Circling into Movement

Name: Circling into Movement
Start: 2025-03-08T10:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-03-09T18:00:00+00:00
Location: London Shambhala Meditation Centre

Schedule

Sat, 08 Mar, 2025 at 10:30 am to Sun, 09 Mar, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

London Shambhala Meditation Centre | London, EN

Circling & Surrendered Leadership invite a deeper presence with ourselves, while in connection with another person or group of people. Movement and Dance practices activate your senses and perceptions, they invite an aliveness and activate the intelligence of the body.
This weekend will be a fusion of these cutting edge presence based practices.
Both those new to the practices, and those with more experience, are welcome.
The weekend will be led by Benjamin Vandewalle (Belgium) and Robyn Wilford:
In Benjamin's words:
'Both Circling and Dance are practices that have profoundly touched and transformed my being. I find it fascinating to witness what unfolds when these two worlds merge and begin to interact—inviting a deeper sense of awareness and presence into the dance, while bringing a more embodied aliveness into the Circling.
Woaw… As I write these words, I can feel a wave of excitement for this upcoming workshop. The possibilities of this union fill me with awe and anticipation.'
In Robyn's words:
‘This is so exciting for me to be able to integrate these practices I love and have been an important part of my life for over 20 years. It’s a privilege to work with Benjamin who has the rare mix of experienced Circling leader and professional dance practitioner and choreographer, and will be joining us from Belgium.
In addition to my experience as a Circling leader and dance movement facilitator I bring my training in Dance Movement Psychotherapy and the therepuetic trauma model NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model)’
Circling & Surrendered Leadership will be combined with Movement and Dance practices, drawing on authentic movement, contact improvisation, 5 rhythms, ecstatic dance, and partner dances.
What we’ll explore:
* The art of being with someone
* The embodiment of self in the moment
* Self leadership from surrender
You may walk away with:
* An experience of connection and aliveness
* Feeling seen and met in who you are
* A more truthful expression of yourself
* A deeper imprint of the practice of Circling & Surrendered Leadership
Practical Details
•⁠ ⁠8th and 9th March 2025 [non residential]
•⁠ ⁠10.30am-6pm (please arrive 10.15am)
•⁠ ⁠Shambhala Meditation Centre, London
•⁠ ⁠£180 (£155 till 1st March)
More info and to book: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1205603625899
Any questions: [email protected]

‘When we feel deeply seen and met, new realms of connection can be experienced. Here, right now, is where you may get close to what really matters to you, finding your truth from moment to moment. This may give a sense of belonging, love and aliveness and direction in life’.
More about Circling and Terms of Service:
Circling is a practice that involves looking at and being intimate with the structures of one’s personal reality, which includes how we make sense of experience, individually and collectively. I find these practices consistently deliver deeply meaningful experiences, and believe a few clarifications now will likely make this more accessible to you.
Because Circling is unique, carrying over assumptions from other practices can lead to misunderstandings about what we do and how you are invited to engage. It is my intention to make it as clear as I can what Circling is and isn’t.
Responsibility:
We see you as a free agent capable of honest self-assessment and responsible choice
This is an invitation to take responsibility for:
- yourself and your experience
- choices you’re making about what you’re accepting as true and significant
- how you’re participating in and helping to sustain your situation
- the beliefs and choices you’re bringing to the situation (wittingly or unwittingly) that are informing your experience.
We refer generally to the willingness to take responsibility in these terms as “owning your experience.”
Not Psychotherapy:
Circling as we practice it leads to transformational growth, but we do this through surrender, self-leadership, and interconnection rather than aiming for healing outcomes directly (like many modalities do). While honouring a wide variety of wisdom and psychological discernments from many schools of thought, we do not follow a therapeutic model of diagnosis and treatment. Our method is educational. Our emphasis is connection.
We are guides in a journey of presence, connection, and aliveness. We do not prescribe choices or actions. We do not see you as being in a therapeutic relationship with me. We work in the present moment, assuming wholeness that can include greater wholeness, exploring connection, staying mindful to notice the cost of reality choices and labels that too easily lead to misunderstanding or pathologizing. We bring a fresh set of eyes to what is happening, with the aim of understanding how updating our beliefs about what is happening can update our reality.
Circling is a practice of connection and meditation
- Focusing on the present moment.
- Maintaining a non-goal orientation that is encapsulated in the principle of “being with the other in their world."
Is this Right for You?
Circling can be intense. People encounter places, states, emotions, beliefs, and sensations in themselves and others that are sometimes unfamiliar. We explore the unknown, the volatile, the ambiguous, as well as welcome emotions many deem as “negative” or “inappropriate” such as feelings of inadequacy, anger, sexuality, and joy. We refer to the willingness to feel difficult and uncomfortable truths as the “commitment to connection,” which of course includes a willingness to set appropriate boundaries, and speak a desire for space, distance, and non-contact. By attending you take responsibility for choosing to leave the practice or participate in any given moment—which might include getting intimate with these kinds of experiences.
We will often explore multiple sides of seeming opposites at once, such as independence and interdependence, chaos and order, agreement and disagreement. We believe this can reveal an underlying unity of the immediacy of experience.
If the above description of Circling sounds potentially overwhelming or destabilizing for you, if you have mental illness or significant emotional challenges that you feel may be exacerbated by this type of transformational environment, or if you are not sure that you can be self-directed in taking care of your needs during the event, then you are advised not to enrol.
By registering you acknowledge that you have read and agree to abide by these Terms of Service. Please contact me if you have any questions.