Sharing Circles in Forest Bathing
1st May 2022
In a previous post about nature connection we discussed how nature-connection activities usually involve some reflection on what you have experienced in the form of writing and keeping a journal, or talking about what you have experienced with others, either in online groups (such as our Sit Spot and Nature-Connection Practice group on Facebook) or in ‘Sharing Circles’ following Forest Bathing activities or Forest Bathing invitations.
What are Sharing Circles?
During guided group Forest Bathing sessions, participants are encouraged to identify things in nature that attract them. They then spend a few minutes contemplating how this part of nature relates to them and what they can learn from it, and the activity or invitation often ends with everyone sharing what they have learned in a ‘Sharing Circle’. Sharing Circles offer (or at least should offer) a safe space in which participants can express themselves and reflect on their experience. The Forest Bathing guide may offer guidance or suggestions in the form of a prompt, such as “What are you noticing?” and may lead the first Sharing Circle with an example such as “Inside I am noticing …..”, “Outside I am noticing ….”. However, participants are free to follow these suggestion or not and are free to share through silence, to share through movement or expressive dance, to express themselves in way they would like, or to remain silent and still.
A Sharing Circle offers (or should offer!) the opportunity to talk uninterrupted and to be listened to non-judgmentally and for each person's voice and experiences to be heard, valued and respected. Other members of the Sharing Circle just listen and learn, they do not comment or provide their opinion on what the person sharing their experience says, other than to sometimes thank them for sharing. As well as deepening nature-connection and improving our understanding of nature, Sharing Circle can increase inter-personal connection, empathy and a better understanding of each other.
Talking Sticks and Talking Pieces
A ‘talking stick’ or ‘talking piece’ is often used to denote whose turn it is to speak. Talking pieces are usually an item from nature, such as a feather, a stone or a stick. It can be a stick or item that you pick up near the start of the Forest Bathing session, or it can be something that you bring with you. I like to use one of a number of talking sticks that I have carved from windfall branches from the croft where we live, usually out of Oak or Scots Pine.
Talking sticks mean that people can communicate when they have finished, and also allow people who do not wish to share to communicate this too, by passing the talking stick to the next person - usually the person to their left.
The Origins of the Talking Circle
It has been suggested that origins of talking circles can be traced back to man’s gaining control over fire. Fire was a technological step forward that had many effects on human development, but almost certainly increased socialisation as people gathered around the fire. Stories would have been told, knowledge and traditions passed on and cultures developed. The concept of Sharing Circles is often more commonly found in indigenous (pre-colonial) cultures, whether for the purpose of socialisation, story telling or discussing specific topics. Sharing circles have been used in some cultures as a form of Restorative Justice, where the victim and the perpetrator can openly and honestly discuss the effects that the crime has had on them, and perhaps the reasons that led to the behaviour.
