🌀 The Wisdom of Returning: Circular Medicine in a Linear World
- Living in Sanctuary
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
We live in a world ruled by lines. Timelines. Deadlines. To-do lists and growth charts. taught to move forward, to get ahead, to progress in straight, measurable ways. But deep down — in our bodies, in our breath, in our bones — we know another rhythm.
We are made of circles, spirals.
The earth is round. So is the moon, the seed, the womb. When we drop a stone in water, it sends out ripples in widening rings. Shells spiral. Trees grow in rings. Our lives unfold in cycles. Seasons return. The breath rises and falls. The heart pulses. Our healing — when we truly listen — moves not in a line, but in a spiral.
This is the wisdom of circular medicine — a way of living, sensing, and healing that honours rhythm over rush. It is a way of returning and remembering.
🌿 Returning As a Pathway to Wisdom
Often, we think that to heal or grow, we must leave something behind forever. But life, in its quiet wisdom, brings us back — not to repeat the past, but to see it anew. To gather something we didn’t notice before. To meet ourselves more gently.
Here are some of the ways we return — and the wisdom these returns offer:
Returning to a place from childhood and seeing it with new eyes — realizing how much you've grown, or forgiving something that once felt heavy.
“I learned I carry that younger version of me, but I’ve grown roots.”
Returning to your breath in times of overwhelm — and remembering it as an anchor.
“I learned that safety lives inside me.”
Returning to a pattern in a relationship — and finally choosing something different.
“I learned that love does not require self-abandonment.”
Returning to your creative practice — writing, dancing, painting — after years away.
“I learned that I don’t need to be good at it for it to heal me.”
Returning to your own body after numbing, illness, or disconnection.
“I learned that my body is not my enemy — it is a wise companion.”
Returning to the same wound or grief — but feeling it more gently this time.
“I learned that healing is not forgetting, but meeting myself with compassion.”
Returning to the earth — bare feet on grass, swimming in the ocean, touching a tree.
“I learned that I belong to something bigger than my thoughts.”
Returning to silence after noise, busyness, or distraction.
“I learned that the answers live in the quiet.”
Returning to a ritual, a practice, or a circle — and receiving something new each time.
“I learned that truth arrives in layers, not all at once.”
Circles As Sacred Medicine
Yesterday in our women’s circles, we honour this spiral way. We sit in circle — where every woman is a part of the whole, where every voice matters, where healing arises from presence.
The circle is an ancient shape. A sacred shape. It teaches us that we return not to repeat, but to reclaim. We return to our bodies, to our truths, to our softness, to the places and practices that once felt lost, and we find them changed… because we are changed.
✨ An Invitation
I invite you to pause today and ask yourself:
What are you being called to return to?
A truth you’ve forgotten?
A practice you’ve set aside?
A part of yourself you once abandoned?
There may be medicine waiting there.
Not the medicine of fixing or forcing — but the kind that comes from simply arriving, again, with new eyes and an open heart.
About Bhavani:
Bhavani is a yoga and somatic therapist, women's circle facilitator, and co-founder of Sanctuary Hill Wellness Retreat in Aotearoa New Zealand. With over 15 years of experience guiding retreats and healing spaces, she weaves together ancient traditions and body-based wisdom to create gentle, powerful spaces of transformation. Her work is rooted in the belief that true healing arises from softness, presence, and connection to the rhythms of nature.
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