Rules of participation and rules of the circle

These rules are not about discipline but about safety: they make the circle a place where the truth can be said without fear. The leader keeps them first — they bind him exactly as they bind everyone else.

Taking part

Free at every level. Not one step of the practice opens for money — not now, not later. A gift is possible only after a level is finished and only if you want to; it changes nothing.
You may leave on any day. With no explanation and no consequences. The door opens both ways; you can come back too.
From eighteen years old.
A missed day is not a failure. There is one rule: never miss two days in a row. One miss breaks nothing.
Twelve places in a cohort. Not an artificial scarcity, but the size of a circle in which everyone can be heard.

The circle

The right to stay silent. You may come and say nothing. That is full participation, not a refusal.
What is said in the circle stays in the circle. Retelling someone else's words outside it is not done, even without names.
We speak about ourselves and about facts. “I held my tongue when I wanted to sting” — yes. “Everyone around me is irritating” — no.
No advice until it is asked for. And no judging of anyone's practice: comparison kills a circle faster than anything.
Timing. An hour and a half, round the circle, each with their own time. The leader watches the clock, not the correctness.
No arguing about faith or politics. We argue with no one and convert no one. People of any faith and of none are here as equals.

What is not here

No guru. The leader is not a teacher or a mentor but a senior practitioner who walked this road a few steps earlier. He keeps a diary too, and he fails too.
No initiations, degrees or chosen ones. The levels of the practice are depth and time, not titles.
No obligations. No vows, no fees, no compulsory participation in anything afterwards.
No preaching. We do not invite you to join anything or to renounce anything.

About health — important

The practice is training of character inside an ordinary day: attention, speech, work. It is not medical care and not psychotherapy. The leader does not diagnose, does not overrule your doctor and does not work with trauma.

If things are very hard for you right now — if there are thoughts of death, if anxiety or grief will not let you live — turn to a doctor or a psychologist. That is not a refusal but co-measurement: support first, training after. If you are in Russia, free and anonymous help: the Emergency Psychological Aid service of the Russian Ministry of Emergencies, +7 495 989-50-50, around the clock, also online; in an acute situation, 112. Elsewhere, look up your local crisis line — for example, findahelpline.com. The practice can wait; you cannot.

What we ask in return

One thing only: honesty in the records. Nobody checks or grades the practice diary — it is for you. An embellished diary deceives exactly one person.

Data

We treat what you write with care: in detail in the privacy policy. In short: only what is necessary, passed to no one, deleted at your first word.

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