
This was also my first time facilitating with the new Creators of Peace manual (updated in 2022) and I love how much more in depth the guidance is on the gathering points. In particular, I really like how gathering point 9, peace in practice, has been developed, I had found some challenges delivering this in the past, especially if participants were not currently working in their communities, but I loved how this exercise can also be about personal peace and reflecting on whatever is currently on your mind and thinking of ways to create more peace.
If you are interested in attending a future Peace Circle or learning more about how you can get involved with Creators of Peace you can contact them at creatorsofpeace.uk@iofc.org
Julie is a trained yoga and meditation teacher and first became involved with Creators of Peace whilst studying for a Master’s in Peace and Conflict in Sydney, Australia in 2015. After returning home she connected with the UK branch where she continues to help run peace circles, facilitator training and charity events. She has a passion for promoting both inner and outer peace and has worked for the UK Probation Service and as a yoga and meditation teacher.
