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Meet the Founder
Tej Steiner
Founder & Trainer of
the Heart Circle Model
My Story: From infancy to eighteen I lived as an
eagle-scouting, paper-routing, all-American kind of boy from St. Louis,
Missouri.
Then came college and the confusion that comes
when little is taught that's relevant to life: about how to live in
integrity or how to love with conviction. But it was also the Sixties!
I expanded into the excitement and experimentation of those
transformative years; led marches against the war, got expelled from
college and drafted by the army. Rather than participate in a war that
I was against, I hitchhiked to Canada and immediately started an
organization to help other war resisters who had come north. This
seemed like an obvious choice to me but my family disagreed: my father
and brother were both Marines.
Interview with Tej
Steiner
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In Canada, I spent the next fourteen years building community and
looking for my own inner peace through yoga and meditation. Became head
of an ashram and co-founded a massage therapy school and a health food
store. Got good at teaching yoga but part of me stayed closed.
Then, in the mid 80's, I found my life's work. A
doctor in Toronto introduced me to small-group dynamics. For the next
four years I studied with him the magic that small circles weave, how
they make people accountable, more intentional, more connected to each
other. I stopped trying to transcend my problems and did my own
'shadow' work. As I did this, my heart began to open. I fell in love
with forming circles and found my gift for 'holding space'. As an
independent group facilitator, I kept discovering how this ancient
circle form brings people into balance so community can take root.
In 1989, I moved back to the U.S. during Desert
Storm. Same war: different name. But something else had changed. The
country had become more polarized. I saw how hungry half the people
were for personal transformation and progressive social change. And I
saw the other half were too scared to open up; they needed more
control.
Fourteen years and several thousand circles later,
I developed the Heart Circle Model and wrote my
Heart Circles book. I worked
from the knowledge that circles are essential during these times of
global change and that people need to be taught how to form and
facilitate them on their own.
I had this vision of people all around the world
sitting together in circle. And with this vision my heart caught fire.
See what other have to say
about Tej
“
Tej as a faciliator is
extraordinary. I have never before seen nor experienced such a profound
level of skill, intuition and insight within a small group setting.
”
“
Tej trains from a
foundation of fearless integrity and creativity. He is skilled in group
and personal dynamics and willing to put everything on the line to get
to the bottom of the issue at hand and to remain strongly connected at
heart with others. I know all those who were trained by him were
challenged and connected with others in a deep way.
”
“
I have worked with many
masters in the area of group dynamics and facilitation: none more
intuitive and articulate than Tej Steiner. His work is truly
transformational and must be experienced if you want to understand the
power of gathering in circles. He creates strong connections between
people using the simple, but powerful inquiry, 'What do you want?'
Through circle, I have experienced profound joy, clarity, inspiration
and deep healing.
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