The light had shifted again by the time the next activity began. Now, in the soft lull of late afternoon, the air inside the gathering hall had the golden hush of a lullaby. Shadows stretched long across the wooden floors, and there was the faint scent of eucalyptus drifting from a diffuser in the corner. The facilitators had arranged chairs in pairs, facing each other, just slightly apart—intimate, but not too close. Not too soon.

It was called “The Mirror Round.”

The idea was ...