I discovered Circling in 2011, and within a year my life changed completely. I went from painful social anxiety to stepping into leadership — a kind of transformation I hadn’t experienced in over a decade of seeking through other personal growth methods. In all the meditation, psychology, and inner work I’d done before, nothing had accelerated my growth the way relational practice did. I was witnessing the same thing in others: people making leaps, becoming aware of lifelong patterns, clarifying their needs and desires, and learning how to express them. I began a quest to understand why.
I spent the next several years traveling — Boulder to Amsterdam, Austin to Bali — studying with the major leaders in the Circling and Authentic Relating field, facilitating hundreds of groups, and asking myself one question: what are the core elements that are actually facilitating this growth?
Growing up in a family that went to church 2-3 times a week, with my uncle being a preacher, shaped my life’s path to be curious about community and spirituality. I’d experienced the warmth of deep community, but it came packaged with divisive dogma. What drew me to Authentic Relating was that it offered that same sense of belonging and purpose without requiring anyone to believe in anything. It pointed toward something I’d been searching for my whole life: a way for people to come together around what we share, while celebrating our differences instead of fighting over them.
That question eventually became a book. In 2020 I published Conflict = Energy: The Transformative Practice of Authentic Relating, a synthesis of everything I’d learned into a practical guide for transforming our relational lives. Along the way, I co-founded ART International, started the first podcast for the global AR community, and brought The Art of Being Human course to over 20 cities worldwide. I’ve trained hundreds of facilitators and worked with thousands of participants since 2012.
Before all of this, I spent a decade (2003–2014) producing educational media for Ken Wilber on transpersonal psychology, spirituality, and personal growth. That work immersed me in educational design, learning how to structure complex material so it actually lands, how to sequence ideas for different audiences, and how to make the profound feel practical. By the time I stepped into facilitation, I’d already spent ten years thinking about how people learn and grow. It shaped everything about how I teach.
My life’s work lives at the place where our differences meet. Conflict in our relationships is scary and painful for all of us, and yet it holds the key to a thriving life, because our differences provide the energy for real growth.
My current work is mentoring facilitators in business and course development, and ghostwriting/editing non-fiction books.
