We’re delighted to share this article from Tron Lanh Viet Nam Network as they reflect on their meaningful journey nurturing a community of Circle practitioners.
Lesson 1: The Circle Spirit Begins with Collaboration, Not Just When We Sit Together
(A reflection from Phuong Bui, co-founder of Tron Lanh Vietnam)
Reflecting on our experiences, we’ve learned that the spirit of the Circle doesn’t just come alive when we gather for discussions; it’s present from the very beginning, in the way we collaborate and prepare. Take, for instance, our preparations for the 8th Well-being interactive talks, which focused on building a foundation of well-being within organizations. Hosting the discussion wasn’t just about the event itself. It began much earlier—when we first contemplated the theme, invited guest speakers, and initiated conversations to ensure they understood each other’s perspectives.
Through these pre-event conversations, we built connections, laying the groundwork for a meaningful dialogue and collective wisdom. I remember vividly the lively exchanges with Ms. Huong Quach and Mr. Long Doan, our guest speakers for this session. Their work resonated deeply with the values we uphold at Tron Lanh, and it was this shared understanding that infused our discussions with vitality. Thanks to careful preparation, we were able to create a flow that allowed us to dance spontaneously with our guests and the broader community during the event itself.
Lesson 2: Building a strong practitioner community requires deepening Circle spirit and co-creation with key partners
(A reflection from Ly Tran, co-founder of Tron Lanh Vietnam)
Over the past 2 years, Tron Lanh has maintained and developed free community Circle spaces to support emotional well-being within the community. However, in the last 6 months of 2024, we focused more on increasing collaboration and inviting contributions from participants of The Circle Way training. As a result, we formed a network of 5 key partners who worked together to spread community Circle spaces. This marks a significant shift from actively creating spaces to inviting participants to become part of the dissemination effort.
Additionally, we realized that the community had started to reap the fruits of their practice. This was an important time for us to practice harvesting and storytelling within the community. Nam Pham, a core team member, initiated and led a podcast series project interviewing Circle practitioners in different contexts such as family, work, and life. So far, we have interviewed and recorded nearly 10 stories, currently in the process of being uploaded to the organization's podcast channel.
Lesson 3: The journey of launching The Circle Way Essential Training
(A reflection from Nam Pham, co-founder of Tron Lanh Vietnam)
September marked our 7th time organizing The Circle Way Essential online training. For each cycle, we improved our approach based on the feedback and learning from participants. Before taking part in the training, most of the participants found the concepts of “generative listening”, “holding space”, “emergence”, or “collective intelligence” to be challenging to understand. We also found out that just having the circle experience as a participant is not enough in helping participants cultivate this understanding. Rather, engaging in practice of hosting, coupled with customized mentoring, worked much better.
Since the 5th training, we radically changed the format of the training to include a hosting practicum component that requires participants to pair up and prepare for a community circle that will happen in the span of two weeks. Together with a mentor, the pair will work on clarifying their intention, crafting powerful questions and preparing themselves to hold space for a group of people who resonate with the circles’ calling questions. With the support of the mentor, each pair is guided to reflect deeply in every step about what they observe about the essence of Circle practice. During the actual circle hosting time, a mentor is there to participate and provide further insights about the process after the circle closes.
By turning the whole training into a co-creative and reflective process between a mentor and their team, the training is a mutual capacity building ground for both sides. As mentors, we have our own learning circles to share our insights and diverse perspectives on the essence of Circle. Each mentor has realized their own strengths and stretched areas when guiding participants to notice the subtlety in hosting circles.
On the other hand, participants find the training format both challenging and rewarding. The most rewarding one so far is the experience of being in circles at every step of the collaboration process, enabling them to notice how being in circles deepens mutual understanding and weaves deep collaboration between people.
“The training enabled me to notice my unconscious habits when hosting circles. Surfacing the ‘unconscious’ allows me to be more intentional about the different components of the Circle process. This couldn’t happen without the companions I had had throughout the training. By being in circles and reflecting regularly, I have expanded my understanding of the Circle spirit.” - A participant commented.
Lesson 4: Simplifying the Circle Method, Making it Accessible for Everyone to Bring the Circle Spirit into Every Conversation
(Further reflection on the Tron Lanh Play Team)
After more than 5 years of practice with The Circle Way and two years of training others in the process, we still receive feedback from participants such as, “I find the Circle Process really valuable, but applying it to everyday life, like using the talking piece or agreements, still feels challenging sometimes.” We recognized that this concern wasn't isolated; many people shared similar sentiments. This challenge seems to stem from cultural factors, such as the reserved nature, preference for action over words, or the suppression of emotions that may be more prevalent among Southeast Asians.
Addressing these concerns, the Tron Lanh team launched Tròn Lành Play, our newest sub-unit with a mission to research and invent visual tools for connection and collaboration that make the Circle Process more easily woven into every conversation and interaction within the community.
Our latest product, The 30 Phút Mở Lời” (30-minute Heart Talk) card deck, featuring 60 question cards following the flow of a circle: check-in, questions with five levels of deepening connection, and check-out, was designed to help people create more meaningful conversations in a simple and playful way. As of now, we've had nearly 300 users of the deck.
Building on the success of our Vietnamese version, we plan to release an English version of the “30 Phút Mở Lời” card deck by the end of this year, with the goal of sharing this simple tool to the international network. We are excited about the prospect of sharing our tools globally, allowing more people to incorporate the Circle process into their conversations, fostering deeper connections worldwide.
In 2022, with the generous support from The Circle Way grant, and Healing Circle Global stewards & community, Tron Lanh Vietnam Network was founded with the mission to provide our communities of teachers, educators, human development professionals with the tools they need to nurture change through participatory practices with The Circle Way as a foundation. Visit us here: www.tronlanhvietnam.com