THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A CIRCLE IN YOUR HEALING JOURNEY

Last weekend, I led a phenomenal healing weekend in Traverse City, Michigan, with a group of lovely women from near and far. Reconnect with Food Eating Disorder Intensive Support Program was held away from the Detroit area, for the first time, and located at beautiful Whispering Waters Bed and Breakfast Retreat Center. The owners, Julie and Brian, went to the end of the world and back for us during the entire weekend. In addition, the gorgeous scenery and delicious home made-organic food lent itself to a spiritual and nurturing environment. Aside from our daily yoga practice, much time was spent in the sharing circle that you will always find in Reconnect with Food programs. The significance of this circle is now much more clear.

Last month, I traveled to San Diego to conduct a workshop for registered dietitians. While I was there, I connected with my friend (since age three) Dawn Singer, who introduced me to my first yoga teacher in Michigan. Dawn currently owns her own yoga studio in Carlsbad and Encinitas called, The Yoga Center. The studio is run as a donation based-entity. The intention for the studio is to send an eco-yoga message. Participants in a donation-based community support the earth by supporting each other.

Dawn's Encinitas studio is a "yurt." A yurt is a portable, tent-like structure with circular lattice walls and cone-shaped roof supported by rafters that meet in a center ring. The center ring is what defines the yurt differently from other circular shaped homes. The outer fabric of a yurt can be made of felted wool, coasted canvas or a modern architectural fabric.

In addition to creating an eco-yoga studio and allowing one to "practice lightly on the earth," according to Yurts, Living in the Round. Practicing in a circle-- in a yurt-- connects one with self, community, and the environment. A circle is the most common universal sign, found in all cultures. It has no beginning or end, and no divisions making it the perfect symbol of completeness, eternity and the soul.

According to John Nance, Yurt Owner, "The spaces contained by round structures versus boxes create different dynamics. Movement patterns differ. The circle reflects the movement of the moon, planets, the universe, atoms and the seasons. The circle is a dance, an arc. There are few straight lines in nature and fewer boxes. Boxes are a contrived form that enhances the industrial style of thinking. They can be aligned and connected, like an organization; the form of the box is very left-brain. Circles, on the other hand, are more harmonious with right-brain activity."

So as you sit in our Reconnect with Food circle, in any given class or weekend Intensive, the symbolism of this circle may now make more sense to you and facilitate your healing to yet a greater extent.

Dawn's retail business, in connection with her studio, is Yoga Swami. Yoga Swami is an authorized dealer for the Colorado Yurt Co. and in support of donation- based yoga in the community. To contact Dawn or to view photo's of Yoga Swami Yoga Yurt, view www.yogaswami.com

Click here to register early for our Fall Reconnect with Food yoga and discussion series, and save $20. Program starts on Wednesday, October 15th in Royal Oak, MI. Come sit in our healing circle.