This Authentic Life Podcast Archives
The world's first podcast devoted to the Authentic Relating movement
From 2014-2018 I interviewed 30 leaders in the AR and circling field as part of This Authentic Life Podcast. In this post, you’ll find the best episodes compiled in one place.
Episode #19 with Guy Sengstock
If you’ve been around the AR and Circling scene for a while, Guy Sengstock doesn’t require much introduction. He was one of the original creators of circling, founded The Circling Institute, and has been facilitating transformation for individuals, groups and corporations internationally for more than 20 years. He’s also a philosopher, poet, and bodyworker.
This conversation with Guy is a real treat. We dive deep into some of the most foundational ideas of Authentic Relating — such as that embodied experience is often the source of our deepest truth. From there, we venture into a philosophical inquiry of what being an authentic human even means. In the second part, Guy also breaks down different stages of Circling as he observed them over the years.
You’ll hear us giggle here and there, marvelling at the incredible experience of being human. :)
Episode #15 with Jeff Brown
Jeff Brown is the author of Soulshaping: A Journey in Self-Creation, Grounded Spirituality, as well as several other popular books. His history of transitioning from being an aspiring lawyer to the founder of Soulshaping Institute inspired me in many ways. These days, Jeff spends his time helping people get closer to their sacred purpose and speak the language of the heart.
I was drawn to Jeff and his books for many reasons, but one was his unusual language and humor. This is the starting point to our conversation — how deliberate language can be a way to develop a new understanding of spirituality and the self. Speaking of how this undertsanding changes within ourselves — an externally, in our society — is the central node of our conversation that we keep coming back to.
This episode is a fascinating dive into subtle concepts of the inner world of the psyche. A treat especially for those who spend a lot of time introspecting. ;)
Episode #2 with Mark Boughton
Mark Boughton is one of the instigators of the AR community in Toronto, as well as a co-founder of The Connection Institute. Also well-known in the Austin community, he’s been working in fields of communication, psychology of relationships and interpersonal dynamics for over a decade.
In this episode, we have lots of fun exploring how Authentic Relating can be applied to different contexts. Mark talks about combining AR games with dancing and rapping, as well as how it impacts his coaching practice.
At the end, you’ll hear him freestyle rapping, too!
Episode #6 with Dr. Hazel-Grace
Dr. Hazel-Grace is an intimacy and sexuality researcher, as well as a sex and relationship coach with over 13 years of experience. They are also one of the most experienced AR facilitators I know. The way they describe themselves and their mission is as a “radical permissionist and pleasure warrior here to help eradicate global toxic sexual shame.”
In our rich dialogue, Dr. Hazel-Grace reflects on the potential Authentic Relating offers for deep personal transformation. They share their family background generously which gives us ground for a deeper exploration of why we show up in the way we do in our relationships.
In this episode, you’re in for some real wisdom that comes from being vulnerable about one’s own lived experience.
Episode #7 with Zach Robison
Here’s someone who has a unique way of teaching and talking about AR. A long-time facilitator for Authentic Revolution, Zach Robison has experience bringing these practices into families, corporate settings, and other interesting places.
I enjoyed our conversation as a chance to geek out on the aspects of relational practices that aren’t spoken about that often. Zach also reflects on the personal changes he’s noticed in himself since beginning to practice and teach Authentic Relating.
We also spontaneously got to practice AR with each other on air. :)
Episode #9 with Mike Blas
Michael Blas is a community leader in the Austin TX community and has been training with several of the major circling organizations, including The Circling Institute, Circling Europe, and others. He’s now one of the main teachers for the Relateful Company, cultivating a practice of Relatefulness that combines meditation and relational work.
In this insightful convo, we cover a few exciting topics. These include Mike’s experience of getting out of a Christian cult, what an “authentic life” means in practical terms, and how psychology research may be driven by money. The thread we keep coming back to is the change of wider culture — and what role circling and AR play in that.
I was struck by Mike’s transparency and revealing his moment-to-moment experience that allows you to learn not just from WHAT he’s saying, but also HOW he’s saying it.
Episode # 11 with Robbie Carlton
It was quite an experience to interview my original facilitation teacher and mentor, Robbie Carlton. Robbie has been teaching connection, communication and group dynamics since 2008. If you ask me, his approach is powerful and at the same time — fully old school.
I reached out to Robbie after hearing his presentation on “what circling gets wrong.” This is one of the big topics we go into, reflecting on the potential pitfalls of Authentic Relating and false expectations it sometimes creates. At the same time, Robbie acknowledges it’s important for our human evolution to become more conscious and deliberate about communication.
I’m grateful for Robbie’s sobering, honest perspective on relational work.
Episode #16 with Heather McClellan
I met Heather McClellan when she was a course leader for my very first Authentic Life Course in Austin. Apart from being a brilliant AR facilitator, she is an emotional intelligence coach and consultant. She works with start-ups and Fortune 100 companies to bring empathy skills into elite engineering teams. Heather has trained over 250 facilitators all around the globe.
Our conversation starts with Heather’s “origin story” of getting into relational work, where she gives an interesting frame on how revealing emotions can look different for different people. This leads us beautifully to explore some principles of Authentic Relating, and how they can change intergenerational patterns of how we relate to ourselves and each other.
Join us for some creative visioning on the future applications of AR, sprinkled with some meta comments on what’s happening for us both in this conversation.
The ART Days 2017-2020
When I was traveling the world and co-founding ART, I brought my recorder along. The early days were limited to people who traveled to Boulder, but these years allowed me to cast a wider net.
Episode #20 with Anke Verhees
Anke Verhees is an Authentic Relating facilitator who pioneered this work in Europe. She attended one of the first Circling events in the UK and then brought it to Amsterdam, where she held down integral style circling for many years. She’s now also working as an EFT therapist and coach for sensitive people and couples at ConnectionLab.
As I spoke to Anke, it stroke me how systematic her approach to AR and Circling seemed. From there, she explained that this paradoxically emerged organically, from dedicated practice and making it a guiding principle in her life.
The relationship we have to the AR practice, and how there are no relational experts were one of the most alive places in our conversation.
Episode #22 with Sky Yeater
Meet the founder of the Houston TX Authentic Relating community, Sky Yeater. She’s been applying AR to relationship coaching for years and is a Licenced Councellor at the Center for Couples Counseling. Sky often works with polyamorous couples, offering them communication tools to navigate multiple romantic relationships.
Polyamory and romantic relationships is the topic this episode orbits around. How to use agreements to create a culture that supports us to show up authentically? How to negotiate relational preferences using skillful communication? What can we learn from difficult feelings that come up in relationships? These are some of the questions we ask and ponder.
Sky also shares the inside story of how her partnership evolved into polyamory — which makes everything she’s saying that much more relatable.
Episode #24 with Laurie Lazar
Laurie Lazar is the founder of the Realness Project and a veteran of Authentic Relating in so many ways! She got trained as a facilitator in a 2014 T3 training, which jumpstarted her interest in this work and shifted her marriage. Since then, she has brought AR to the prisons of Colorado, training inmates in relational skills.
I am grateful for how much openess and personal angle Laurie brought into our conversation — including her initial reservations towards AR. She generously shares her knowledge through personal stories and encounters, including a letter from a 22-year old prison inmate describing the impact AR training had on him.
We end up talking a lot about Laurie’s work in prison’s, which vividly illustrates how big and universal the power of these practices is.
Episode #25 with Eivind Skjellum
I met Eivind Skjellum in 2013 when he moved to Boulder Colorado from Norway for 6 months to take the T3 Circling Leadership course. Eivind was already pioneering men’s work and Authentic Relating in Europe back then. Afterwards, he became the founder of Reclaim Your Inner Throne, an organization and community which “empowers people to be agents of change, serving the world into a new paradigm.”
In my conversation with Eivind, we’re tracing the origins of Authentic Relating as a global movement. We acknowledge how, in the 2010s, an interest was sparked in many places around the world in relational and connection arts — and how the people interested in them organically started coming together.
Beyond AR, we also speak about archetypal and parts work, and how they connect to identity and relationship forming.
Episode #26 with Crystallin Dillon
Crystallin Dillon was trained in Boulder, after which she took her work to the Bay Area. There, she created a T-Group 2.0 — something we explore in our conversation. Crystallin is one of the few people who is applying AR to diversity and inclusion work in a deep way.
I was curious about what impact the T-Group had on her in the early days, and Crystallin opens up about that very beautifully in our conversation. From there, we speak about universal human needs an how they’re catered to (or not) by our society as it currently is. She also offers precious comments about white supremacy, as well as other biases we subconciously hold — and the way it subtly feeds into how we navigate the world.
I appreciate this chance to speak to Crystallin for many reasons. One is the perspective she offers on personal sovereignety, and how she frames it in a way that empowers personal responsibility for our experiences.