(Note: if you are interested in this course, please also come to our Authentic Relating in Community, Free Introduction — Thursday May 16, Noon Eastern / 6pm CET), which will give you an experience of the practice and allow you to connect with some of your fellow communitarians)
Build thriving intentional communities through the power of Authentic Relating
Living in an intentional community is a unique and rewarding experience, which also comes with its own set of challenges. In this immersive, experiential course you’ll learn how to navigate the complexities of community life with grace, empathy, and skill.
This course will provide you with the tools to:
- Cultivate a deep sense of belonging and connection with your fellow community members
- Communicate with openness and vulnerability, and create mutual understanding
- Foster a culture of trust, acceptance, and support
- Navigate conflicts and differences with wisdom and compassion
- Bring your full presence and attention to each interaction
- Listen beyond the words, attuning to the emotions and needs beneath
- Create a safe space for others to express themselves authentically
- Offer reflections and empathy that deepen mutual understanding
Through guided exercises and experiential learning, you’ll develop the capacity to listen in a way that transforms relationships and creates a profound sense of connection.
Specifically, you will go deep into topics such as:
- Emotional Aikido and Alchemy: Meeting conflict with centeredness, empathy, and creativity by learning techniques for transmuting charged emotions into opportunities for greater self-awareness and understanding.
- Authentic Expression: Tools for communicating your truth with clarity and care
- Embracing Differences: Approaches for celebrating diversity and finding common ground
- Collective Wisdom: Practices for tapping into the intelligence and resilience of the group
By mastering these skills, you’ll help create a community culture of openness, understanding, and mutual support – one that can weather any storm and emerge even stronger.
Who is this course for?
Whether you’re a seasoned member of an established ecovillage or intentional community, looking to create you own, or simply a member of any other type of community, ARC will provide you with the tools and insights you need to thrive.
Join us, and discover the transformative power of authentic, heartfelt communication in the context of community life.
Course Details
- 6 weeks, 2 hours per session on Zoom
- Experiential learning with 16 students maximum. There will be roughly 20-80 mix of content/presentation versus direct AR practice in small-groups, paired-shares and whole-group dialogue.
- A Whatsapp and Facebook private group for direct interactions among your cohort. Create connections with peers and receive support outside of the live sessions.
- Detailed course materials to be able to integrate for years to come
What is Authentic Relating?
Authentic Relating is many things: a thriving global practice community, 30,000+ strong, with four major schools and 50+ local, peer-led communities. It is an open-source, global movement for social transformation based on the idea of prioritizing connection, showing up powerfully for other people, and injecting more love into the world. And finally, it is a powerful practice called Relational Inquiry (similar to Circling™) which will help you to show up with more truth and care in all the contexts of your life and navigate differences and conflicts with more ease and joy. While the ARC course (this course) is not directly instructional for the Relational Inquiry process, there will be Relational Inquiry demonstrations in the course and you will learn some basic skills which are required to do Relational Inquiry effectively.
Differences between the ARC and PRLC Courses
We are also offering a related course, Practical Relational Leadership in Community (or PRLC) that can accommodate up to 8 people (the ARC is limited to 16 people). The difference between this course (the ARC) and the PRLC is that in the PRLC we drop immediately and with only minimal context-setting into the Relational Inquiry presence practice, whereas in the ARC there is more structure and guidance. Also, in the PRLC all the action takes place in the main room (whole group), whereas in the ARC there will be breakout rooms of paired-shares or small groups.
Both the PRLC and the ARC are the first courses in the world which directly tackle the problem of bringing Authentic Relating into intentional communities and eco-villages.
About the Course Leader
Jason Digges is one of the pioneers of the Authentic Relating Movement, a worldwide community exploring peer-driven emotional intelligence practices. He is the author of Conflict = Energy, The Transformative practice of Authentic Relating, and has taught thousands of people in over 20 cities across the globe.
Equal parts artist, philosopher, teacher, and media producer, from 2003-2012 he worked for Ken Wilber to create thousands of hours of educational media on the topics of transpersonal psychology, spirituality, productivity, and personal growth. He co-founded ART International in 2016, which is now the biggest company in the world providing AR trainings. He left ART International in 2021 to pursue a writing and speaking career.
Jason is passionate about translating deep wisdom principles and personal growth methods for main stream audiences.
Other opportunities in Authentic Relating
We can run this course for your intentional community, eco-village or co-housing either online or onsite in a 3-day format. Write to us at [email protected]. We are also offering month-long residential retreat intensives in Authentic Relating at our community in Chapala Mexico, Authentic Relating Village.