I’d like to share with you a meaningful experience I’ve had this week at the conference: participating in a Truth Mandala. The ritual exercise known as the Truth Mandala provides a tender, truthful practice whereby grief is experienced and witnessed in the presence of a loving group (of note, the Truth Mandala is just one way to carry out grief work; there are many other techniques outlined in the book The Work That Reconnects).

To quote Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown’s explanation of the Truth Mandala from their book, Coming Back to Life:

“This ritual exercise provides a simple, respectful, whole group structure for owning and honoring our pain for the world, and for recognizing its authority and the solidarity it can bring. The practice emerged in 1992 amidst a large, tension-filled workshop in Frankfurt, on the day of the reunification between East and West Germany; since then it has spread to many lands. To many participants, it has been the most significant experience in a workshop, if not in their lives.”