News

Community News Roundup – December 2021

• Authentic Revolution is starting another Authentic Life Course on December 11. They also have a new professional training program, Authentic Facilitator, that is very impressive, and starting very soon (Nov. 30 and January 10). Sara Ness and Geof Krum traveled all over interviewing and filming skilled facilitators. The content goes way beyond simple AR, and they have also put together a heavy-hitter team which includes Megan Taylor Morrison and Jason Digges . There is a good chance I will take this course myself once I am done with the Level Up.
• Peter Will Benjamin and The Connection Institute is presenting a free workshop, How Honest Are We Really Being on Thursday Dec 2 at 2pm EST. They are also starting a new cohort of Relational Leadership Academy (in person) in January, doing a new UnTriggered course starting January 11, and ongoing Parts Theater and Badass Boundaries workshops.
• ART International has too much going on for me the enumerate here. Just let me mention ART of Leadership Level 3 in Bali and Costa Rica in 2022, a new program The ART of Authentic Dating which starts Dec. 2 (intro webinar recording here), and quite a few more.
• The Circling Institute has an online Explorer Weekend on Dec. 18-19, along with their usual Thursday evening (6pm PST) drop-in Circling
• Josh Stein from the (newly-rebranded) Awkward Leadership School has an Art of Being Real mini-intensive on Dec. 18. He is also going to be offering a monthly Mastermind to members of the Authentic Relating Event Facilitators Facebook group.
• I will be offering a free weekly Mastermind Circling for AR Leaders & Wannabe’s as well on the AR Facilitators Facebook (this is a different format than Josh’s, and you would also need to join the facebook group to see it). The timings is Thursdays at 2pm EST (except for the weeks in which Josh is running his event).
• Finally, I have one final Introduction to Mastermind Circles today, Sunday at 2pm EST (in a few hours). Buy tickets here. Committed groups will be forming in December, if you are interested in learning more you can reply to this mail. What I am calling “Mastermind Circling” is like Masterminding with more connection intent, or maybe Circling with more developmental intent. It’s super-fun and often very transformational, especially over time.

In this issue of the Circling Guide Newsletter (a lot to cover here):

1. The Circling Federation is being formed!
2. Circling Guide, 2nd Edition release (please do me a favor and review it)
3. ART International and Circling Europe resume in-person courses
4. Join me at Level Up Circling Facilitation training
5. Authentic Relating, Intentional Community and Eco-Villages: a personal check-in
6. New connection entrepreneur networking group launches: VYVE

1. The Circling Federation is now formed

The Circling Federation, holding the newly awarded trademarks for Circling™ and Circling Method™, is now formed as an association between three major circling schools: The Circling Institute, Circling Europe, and Robert MacNaughton’s Integral Centered Leadership.

The trademark application was approved in April of 2020 and led to considerable controversy in the community. In the end and as a result of these discussions, the Circling Institute who requested the trademark agreed to transfer it to an association of the current major schools. Some of us think that this is a much better result than was originally proposed, and congruent with the idea of Circling as a partnership and collective emergence. It is possible going forward, however, that it will be necessary to pay royalty fees for running “Circling”, and/or that providers who are not graduates of the 3 founding schools will be barred entirely from using the brand name.

As a representative of the school of “cowboy circling” myself (meaning: let’s all go out and lead as best we can, humbly apologizing for the mistakes that all beginner leaders make), I wasn’t initially too happy with the change. However, it does seem fair that the 3 groups who worked hardest and longest to build up the Circling practice (Robert MacNaughton stepping in on behalf of the now-defunct Boulder Integral Center) would own the trademark. As such, I wish success to the new Federation, and hope that this will be a positive step for the Authentic Relating movement as a whole. To note that “Authentic Relating” will remain forever an open-source brand, and others are rebranding under “Relational Leadership” and similar words.

2. Circling Guide, 2nd Edition release (please do me a favor and review it)

I have released a 2nd Edition of the Circling Guide to print, Kindle and audiobook. It contains new chapters with significantly expanded content and contexts, including my attempt to place Circling within the currently exploding “we-space movement”, distinctions between Circling and NVC, between Circling and Authentic Relating, description of the modality we created called Mastermind Circles (the name may need to change), updated sample leader formats, and more.

Can you do me a favor? If you liked the first edition, or else are able to skim the new edition, please review it on Amazon, as I lost all the reviews in the edition upgrade. Also, now that the Circling Guide is here to stay (it’s 3 years old after all), I want to do some marketing of it (oh, horrors!) and perhaps find a publisher. If you have any ideas about that, please reply to this mail.

3. ART International and Circling Europe resume in-person courses

ART International is offering in-person courses in  Copenhagen, Costa Rica and Boulder CO (details here). While Circling Europe is resuming in-person programs in Malmo and London (details here).

I continue to be amazed at the scope and vitality of ART and Circling Europe. Also, I took an ART Level 1 in January/February and it was fantastic. Highly recommended.

4. Join me at Level Up Circling Facilitation training!

I had a very good talk with the folks at Austin Circling Studio (who now run CircleAnywhere as well) about the Level Up Circling Training. To make a long story short, I was sold! For the price ($500/mth x 8) it’s an incredible value in terms of both personal guidance and group work. And you can apply for certification at the end! I intend to start as soon as I settle down from my travels (see below).

Maybe you want to join me? Circling is always more fun with your friends 🙂 .

5. Authentic Relating, Intentional Community and Eco-Villages: a personal check-in

I have always thought of residential intentional communities and eco-villages as the leading edge (“rubber hits the road”) of human culture. Well, I have finally surrendered to the inevitable and am starting a tour of intentional communities with the goal of finding one to settle down.

If you want to read more and/or follow my journeys there, you can subscribe to my Author blog. And if you are also passionate about bringing Authentic Relating into intentional communities and eco-villages, I am forming an interest group which may end up running Developmental Groups for free or cheap. If interested, subscribe to the Manifesting Community site.

6. New connection entrepreneur networking group launches: VYVE

In April I joined new network called VYVE, which is a kind of professional development network for connection entrepreneurs of all stripes, be they Authentic Relating, NVC, producers for parties or corporate events, dance DJ’s, professional educators, corporate consultants, and more. I think this group fulfills an important function, of providing support and connection for the facilitators, many of us being quite lonely ourselves (surprise, surprise). Jacques has put together an amazing group of global entrepreneurs and connection facilitators, and I recommend you read the vision (Note: it’s not necessary to pay for a subscription, there is a free option).

Jacques has an infectious enthusiasm, a great deal of energy and is an excellent writer. You will be hearing more about this, as the month I spent there really changed me (I will resume with VYVE when I settle down from my travels)

Community News & Events

CircleAnywhere, the world’s largest online Circling group which is now under management by Jordan Allen and the Austin Circling Studio, has a new high-level training / certification program called Level Up. Way to go, Jordan!

Peter Benjamin’s Connection Institute is also starting a new certification program, specifically targeted towards developing facilitators in European time zones, and is therefore very affordable. Their online platform is also growing, with 3 or more events per day now.

The Circling Institute has a beautiful new website and some great new free training, How to turn any conversation into a life-changing event and Courageous Conversations

There are several new online A/R groups (at least new to me — I will be adding them to the book and the website). Check out:

• Authentic Relating Go (Montreal, QC)
• Evolutionary Relating (Australia)
• Circling Cornwall (UK)
• Let’s Be Authentic (Philadelphia, PA)

Please let me know if I am missing anything important!

And finally, my own Mastermind Circles offer has been very well received. All the events have been super-inspiring and there are two private circles forming in January. There will be one final intro event in January before the new circles start, on Saturday Jan. 9, 2pm EST.

It’s a great pleasure for me personally, by the way, to see more and more Circling and A/R training organizations starting to present A/R as a developmental practice. To the extent that emotional intelligence is, nowadays, the greatest predictor of success and happiness, it stands to reason. I find Jordan’s offer (above) especially eloquent on that topic.

From my two new blogs…

What to do during the endless days and hours of this last terrible year? Eat, watch TV and write blog posts! I have been pulling my weight there. Many of these are intensely personal, others are just for laughs or entertainment.

If you like, please comment and/or subscribe!

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