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How
Contact the people in your group asking if anyone would like to share a gift / make an offering to the whole group in an upcoming session. The gift / offering can be anything the person would like to share; a story, poem, song, dance, video, etc. You can establish this as a pattern so that each session begins with a gift / offering.
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Why
Starting with a gift is a soft way in which you can start a meeting. It can help bring people into the same space mentally and physically as well as create time for people to bond. It can also allow us to get to know each other a bit better by seeing what specific group members bring as gifts, reminding everyone that there is more to each person than a specific identity category like their job, nationality, ethnicity, gender, etc.
Example
In the Community of Practice the following gifts / offerings were shared:
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Sharing Gifts / Making Offerings
From Yvan Biot
From Pat Black and from Diana Garduño Jiménez