Circling

Circling means practicing presence in connection. It is a practice of relational meditation where we, by sharing our present moment experiences with each other, move towards a deeper sense of shared truth and connection.

It seems that the practice we now call “Circling” emerged and was discovered independently by at least 3 different groups, starting as early as 1995. The first use of the “Circling” as a name for a practice was by Guy Sengenstock and Jerry Canelaria at an event called the Arete experience.

Since then Circling has spread. It has been taught and trained by various organisations and practiced in local communities all over the world. A few years ago Guy Sengenstock and the Circling Institute has recently trademarked Circling, which has led to a lot of changes and controversies in the practice scene. The trademark is currently being contested in Europe as well as the US and it is hard to say where this will end.

What is circling?

Circling is a practice of presence in connection. When we “circle” with each other we aim to get in touch with as much of our present moment experience as possible and share what is going on. Instead of giving the rational, thought based answer or “telling a story” about ourselves we attempt to give our immediate and embodied response to hearing or being with the other.

By sharing what is really going on for us in the moment we show more of ourselves and get the chance to be seen in our raw humanness – something many have rarely experienced in their lives. It is quite a powerful experience. In addition, by dropping into presence we enable ourselves to better listen to others, to really see them in their vulnerability and beauty.

Circling in this way makes for very powerful experiences of openness and connection with others and for many opens for completely new ways of experiencing themselves and others. Authenticity, deep empathic listening and meditative presence is at the core of the practice.

What does it look like?

Most Circling workshops I have been at or led are a mix of pair and small group practice, birthday circling and some kind of big group organic practice (Similar to what relateful calls “flow” and Transformational Connection calls “surrendered leadership”).

If you go to a Circling introduction in your local area, someone will welcome you to the space and you will likely sit down in a big circle to mark the beginning of the event. Maybe there will be a short introduction to the practice, but more likely (due to the difficulty of explaining the practice without leaving the paradigm) the leader(s) will guide you into some initial exercises of dropping into presence, noticing your own experience more deeply and meeting someone from that place of increased awareness.

After that you will likely do some Birthday Circling where a small group focuses their attention on one person’s experience, typically led by an experienced Circling Leader. And maybe you will do some practice in the big group, which is oriented more towards seeing what is happening in the relational space between everyone present.

[Written by: Peter Munthe-Kaas]

Related practices

Transformational Connection is in many ways similar to Circling and Relatefulness, while Surrendered Leadership is a particular leadership paradigm and practice format, that has grown out of the practice.

Relatefulness square

Relatefulness

Relatefulness emphasises truth and love. A culture that holds practices dedicated to fostering collective consciousness and spiritual growth, an endeavour to embody the parts that truth and love both shares.

Surrendered Leadership at the Transformational Connection Festival

Surrendered Leadership

The premise for Surrendered Leadership is that in order to lead others, you must surrender yourself. It is an act of trust in yourself, life and the leadership of others. In this way you’re inviting others to lead themselves by embodying the thing you want to see in the world.

Sean Wilkinson leading Transformational Connection at the festival

Transformational Connection

Transformational Connection is a practice emphasizing presence, interconnection and aliveness. The practice helps people to explore what is really there between us through staying with present moment experience, skillful communication and embodiment.

Leaders of Circling

There are many leaders around the world who lead Circling. We have quite a few in our network, but if you can’t see anyone below who are close to where you want to practice, contact us and we can direct you to someone closer to you.

Aaron Finbloom

Aaron Finbloom

I am an ideological polytheist devoted to worshipping the Gods of: play, truth, authenticity, imagination, transformation and beauty.

Andrew Venezia

Amsterdam/US based writer, teacher, coach and (psychedelic) Guide. My core obsession is the intersection of meditation and Relational Practices — ‘Awakened Interbeing’ — and bringing its joy, aliveness, and clarity into one’s daily life, and the world, inviting the blossoming of our best and truest selves in service of the Good.

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Anežka Marie Sokol

I work for more thriving humans in a more thriving world by helping people develop relational & interpersonal skills. I work with leaders, teams and individuals. I have been in the game of process facilitation & education for 10+ years and am educated in chemical engineering, mindfulness & Circling.

Benjamin Vandewalle featured

Benjamin Vandewalle

I’m a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and relational practice facilitator based in Brussels. Rooted in meditation and trained in Transformational Connection, I weave movement and circling into spaces that deepen embodied awareness, honest dialogue, and authentic connection.

Daniel Brooks featured

Daniel Brooks

I'm a Stockholm-based facilitator working in trainings, group dynamics, and conflict management. I've been facilitating Authentic Relating games and circling for 15 years and trained at the Integral Center in Boulder, Colorado. I'm also a Zen practitioner, bringing contemplative practice into how I work with groups.

Embercombe head shot 1080x1080 square Daphne van Run

Daphne van Run

I am a long-time practitioner of Authentic Relating, Circling and Surrendered Leadership and based in the South-West of England. I truly believe we are wired for a different-than-usual level of relating that is ever-interesting, ever-evolving, nourishing and healing. I am particularly interested in the moment when self-leadership evolves into co-leadership and emergent co-creation with others, and how this way of ...

David Brundige

David Brundige

I’m an Amsterdam-based community researcher, coach, spiritual friend, and facilitator of togetherness spaces. I co-create fields of presence and realness that center togetherness in love. Since 2019, I lead circling and relational practices, and live in intentional communities since 2021.

Ellen Waenink

At the heart of what drives me is to support humanity to wake up to the importance of relationships and it's potential. I am a transformational coach, mentor, facilitator and consultant. I support clients on their path of unfolding into wholeness. My work blends relational intelligence, depth psychology, trauma-informed somatics, movement and spiritual inquiry, offering a holistic space for unfoldment.

Ernest Holm Svendsen featured

Ernest Holm Svendsen

I’m a Danish facilitator, writer, and founder of The Art of Being Human. My work guides people from self-improvement to self-discovery — uncovering the innocence, beauty, and love that appear when we stop fixing ourselves and start meeting what’s here.

Portrait Ian Kyburz

Ian Kyburz

I am a Zurich-based life and leadership coach and circling facilitator. I support people in shifting from trying to control life into leading from presence – where the next step reveals itself as we walk. This is what I call “Presence-Based Leadership”.

Jason Digges feature

Jason Digges

I am one of the pioneers of the Authentic Relating and Circling movement. I co-founded ART International, started the first podcast for the global AR community, and brought The Art of Being Human course to Bali, Europe, and over 20 cities worldwide. I have trained hundreds of facilitators and taught over a thousand participants the relating arts since 2012.

Jonathan Littauer featured

Jonathan Littauer

I am a Stavanger-based facilitator and coach. I am fascinated by the simple power of ‘being with’ - and how it impacts individual, relational, and collective levels of experience. I feel deeply drawn to the innate intelligence of life, and exploring ways to allow that intelligence to emerge, move, and guide us on our journeys.

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Magdalena Tran

I'm trained by Circling Europe (currently Transformational Connection) leading spaces where we meet truth. My passion lies in revealing what’s real, the raw, unfiltered - using the body as a gateway. Through daily meditation and tantric practices since 2019, I've learned that every moment is truth trying to emerge and when we let it… love follows.

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Mareike Christensen

I am a trained integral psychotherapist and offer conflict mediation and coaching and lead embodied and relational presencing workshops. In my workshops which I have led since 2020 people often feel both confronted and called by my truthfulness and deep attunement. I trust deeply in my experience and like to follow a sense of aliveness into the unknown.

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Markus Schnizer

My work lives at the intersection of somatic awareness and relational inquiry — what happens in and between bodies when real contact is made. My path has led me through many fields and modalities, as a performing artist, bodyworker and teacher. At the heart of it: can we be with what there is, and where is the place of more ...

Martje Witzel

I am a transformational coach, group leader and mystical artist based in Europe. For over two decades, I have worked with people in diverse contexts, weaving embodiment, soul work, ritual, trauma integration and the relational arts. I craft spaces where depth, honesty and connection can unfold, and where the wild, mysterious intelligence of life can move us toward wholeness.

Relating Arts Square (9)

Mateusz Jędrzejewski

I am a Copenhagen-based somatic therapist and group facilitator. My work focuses on presence-based inquiry and group process, touch, breathwork, and integration of developmental trauma. I am passionate about dancing, linking spirituality and contemporary psychology, expanded states of consciousness, and community-building.

Navi Camilla Säregård

Navi Camilla Säregård

Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, and work with body based learning and somatic coaching. I do this with clients one on one, as well as smaller and bigger groups. My practices stretch from trauma aware more therapeutic sessions that are focused on creating more freedom, choice and flow in everyday life, to explorative group unfolding with relational practices, to ecstatic dance ...

Noor Al-Hashemi featured

Noor Al-Hashemi

I am drawn to the mysterious caves and deep-sea lagoons buried deep in the fabric of our beings. Devoted to cultivating the precision and humility needed to listen for the very subtle parts of our experience, to give life to them and allow them to move us. Based in London, I lead Transformational Connection and work 1-1 online with those ...

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Peter Munthe-Kaas

I am a Stockholm based researcher, body therapist, coach and workshop facilitator. I am interested in practices that support me and others in relating and listening better and believe that the ability to relate to myself, others, society and nature is key to living a happy life in service of what is good in the world.

Pieter Lichtert

Pieter Lichtert

I facilitate circles since 2019 and trained intensively with Transformational Connection Europe (formerly known as Circling Europe). I’m also a coach, trainer and partner since 2009 in Van Kelst & Co, bringing Transformational Connection to business and leadership programs.

Ronja Lofstad

Ronja Lofstad

I discovered Circling in 2014 and it has been an active part of my life since. I have facilitated circling evenings, weekends, retreats and courses for years and I am a senior leader for Transformational Connection (formerly Circling Europe). I am deeply inspired by nature and silence and spend a lot of time outdoors, listening to forests and mountains.

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Rósanna Seigi Róbertsdóttir

I’m a Stockholm-based journalist, workshop facilitator and Integral Zen monk. For the past seven years, I’ve practiced meditation intensively – an eager student of our boundless nature. I’m also passionate about learning and sharing skills that build robust, vital relationships – the kind that invite us to gracefully, pleasurably embody our uniqueness.

Sam Black featured

Sam Black

Sam Black is a Circling facilitator, therapist, and coach. He leads workshops and retreats focused on presence, honesty, and relational awareness. Before this work, Sam spent nearly six years in frontline and leadership roles within the homelessness sector in London, training and supporting teams working to navigate challenging dynamics whilst supporting vulnerable individuals.

stephanie ginter

Stephanie Ginter

I discovered Transformational Connection in 2023 and completed the SAS training in 2024. Since then, I’ve been exploring my own way of holding space and wish to bring the practice more into Germany and Berlin.

Stephanie Hall featured

Stephanie Hall

I’m an Oxford-based circling leader and NARM practitioner-in-training. I’m interested in what it is to truly be healthy, and believe that circling, when practiced well, helps us move towards wholeness and wellbeing.

Tova Ekenberg

Tova Ekenberg

Hi, I’m Tova. Actress and theatre maker, a Circling facilitator, and I offer one-to-one sessions. With roots in the performing arts, I bring my training as an actress and dancer into transformative spaces to support personal and collective growth. I’m based in Uddebo, a small community outside of Gothenburg.

Selected videos from Youtube

Here are some videos to start you off in figuring out what Circling is all about.

Upcoming Circling events

These are the Circling events that are coming up on Relating Arts.

The Yin and Yang of Relating - With Peter Munthe-Kaas - state of the relating arts #5

12. July 2026

The Yin and Yang of Relating – With Peter Munthe-Kaas

Online and Free: State of the Relating Arts

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Art of Relating Mini Festival in Nature

22. - 26. July 2026

Art of Relating Mini Festival in Nature

Ucimont, 6833 Bouillon, Belgium

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Nära festival

05. - 09. August 2026

Nära Summer Festival 2026

Villa Fortuna, Sunnanåvägen 131, 232 91 Arlöv, Sweden

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Relating arts square

24. - 30. August 2026

Circling by the Sea

Kaasestua, Sævig 10, Høvåg. Norway.

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Circling weekend copenhagen with mateusz featured

04. - 06. September 2026

Circling & Surrendered Leadership Weekend Copenhagen

Carl Plougs Vej 4C, Copenhagen, Carl Plougs Vej 4C, Copenhagen

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Circling weekend berlin with mateusz featured

18. - 20. September 2026

Circling & Surrendered Leadership Weekend Berlin

Holographic Healing Nest, Eisenbahnstraße 11, 10997 Berlin, Germany.

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Skillful relating featured

24. - 27. September 2026

Skillful Relating

Tögel Art Center, Kilvägen 5, 76391 Hallstavik, Sweden.

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Circling with the mountains

13. - 18. October 2026

Circling with the Mountains

Wolimierz 51, 59-820 Poland, Wolimierz 51, 59-820 Poland

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No event found!

Where to learn

While we wait for the results of the trademarking lawsuits it is a bit confusing where you can learn how to lead Circling. But there are a few places out there who says that you can learn it with them.

Circling Institute

The Circling® Institute is committed to making the Original Circling® Approach available to individuals who want more fulfilling relationships and a deeper experience of community… AND coaches who want to facilitate radical transformation for their clients.

The Connection Institute

Our mission is to create a more compassionate and empowered world through training courageous leaders in the arts of effective communication and group facilitation. At The Connection Institute, we train the leaders of tomorrow to create a more connected and relational world.