Circling has changed thousands of lives, but the introduction book which most people read is a decade old. People are still confused what it’s actually about, creating negative impacts on group attendance and experiences that are not optimal.
The original Circling Guide has become the most widely used introduction to Circling in the Authentic Relating tradition. Dozens of people have written to me to share how useful it was to them in understanding the practice, developing their skills or even getting into leadership. It’s now time to create the book that will reach a global audience. We need to elevate Authentic Relating from a small cult-practice to a worldwide movement.
This campaign directly funds the writing of the Circling Guide, 3rd Edition. Your contributions buy three focused months of my time at a modest rate of $1,000/month to research, write, and edit a vastly expanded, up-to-date guide which will be the first anthology of Authentic Relating.
To see a book sample (Preface and TOC) click here.
To join the project as a editor or reviewer fill in the form here.
What your support makes possible:
- Part I — Circling Bootcamp (updated): A tight, 30,000-word, read-in-one-sitting manual so anyone can walk into a circle anywhere in the world, contribute meaningfully and feel safe.
- Part II — Authentic Relating: Chapters from about 15 founders and senior leaders of the AR and Circling movement, sharing what actually works in practice.
- Part III — Applied We-Space: New, AR-derived practices from 7 more leaders for bringing AR into business, community, dating & sexuality, addiction recovery, family, social justice, spirituality and daily life.
Confirmed contributors so far include
- Sara Ness (Authentic Relating Games)
- Robert MacNaughton (AR in Business)
- Jason Digges (Integral Circling)
- Susan Campbell (Origins of AR)
- Damien Bohler (embodied sexuality)
- Kaela Atleework (Co-Living)
- Mihai Banulescu (Connection Games)
- Ryel Kestano (Authentic Dating),
- Stephane Segatori (We-Flow)
- Karl Steyaert (IFS)
- Ellen Waenink (Deep Listening)
- Michael Porcelli (Meta-Relating)
- Miki Kashtan (From Social Justice to Liberation For All)
Why now?
The project is already underway: I’ve completed a full draft of Part I and begun assembling contributors for the anthology. This is a significant amount of work. Your support now lets me solicit and edit contributions, look for a commercial publisher, and market the book.
If Circling or AR has impacted your life, this is a concrete way to give back and help create a resource the whole movement can point to — a book you can hand to friends and clients instead of trying to explain it from scratch.
Stretch Goal: Forming the We-Space Federation
This is a project dear to my heart and the next step beyond the 3rd edition of the Circling Guide. Any money in excess of the $3000 target for this campaign will be used for that purpose. The idea is to form an industry / membership association for the AR and Circling community that would do both PR / Media outreach about the movement as a whole, and also list the services and products of the members and member organizations. It might be hosted on Mighty Networks which would also facilitate networking and collaborations among AR enthusiasts. Ideally it would also include organizations from "sister networks" as well including NVC.
Below is the temporary book cover.
Note: Donations to this GoFundMe campaign will not include any raffles, contests, promotional gifts, or returns on investment.
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