My Epic Journey to Coaching Training

I had 2 hours to get home for my first Circling Coaching class. My friends Donal, Bia and I went to check out lakefront property where other friends were starting an intentional community. Donal, an experienced community leader, facilitated our sociocratic meetings at our community house in Portugal. We wanted a long-term project.

Branches and thorns scratched Donal’s van - the dirt road to the property got thinner and thinner - but he kept driving. After an hour of rough navigation we reached a clearing across from the property. The lake was entirely dried up. The promised forest was a manmade monoculture of conifers. Our faces dropped.

Timing was tight to get back for my class now. I asked Donal if he was ready to turn around. My class was important to me and my gut said no to this land. Donal wanted to keep going.

In a moment of emotional rawness and truth, Donal said “I need to know if this is an option for me.” I felt his heart’s longing. Community called him, and his dedication to his friends in Portugal goes deep. I’d already been living in Costa Rica, and the nature and biodiversity is incomparable. We parted ways with hugs.

My quickest way to class was a shortcut across the dry lakebed. I hiked and stumbled over vast cracked earth, and finally arrived home to meet my teacher @circlingeuropejohn and the talented, magical cohort whom I'd train with for the next 6 months.

Now having finished my training, I see how that pivotal moment set different courses in our lives. I also see how Donal, Bia, my coaching cohort - we're all part of the same community of leaders of conscious change. We connect our communities across countries & continents. I’ll see Donal and Bia again in July, and we’ll share the growing love that connects us always.

My training has been a steady source of presence, reflection, support and growth for me while living in community in Costa Rica. It has also blown open my coaching practice in ever expanding ways. I feel inspired to share the presence I’ve cultivated, and continue to grow alongside fellow community leaders like you. Our communities strengthen each other, and the truth that emerges in our mutual presence is my offering.