Taking care of yourself emotionally is not always easy. Many times, family members are a part of the problem so you often can’t turn to them. Even friends, supportive as they are, often cannot hold you the way you need to be held. They want to help too much. They want to advise. They’re too involved. Can they be fully trusted to not interfere?
You need a safe harbor for doing inner work, a place where you can be completely objective, a place where you can start to listen to yourself, and not get well-meaning but distracting advice from others.
This may leave you no choice but to do your inner work alone, which can be a good solution for those dedicated souls who actually do it. But for the rest of us, working alone is not enough:
It’s not easy to be consistent without a support system and it can be tough having no one to listen to you when you need it most.
If you’re looking for a community of open-minded, loving people dedicated to their daily inner work, then you’ve come to the right place. We are an intimate community of currently 42 members—some of us participating daily since 2013. This is also where I do my work every day seven days a week.
Here you will find a great combination of both kindness and focus. We think of ourselves as a group of “independent researchers,” researching our own inner worlds. We each work independently on ourselves, but we also share our work and encourage each other. It is a great support system.
If you want more clarity, more freedom, more compassion, and more forgiveness in your life, looking inward is the most direct way to find these things. When you change your inner point of view, the world shifts within your experience. Then clarity and kindness on the outside come automatically. You don’t have to do anything other than shift your inner point of view.
But how the heck do you do this? Stresses of all kinds block the inner view. It’s great in theory to shift perspective. However, on your own you may find it difficult to work through these interfering stresses. This is even more true when stress is activated. The stressed mind tends to panic and doesn’t think rationally. How are you supposed to work through a difficult issue in that state of mind?
To do this, the mind needs is a systematic approach to dealing with stress. A structure to hold the mind in its time of need. A way that leads directly out of the problem, but also one that is patient with the stressed mind however it shows up (sometimes quite irrationally).
What makes our community especially effective in doing inner work is the approach we take. We use a well-established, systematic approach to stress relief.
We are not just a support group here to listen to stressful stories. We use a powerful method of self-inquiry for transforming those stories. That way, we’re not left just commiserating with each other, but rather celebrating the wins that each of us makes in our inner work.
The first step in joining our community is to learn this systematic approach to inner work by taking The Work 101 course. In this course, you will learn a method of self-inquiry called The Work of Byron Katie.
You’ll be a full member of our community during the course. And you will have the option to continue with us long-term once you complete the course.
1. Take The Work 101.
2. Experience the support of our community.
3. Make stress relief a long-term practice in our community.
Each member of our group is just like you. We also want, or need, to do our inner work. We also need the support of a group to keep up our practice.
You will be welcomed as a fellow traveler on this journey with us. We share many of your same issues, fears, hopes, and dreams. We too want to live a more peaceful, happy, loving life. And we would love to have you join us.
Because we are all equals like points on a circle and because we come together using a common process sometimes referred to as “inquiry,” our community is called “Inquiry Circle.”
You may be hesitant to open up to doing your inner work in a group.
With us, YOU are always in control. You decide how deep to go. You decide what is true for you, not us.
We promise not to interfere with your process wherever it may go. Our job is to simply hold the space with love and understanding as you do your own work. Every stressful thought and situation you bring will be met with unconditional understanding here.
Though many of us practice The Work every day, you are free to participate as often or as little as you like. There is a lot of freedom in this community.
I come from a long-term background of spiritual practice, learning to meditate when I was six and living in an ashram for about ten years in my twenties. Since 2007, I have been practicing The Work almost daily and I have supported thousands of clients to learn and practice it too.
All of our community members have taken The Work 101 as a part of joining the group. Some have been doing this practice for decades. Some are relatively new. But all of us share an enthusiasm for this way of looking inside and finding a more peaceful way of seeing things.
Our Inquiry Circle community meets on a password-protected online forum. Some of us show up daily, others less frequently. There is no right way to do it, and your frequency may change over time.
The forum is open 24/7. You can login and do your work in written form anytime of day or night, from your computer, tablet, or phone. Simply choose a template and follow the directions to do your work. Once you post your work, others will read it and leave supportive comments. I also encourage you to read other people’s work and leave comments for them.
We have a set of well-developed comment guidelines refined over many years letting you know what kinds of comments are appropriate in our community and what are not. We all agree to follow these guidelines.
And we also all agree to confidentiality. Participants live all over the world, and this also adds to the experience of confidentiality as you will be working with people outside of your normal social circles.
We welcome all languages. Currently, we have templates in the following languages (and we can add more if you need them):
English
French
German
Spanish
It is somehow relieving to see that we all have similar stresses around the world, and it is fun to experience the overlap of cultures here. Furthermore, if you move or travel, our community will be there for you wherever you land.
We mainly do The Work in written form using the templates I mentioned. But if you prefer doing your work in spoken form with a partner, we have growing options for that too. We offer several drop-in sessions every week. All you have to do is show up to the Zoom session and you will be assigned a partner. Then, you’ll work with your partner in the breakout rooms during the call.
You can also request a spoken-work partner in our Lounge at any time or by sending a private message to anyone in the group.
We also have drop-in sessions for written work. In those sessions, you join us on Zoom and we each work silently in written form as if working in a library together. This can be an effective way of doing The Work.
The idea is that we tend to do our work more regularly, and with more focus when we come together to do it. You will find many opportunities to be together here.
Here are the main sub-forums of Inquiry Circle:
We offer community-based courses where you will be a part of our community for a short period of time before committing to an annual membership.
Once you complete The Work 101, you can get an annual membership and continue with us for as many years as you like.
This community is for anyone who wants to do systematic, self-exploration using The Work of Byron Katie. It is for anyone wanting to work through their stress. It is for those with an independent researcher mindset who enjoy writing out their work. It is for those who are self-disciplined but who also like the support of community. It is for kind-hearted people who can get along respectfully with others.
You do not have to be familiar with The Work. Get started with The Work 101 where you can simultaneously learn The Work and try out our community.
Using my account on the website writing what my problem/stress is, first I get clarity on what my difficulty, my stress, is, and following the order of the worksheet to write, assists me a long way toward going deeper and finding possibly my way home and seeing some more possibilities for my mind—a pause I can call close to meditation, to ponder on or having as an ‘Aaa!
Even if I don’t finish my particular Work at that moment I can save it for later or maybe the next day, I already find great relief in having put it down on paper; the feeling is that it is being handled!
Here are the main problems I had when I came to IC:
– a difficult relationship with one of my sisters
– resentment towards my ex-husband over money issues
– sadness and regret about my son, who has a diagnosis of mental illness.
I didn’t know how to solve these problems. I kept going over and over in my head, and talking about it didn’t help – in fact, it did the opposite.
IC helped me learn how to do the Work with great precision. I developed confidence in this tool. I found a lot of support and motivation in doing the Work alongside other people. No advice on how to solve my problems (I wouldn’t have liked that at all), only on how to do the Work. Reading other people’s work is helpful too.
I was amazed at how often the Work was effective in solving my problems, little by little. It motivated me and made me want to make the Work a personal development tool for as long as possible.
Now I have a better relationship with my sister, I’m happy to spend time with her. I have much less resentment towards my ex-husband. I don’t dwell so much on the past. I have almost no sadness or regret about my son. I see that he has a satisfying life in spite of everything.
And I feel confident that I have a powerful tool at my disposal. And the precious community that is IC.
Voilà les problèmes principaux que j’avais en arrivant à IC :
– une relation difficile avec une de mes soeurs
– du ressentiment par rapport à mon ex-mari, pour des questions d’argent
– de la tristesse et des regrets au sujet de mon fils, qui a un diagnostic de maladie mentale.
Je ne savais pas comment m’y prendre pour résoudre ces problèmes. Je ressassais sans arriver à avancer, et en parler ne m’aidait pas, c’était plutôt même le contraire.
IC m’a permis d’apprendre avec beaucoup de précision à faire le Travail. J’ai développé de la confiance par rapport à cet outil. J’ai trouvé beaucoup de soutien et de la motivation à faire le Travail à côté d’ autres personnes. Jamais de conseils sur la façon dont je devais résoudre mes problèmes (je n’aurais pas du tout aimé ça), mais seulement sur la manière de faire le Travail. Lire le Travail des autres est aidant aussi.
J’ai été étonnée de voir comment souvent le Travail était efficace pour résoudre mes problèmes, petit à petit. Ça m’a motivée et donné envie de faire du Travail un outil de développement personnel pour le plus longtemps possible.
Maintenant j’ai une meilleure relation avec ma soeur, je suis contente de passer du temps avec elle. J’ai beaucoup moins de ressentiment envers mon ex-mari. Je ressasse beaucoup moins les choses du passé. Je n’ai presque plus de tristesse et de regret par rapport à mon fils. Je vois qu’il a une vie satisfaisante malgré tout.
Et j’ai confiance de disposer d’un outil puissant. Et de la précieuse communauté qu’est IC.
I was having difficulty with a friend who I felt was too negative for me to hang around with anymore. I’d been doing my own worksheets but wasn’t really getting any closer to feeling peaceful about it.
Trying to work the problem on my own felt like banging my head against a wall. I knew there was a way through it but I just couldn’t find it.
The feedback from others reading my work meant that certain things I wrote down in my worksheets got fed back to me. People supported me by telling me that my work was resonating with them or that they could relate. I suddenly didn’t feel so guilty about having negative thoughts.
Other people in Inquiry Circle helped me to examine different aspects of my problem. By having help from those sitting outside my “mess” they could guide me into deeper inquiry – looking into spaces where I would have never looked before on my own. I found the spoken work particularly powerful during this time.
The person I had all the issues with is now back in my life in a different capacity. We’re not friends but we can be easily in each other’s company calmly and securely. It feels great! Inquiry Circle is truly a community like no other.
Inquiry Circle costs $560/year and is an annual membership. You have the option to renew or cancel each year.
The Work 101, the prerequisite for joining Inquiry Circle costs $740 and includes a 9-week membership in Inquiry Circle as well as a personal trainer.
Yes, if you would like to participate and have financial need, pleas contact us to apply for a scholarship.
No, some participants do only spoken work, joining in our Drop-in sessions, Monday Zoom calls, Monthly Seminars, and Virtual Retreats. As the size of our community grows, there will be more Drop-in Sessions for spoken work. Ideally, I would love to have them available 24/7. But in the meantime, written work is already available 24/7 on the forum.
Yes, you can participate as much or as little as you like in Inquiry Circle. We are there 24/7 for you, but we enourage you to listen to yourself and follow your own inner guidance about when and how much to participate.
Yes, we have templates that are compatible with phone, tablet, and computer use.
As a part of our community, you’ll start getting your inner work done. That means:
If you’re not finding the time or the energy for your inner work, the problem can get worse. Stress has a tendency to keep building up. If you do nothing:
Go from feeling alone and not getting your inner work done to feeling supported and making inner freedom a priority in your life.
Start by taking The Work 101.
If you have already taken The Work 101, please use the form below to apply.
Please submit your application to join Inquiry Circle by filling in the form below.
Thank you for your application. I'll check your prerequisites and send you an email.
We are not meant to live stressed lives. Learn how to address the root cause of your stress and find your freedom again. Otherwise, stress will keep accumulating. Learn how to break the cycle of stress here.
