Tonight I was part of what I would call a healing circle. Once a month my husband’s men’s group invites their partners to join them in one of their meetings. The structure of the night varies, but it seems that it always provides a place where we can come together to share deep feelings – some joyful, some soulful, some sad. It’s a safe haven where all emotions are welcome.
I’m always amazed how such profoundly transformational work can occur just by dint of careful listening and being with whatever is. There’s no agenda to fix anyone’s problems; that would be disrespectful and disempowering.
What I love about these monthly meetings is that they function as a sacred space where one’s ego can be left outside the door.  The part of our minds which likes to figure things out and find solutions is best left unemployed in this context so the intelligence of the heart can reign.
As Saint Exupry says in Le Petit Prince: “You can only see with the heart.”
And that is to be truly seen.

Pravrtti-aloka-nyasat-suksma-vyavahita-viprakrsta-jnanam

Joining the intelligence of the heart with the overflowing of the mind brings knowledge of the subtle or causal, the hidden or unusual, and the physically and psychologically remote.*
*The Essence of Yoga – Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Bernard Bouanchaud.