Circling: A Phenomenological Study of Sense of Community in a Group-based Mindfulness Practice

Abstract

Arising in the context of growing interest in mindfulness and the intersections of community psychology and somatic psychology, this study examined dynamic, transient, and dialectical aspects of the shared emotional connection dimension of psychological sense of community (SOC) in the phenomenon of experiencing simultaneously the tensions of feeling both sense of community and lack of sense of community in a group-based mindfulness practice called circling. Using a phenomenological methodology, the study revealed that within a greater qualitative complexity and multiplicity of facets of the shared emotional connection dimension of SOC, an abiding longing for sense of community (“connection” in the culture of circling) persisted through experiences of both disconnection and connection. Amid this yearning for connection and myriad points of emotional and critical disconnection, the study also found a dynamic which it termed “aversion and allowing” that described dialectical aspects of the shared emotional experience of a changing SOC. The study’s findings have implications for research and praxis in the fields of depth psychology and of community psychology, the latter of which has struggled to define and measure SOC as a largely unipolar construct: Increased awareness and vigilance of the multiplicity, dynamics, and somatic tensions of additional emotional dimensions of sense of community—and their beautiful struggle, a kind of birth labor—holds potential for deeper understandings and profound changes for individuals, groups, and communities.