practice · all tools
Circling
A conversation about what is actually happening for you and between you, right now — sensations, emotions, relationship, 'vibes' — with curiosity about others' experience and none of the usual stories or advice. A Living Room circle does this in a group of three to ten; a Birthday circle gives the whole time to one person, trying to 'get their world'; Surrendered Leadership stays at the level of sensation and trusts what comes up. The manual calls it the core practice of authentic relating, says it must be experienced to be understood, and that it works best with experienced participants and a skilled facilitator.
Prerequisites
- The manual's own: experienced participants and a skilled facilitator, or a solid warm-up series and a few experienced participants to carry a newer group
- The chapter's stated lead-ins are Noticing and Inception
- The chapter calls it 'probably the most advanced AR game', and the games filed as its training forms — Semi-Circling, Choose Your Own Adventure, Kabuki Circling — exist because the practice itself is not where to start
- In a Birthday circle one person receives a group's undivided attention for an hour; the facilitator leads by sharing their own experience rather than resetting context, which is a skill and not a stance
Practical
- Time
- 20-60 min
- Group
- 3–10 · triads, small-group, large-group
- Settings
- in-person, online
- Mechanisms
- dialogic-encounter, open-awareness, feedback-mirroring, somatic-awareness
- Change scope
- state → skill · recurring-practice
Instructions
- Where
- authrev.org/ar-games-manual — Authentic Relating Games Manual, paid
- Availability
- In the source document — the instructions live inside the material linked, on its terms
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0 (Authentic Relating Games Manual)
Source link checked 31 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 29 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Living Room and Birthday circling developed and evolved by Guy Sengstock and Decker Cunov; Surrendered Leadership by John and Sean of Circling Europe — Circling; the core practice of Authentic Relating (Authentic Relating Games Manual, 2025 edition)
The manual states that Authentic Revolution endorses no particular school or company of Circling, and points to its communities map instead. Several organisations teach it under their own names.
In this directory via Authentic Relating Games Manual
Related: T-Group (pairs-with)
The manual gives the time as '20 minutes – 1 lifetime', with 45-60 minutes as the average; the stated floor and the average are recorded. Its own disclaimer: 'Side effects of Circling may include expanded self-awareness and perspective shifts.'
status: checked · added 2026-08-31