Circles to Restore Harmony

Teachings by Richard Wagamese

The following teaching is by Richard Wagamese in his written work One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet. This is only part of his teachings, if you would like to read the entire teaching, please see his chapter “The First Ceremony: The Sacred Breath” pages 69-92.

“Breath is an unconscious action. It happens of its own accord. When we emerge into this reality, breathing is the first act we perform as independent living beings. Our lungs fill with the Sacred Breath and we cry for contact.

In fact, our entire journey on the planet is marked by two remarkably interconnected things—the will to keep breathing and the yearning for physical and spiritual contact. […]

In the Ojibway world, as long as we breathe we carry Creator within us. There is no separation between us and our Creator. There is no spiritual journey required to find a point of contact, no elaborate system of faith, no necessary rites or commandments.

All we need to do is breathe to know that our Creator resides within us and always will. The teaching is that because we are joined by the one Sacred Breath there can never be separation. We are joined eternally to Creator and therefore to Creation. […]

Because when you accept that you are a sacred part of everything, no greater and no lesser than anything, you are accepting that you can never truly be separate, that the flow of the nurturing, empowering and healing energy of Creation is within you and around you at all times.”

In this way, we perceive the interconnectedness of all things. The framework is dynamic and actionable, breathing with us and symbolizing the inward and outward motions of the breath. It acknowledges the cyclical nature of learning, moving outward and then returning inward.

In the same chapter Richard Wagamese connects breath to a teaching from Lorraine Sinclair as they walked together by a river:

“We were walking by a river and I told her how discouraged I was. I told her that I wanted to be a force for change. I wanted a better world, not only for my people but for everyone. She listened and walked silently.

When we got a small inlet cut out by the current she stopped and bent over to retrieve a pebble. Then she looked at me and smiled and I knew she understood that I was sincere.

“This is how you change the world,” she said and tossed the pebble. It plopped into the water and we watched as the ripples spread out from the splash and ringed to the shore at our feet.

“The smallest circles first,” she said. “The smallest circles first.”

It took some time for me to grasp the implication of what she said and put it into the proper perspective for myself, but when I did I realized what an incredible gift my friend had given me. She was telling me to do what was doable and to do it right now. The smallest circles first.

Because sometimes the face of change is huge, galactic, and trying to discern a method to implement it confounds us and we don’t know where to begin.

Generally, this is because we have been able to convince ourselves as a species that we are the highest order of beings in the world and that we should be able to conquer anything. We went to the moon, for gosh sake. We created technology that allows us to communicate instantly around the entire planet. The evidence of our greatness is everywhere.

So we gallop gallantly into the fray, convinced that we can arrange things to suit us. But we’re often defeated by size. The scope of what’s needed is too enormous and we sit and ponder and reflect and we’re flummoxed that we can’t solve the big issues. We think we need to change it all at once. We’re convinced that solutions are instantaneous because that’s what we’ve come to expect of ourselves.

Lorraine was telling me that the opposite was true. If I were to concentrate my energy on the things that were achievable right now within my circle of influence, change would happen. If I determined to act differently toward the people and situations in my stream of life, change would happen.

Then, if I chose to believe, if I gave my thought energy to the process, it would stimulate and attract like energy. Small circles of influence would develop everywhere and more change would happen.

That humble energy, the kind that says, “I will do what I can do right now in my own small way,” creates a ripple effect on the world. I believe that’s true and it’s what this book is all about.

Take that first ceremony out into the world [the breath]. Carry it to your small circle of influence. Share it. Send that energy out and watch as other small circles ripple outward from that.

My people say that change is the one constant universal law—everything is affected by change—and the energy that propels it is humility, and humility’s spiritual byproduct is sharing.

When sharing happens, loads are lessened and results increase. When sharing happens, the great nurturing wheel of energy is further empowered. It begins with a humble effort—the smallest circles first. […]

Humble beings exist as a matter of fact. They do not draw attention to themselves. They exist quietly. They live simply and they simply live. As the Ojibway watched the Earth, as they learned her rhythms and her motions, they and other Indigenous people around the world learned that humility is the most powerful force in Creation. Out of humility spring the Teachings and out of the Teachings spring Principles.

For if humility is the fertile soil from which all things sprout and grow, then Principles, those ongoing acts of humility – the relentless march to our highest possible expression of ourselves – are the vegetation of our being. One cannot exist without the other.

For just as great trees breathe in during the process we call photosynthesis and exhale in the process known as transpiration to create water vapour, which becomes rain that falls down to nurture the soil. It’s a circle. It is never-ending. It is continuous. It is a humble relationship.”

Richard Wagamese talks about these teachings in relation to the Sacred Breath Ceremony; as education is ceremony, learning is a spiritual process, and the teaching of breath is interconnected with all life and lives journey, including education. Further, as we work to decolonize education, we must start with a humble beginning. Do what is doable now. Learn, listen, understand, create, and share. Let the circles guide your own lifelong learning and let that ripple outwards.

Circular Learning

Circular Learning refers to a wholistic and relational approach to education that aligns with Indigenous worldviews emphasizing interconnectedness and cyclical understanding of knowledge. Unlike linear learning models, which often prioritize sequential progressions, hierarchies, or finite ends, circular learning prioritizes lifelong learning and continuous reflection. It understands that learning is a journey, not a destination and everyone in a learning space is considered both teacher and learner. This approach revisits and integrates new knowledge, creating a continuous and interconnected process that enhances meaning and understanding. Circular Learning aligns with traditional pedagogies and serves as a tool for decolonization. It challenges Eurocentric models by creating inclusive spaces where learning is rooted in wholistic approaches, relationships, and growth. Circular learning focuses on wholistic development, ensuring that physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects are integrated into the learning process. Learning is seen as a continuous lifelong process, with learners revisiting concepts and experiences from new perspectives as they grow and are given space to reflect. This mirrors the Medicine Wheel, where knowledge and experience evolves in cycles, deepening understanding over time. Circular learning can mean revisiting the beginning once again, at the end; it engages the concept that learning is never finite but always ongoing.

Circular learning mirrors the cycles observed in nature, seasons, and life stages, reflecting the ongoing and dynamic nature of understanding.

“All is one circle. Traditional Anishinaabe people feel a kinship with everything – animals, plants, stones, mountains, rainbows, stars, etc. All are addressed as relatives.

This is why Anshininaabeg think and live in the realm of circles. Circles are seen in all of nature.

“Man (sic) looked out on the physical world through the eye, which was circular. The Earth was round, and so were the Sun, Moon, and planets. The rising and setting of the Sun followed a circular motion. The seasons formed a circle. Birds build their nests in circles, Animals marked their territories in circles” (Meadows, 1990, p. 34).

Anishinaabe people gather together in a circle and think of their communities as circles, of the races of humankind as a circle. The physical structure of the cosmos, from the smallest particle to the very walls of the universe, is a circle [...] the universe, is a circle.

And all these circles are part of one Great Circle of Existence. The acknowledgement of everything in creation as having spirit and is therefore sacred is manifested in ceremony when ‘all my relations’ is spoken after prayers are said.

“The expression ‘all my relations’ proclaims a profound reality: As we make our way through life we travel in a relational existence. Because all parts of life are interrelated, these relationships provide wholeness to existence” (Bell, 2013, p.100)

Indigenous pedagogy cannot come into existence in a linear or hierarchical way, but rather in a cyclical way moving within all directions in interaction with other forces (Bell, 2014). In making this move from linear models to cyclical, it guides development for the future.

Interconnectivity is a common theme within circular learning which you will begin to experience throughout this framework. While you move through Braiding Learning, we encourage you to make your own personal connections.

• What do you see, or feel?
• How does this relate to your teaching practice or role?

Wholistic Approaches to Education

Braiding Learning has been organized using the Wholistic Medicine wheel to support the process of Circular Learning. It is important to note there are countless medicine wheels across Turtle Island, not all are the same, and not all Indigenous Nations use medicine wheels. The wheel can have multiple implications and different colours or attributes in different directions. One Anishnawabe Medicine wheel discusses the importance of wholism: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects being considered in a circular notion. The circle represents different aspects such as the circle of life, the circle of self-awareness, the circle of knowledge, interconnectivity and balance and therefore can be used to guide any journey including the educational process (Bell, 2014). Physical is represented with yellow in the east, mental with red in the south, emotional with black in the west, and spiritual with white in the north. However, these colours are new: traditionally, Medicine Wheels were made from rocks.

Bell shares knowledge on one of the medicine wheels in relation to education:

“While there is some variation in its teachings and representations, the underlying web of meaning to Medicine Wheels remains the same: the importance of appreciating and respecting the ongoing interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all things.

Therefore, there is no “right” or “wrong” way of representing or using Medicine Wheels: all forms hold particular meaning to the various Indigenous nations while all transmit a common understanding of the interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all things.

The wheel drawing simply begins by making a circle. Superimposed on this circle are four equidistant points. These points symbolically identify the power/medicine of the four directions (east, south, west, north) using four different colours. The final drawing resembles a compass for human understanding. [...]

There are many different ways that Elders and traditional teachers have expressed the four directions: the four teachings, the four winds, the four cardinal directions, and many other relationships that can be expressed in sets of four. [...]

Calliou reminds us that “Medicine Wheels can be pedagogical tools for teaching, learning, contemplating, and understanding our human journeys at individual, band/community, nation, global, and even cosmic levels. Within Medicine Wheels there are many, many “rings” of teachings that exist. [...]

While Indigenous worldview articulates that Indigenous people need to develop themselves, including their children, in a holistic way that addresses their spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental capacities, they need to address how to transmit learning through all of those personal aspects. [...]

Moving from linear models to the interconnectedness of the circle can guide the development of pedagogy and vision for the future.

Wisdom becomes the goal of any educational process including living – to say that we are truly knowledgeable as a person is to say that we not only “know” what is valued by a nation, but that we have lived our life in such a way that we have experienced what we know and can therefore be considered wise.

Indigenous knowledge and worldview is attained by choosing to do what is necessary to obtain multiple perspectives from which to view the world. This in-depth searching for knowledge is what leads to wisdom.

Wisdom is achieved by first becoming aware of the learning through all the senses, requiring the learning to be introduced to the students in multiple modalities.

Understanding is achieved by providing students with enough time to solidify the learning so that they are able replicate the learning.

A deeper understanding is achieved by students relating to the learning at a deeper level to become knowledgeable to the point that they are able to apply the learning in any situation.

To say that the students have achieved wisdom requires that they are able to create some action with the learning and teach it to others.

While the above examples are specific to an Anishinaabe culture-based educational setting, the teachings of Medicine Wheels provide an educational framework that can be applied to any educational setting.

The fundamental concepts of wholeness, inter-relationship, inter-connectedness and balance/respect are valuable for all.” (Bell, 2014).

The medicine wheel can support in decolonizing education in several ways, the ways which we will focus on here are the following:

Learning Approach

Wholistic approaches to learning recognize that the learning process encompasses the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual dimensions of all individuals involved. Wholistic approaches strive to create an inclusive environment where individual talents are celebrated, and each learner finds meaning through connection in all the intended directions (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual):

“With the technological advances of video, television and film, our world has become a combined oral/literate/visual one. This combination has exciting possibilities for First Nations because it is nearing the traditional holistic approach to teaching and learning which is needed to heal our people who have been adversely affected by history” (Archibald in Kirkness, 2001, p. 11).

Wholistic Approaches empower learners in their education by creating a learning environment that fosters well-rounded development and meaningful engagement. This approach recognizes the interconnectedness of these dimensions and their collective impact on a learner’s ability to thrive. Wholistic approaches also incorporates creating trauma informed learning environments, supporting learner’s gifts, self-determination, critical thinking, creating meaning with content, connection, emotional ties, and empowering learners to see themselves in the things they do.

Wholistic approaches could include many different strategies, including but not limited to: learning by doing, group work, oral storytelling, apprenticeship, building self-efficacy, place-based learning, and framing “failure/mistakes”¹ as learning opportunities. These approaches ensure that learners have multiple avenues to engage in their educational journey at every stage of the process.

¹ If we are learning, is it ever truly a failure?

Learning Directions

In Eurocentric learning, education levels are seen as hierarchical. A wholistic approach to learning progression, which utilizes the medicine wheel, takes on four directions of circular learning rather than a hierarchy: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual but sometimes referred to with other titles.

Both approaches deepen understanding through learning progression; however, the medicine wheel prioritizes circular learning as discussed prior. This model allows for the continuous revisitation of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual directions. As learners grow, revisiting concepts and experiences from new perspectives deepens or creates new connections to the material, promoting interconnected learning where knowledge and experience evolve in cycles.

As you work through the directions below, you will see each ring in the framework has been connected to a Learning Direction, but we encourage you to also make your own connections and understand that as learning is a continuous process, rings may fit multiple directions at times.

Physical

the physical direction is often the direction in which we enter the wheel as it is the direction in which the sun rises. Here, learners are learning something for the first time or revisiting prior learning to enhance comprehension: “Students welcome and discover thoughts, impressions and information from a multitude of senses and teachers (the secular, the sacred, the formal, the informal)” (Toulouse, 2016, p. 11). It is important to establish safer spaces from the beginning onward for learners to feel supported and encouraged while developing and practicing with skills, knowledge, and attitudes. One way this can happen is through relationship building.

“The attitude of openness that a student develops at the first level of spiritual learning supports each student in feeling that their identity is honoured and they can begin to build supportive relationships with classmates, teachers, community members and others whose paths they will encounter in their educational journey. [...] Attention to relationships in the physical or virtual classroom provides an interpersonal skill base for students’ journey into a career and service outside of academia” (LaFever, 2016, p. 414).

• Reflective Practice
• Fostering Inclusivity

Mental

The mental direction is located in the south and is closely aligned to critical thinking and responding to information. Expanding learners' minds, ways of thinking, and encouraging open-mindedness to multiple perspectives. Empowering learners to think on their own, build curiosity, and apply those skills in ways that are meaningful to them.

“Students internalize and implement appropriate strategies to solve a multitude of issues/problems, with personal humility and collective integrity at the heart of it” (Toulouse, p. 9, 2016).

• Mindful Learning
• Empowering Curiosity

Emotional

The emotional direction is in the west and includes valuing and applying meaning to what is being learned. It encourages creating an emotional connection between learning and what learners see in relation to the bigger picture, outside the institution.

“There is strong evidence to indicate that emotions and reactions should be aired as part of the educational experience. From the functional perspective, repressed emotions are a block to effective absorption of material. Henry (1989) notes that the determination not to neglect the human side of learning and to acknowledge the role of affect alongside cognition is central to experiential models. Some claim that contemporary culture ‘offers only one guiding norm about feelings: control.’ Western Schools restrict emotional content. Education has been dominated by the Eurocentric emphasis on the intellect, which has been regarded as the controller of emotions. From the critical perspective as a tool of consciousness-raising, there is a close link between emotion and motivation to act. In Freirian pedagogy, ‘learning to name the world’ starts with identifying issues that the students speak about with excitement, hope, fear, anxiety or anger” (Bell, 2013, p. 98).

• Creating Connection
• Authentic Experiences

Spiritual

The spiritual direction is in the North. LaFever (2016) explains spiritual learning in five sub-categories:

• Honouring: conscious or aware of learning that is not based in material or physical things, and transcends narrow self-interest;
• Valued: building relationships that honour the importance, worth, or usefulness of qualities that are related to the welfare of the human spirit;
• Connected: build/develop a sense of belonging (group identity/cohesion) in the classroom, community, culture, etc.;
• Empowered: provide support and feel supported by an environment that encourages strength and confidence, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights;
• Self-actualized: ability as a unique entity in the group to become what one is meant to be.

Ultimately, the spiritual direction is when knowledge, experience, and learning change our way of knowing, being, connecting, and operating in the world: “If research doesn't change you as a person, then you haven't done it right” (Shawn Wilson, 2008, p. 135). We learn about the spirit by connecting to our identity.

• Knowledge Creation
• Circular Learning

From this understanding, how do you envision using wholistic approaches (the Medicine Wheel) in your teaching practice?