The Empathy Circle: The Foundational Practice for Experiential Empathy Training
Speaker: Edwin Rutsch (15 min)
Empathy Summit: A Global Review of Empathy Training Programs - Saturday, October 3, 2026
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Bio: Edwin Rutsch is Founding Director of The Empathy Center, and a leading organizer in the global Empathy Movement. He is the creator and long-time advocate of the Empathy Circle practice—a simple yet powerful tool for personal growth, building understanding and bridging divides. (LinkedIn) (Facebook) (Website)
Topic: The Empathy Circle: The Foundational Practice for Experiential Empathy Training
Abstract: Empathy cannot be mastered merely as an intellectual concept—it must be directly felt, embodied and practiced. The Empathy Circle offers a simple, highly structured, and accessible practice that provides an immediate, experiential entry point into empathy training. In this talk, Edwin introduces how the Empathy Circle serves as the foundational, practical gateway for cultivating mutual active listening and deep understanding, and how it anchors the broader vision of the open-source Empathy Movement Training Curriculum.