During this weekend course, we will explore further paths to wholeness and compassionate rapport with those we live and work with, and whom we love. We will discover the gifts to be harvested from embracing our “shadow,” when we allow ourselves to open, to get out of our “comfort zone” and, ultimately, to get out of our own way. Then our soul and the soul of the circle come alive. When powerful energies and insights are released, the challenge for the facilitator is how to serve the circle so the process remains safe and nurturing. When this occurs, magic happens.
We will also explore specific forms of Council for varied situations: conflict exploration, visioning, team building, and relationship work, bringing Council into the different parts of our lives and into the world. We will share stories, light and dark, and the subtleties in the roles of Witness and Facilitator. Leadership and challenging group dynamics are also on the menu.And, by the way, we will also have fun together, with exercises, games and other practices that contribute to living council!
This course is designed for those who have taken Council I and have a year of practice, or have comparable experience in facilitating other forms of circle work.
Where: The program will be held at Ram Spring Wellness on Salt Spring Island.
When: Friday, November 24, 4:00pm – Sunday, November 26, 4:00pm
Tuition: $500-550: includes shared accommodation and meals.
To Register: Contact Lori Austein at leaustein [at] gmail.com.
About the Facilitators
Marlow Hotchkiss is a poet, council trainer, avid naturalist, and wilderness guide with over 40 years of circle work with young people and adults in classrooms and in nature. He has taught high school and university level courses, in addition to serving for two decades on The Ojai Foundation (TOF) Board of Directors. He was, with Gigi Coyle and Jack Zimmerman, a founding member of TOF’s Leadership Council, and continues today as a senior teacher and member of the Elders Council. Together with other TOF elders, Marlow offers programs in Europe and Africa and is assisting with the launch of the European Council Network.
Lori Austein is an educator, mediator, hypnotherapist, and council trainer with 16 years of circle work in many settings including schools and community organizations throughout the western United States and Canada. She was a co-coordinator of the Council program at Palms Middle School in Los Angeles and a member of the Leadership Circle of the Ojai Foundation’s Center for Council Training. She currently serves on the Trainers Mentoring Circle whose mission it is to set standards and oversee the path to becoming a certified council trainer and facilitator in the “Ojai Foundation Way of Council” lineage.