Circling Science

A map of the research and philosophy around Circling and Authentic Relating.

The direct literature is small: one peer-reviewed ethnography, two student theses, and no controlled trial of Circling itself. Related practices have stronger evidence: in randomised trials, structured partner exercises increased closeness and reduced loneliness. Claims about lasting benefits remain ahead of the direct evidence. The centre of the map is the open work.

Kind of evidence, by distance from the practice

On the map

  • Papers58 studies, theses and experiments
  • Books8 books, mostly philosophy
  • People39 researchers, philosophers and practitioners
  • Neighbouring fields30 research fields around the practice

The open work

The practice

  • Lineage13 schools and how they grew out of one another
  • Anatomy10 moves, set among 12 earlier practices

From the centre outwards

  1. The practice3
  2. Applied8
  3. Adjacent48
  4. Background7

Recently added

Studies of the practice

  1. 2025
    Yhteyspeliohjaajan opas [Connection-game facilitator’s guide]

    Silvennoinen · Bachelor’s thesis · Häme University of Applied Sciences

    A practical guide for volunteer peer facilitators of Authentic Relating “connection games”, written as a social-services thesis with the Finnish association Autenttiset ry.

  2. 2022
    Kan relationer fördjupas genom bemötandeträning? En utvärdering av en helgkurs i autentiskt relaterande [Can relationships be deepened through responsiveness training? An evaluation of a weekend course in authentic relating]

    Gärdenfors & Jönsson · Degree thesis · Lund University

    Cautions: Small sample · Self-selected participants · Self-report only

    After a two-day Authentic Relating course, participants felt markedly closer to a fellow participant. Ratings of a close friend who hadn’t attended didn’t change two to four weeks later.

  3. 2022
    Reconceptualising emotional capital and intimacy using a sociological lens: the Authentic Revolution

    Nica · Journal article, peer-reviewed · Emotions and Society

    An ethnography of Authentic Relating and Circling communities, from interviews and participant observation: how they cultivate emotional intimacy and respond to social isolation.

Open questions

  1. A controlled trial of Circling

    Builds on 5 works · 5 funding routes

    Does a Circling programme reduce loneliness or build closeness more than an active control?

  2. Active ingredients

    Builds on 10 works · 3 funding routes

    Which parts of the practice do the work: present-moment attention, disclosure, or hearing how you affect others?

  3. Authenticity as a social script

    Builds on 3 works · 3 funding routes

    How do relational communities develop shared scripts for being authentic, and what does that do to the practice?

  4. Bodies in synchrony

    Builds on 4 works · 4 funding routes

    Do participants’ physiology and movement synchronise during a circle, and does synchrony track felt connection?

  5. Safety, facilitation and harm

    Builds on 14 works · 3 funding routes

    What makes a circle safe, and what goes wrong when it isn’t?

  6. Transfer beyond the room

    Builds on 6 works · 2 funding routes

    Does closeness built in a circle carry into people’s existing relationships?

  7. What being met is like

    Builds on 9 works · 5 funding routes

    What do people actually experience in the moments they describe as being seen or met?