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EMBODIED RELEASE
Circling with the Mountains
Bringing the practice into Life
13-18.10.2026, Wolimierz, Poland
Birthing Origins
After the last February Circling weekend in Copenhagen, on Sunday afternoon, we were having a closing round. After 2.5 days of various turbulences, heart openings, relational tensions, honest expressions, and simplicity of being, some people during the last moments were saying – WE WANT MORE. Now that we have found more access to collective attunement and landed in the practice paradigm, they said, it would be great to stay in the field longer and play with the tools we learned to continue the discovery. And I felt the same.
These voices left me with a strong imprint and a vision to invite you to a longer circling retreat, where we can move between BEING IN THE PRACTICE of collective presence, embodied listening, and relational explorations, and BEING IN THE WORLD, going out for hikes in nature, forest immersions, saunas, evening activities, movement explorations, and whatever else wishes to emerge. My longing is to create a bridge between the WORKSHOP HALL and the NATURE TEMPLE, as well as between INTENTIONAL PRACTICE TIME and INTEGRATING IT TO LIFE.
Our Days and Nights
The program will be, in large part, emergent, tailored by our excitement, longings, and inspirations, and co-created by the moods of Nature.
Each day, you can expect to have 3-4 h sessions that are focused on Circling practice, and another session in nature, which might have a circling, mindfulness, nature intimacy-deepening, or open context. In the evenings, we will sit around the fire, go to the sauna, explore movement or touch in evening sessions, or simply be together, still tuning to the practice paradigm. Personally, I have an array of tools and ideas to offer, and the team will likely lead some more.
The puzzle pieces that will be included are:
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Circling practice is the core (more below).
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Hiking: Circling hikes, silent hikes, listening to the forest, becoming the soil and rocks, and free-flow walks. There is a possibility to split the group for different levels of hike intensity or length.
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Deepening connection to nature: Sit Spot, nature listening, the animal world, and totems.
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On Wednesday evening, there is a local weekly ecstatic dance and sauna evening at the nearby venue BioRezydencja, and I would love to go there together.
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Movement Explorations,
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The Language of Touch,
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Meditation,
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Bonfire,
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Sauna,
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Movie night? Open stage? Cat party? No program and just being humans together?
Who This Retreat Is For?
Circling by the Mountains is open to everyone who recognizes the urge to invite more presence, attunement, spaciousness, and simplicity into their lives and relationships. It invites those who feel an intimate connection and belonging in nature, and wish to live life closer to plants, animals, soil, and the sky. Finally, it is open to those who wish to weave the essence of Circling practice—surrender, embodiment, attunement, and connection—into daily life, even when we are not formally in a "workshop" context.
The intention for this retreat is to deepen our Circling practice while exploring how to integrate it into activities outside of the workshop room. In addition, you are invited to attune to nature, deepen your sense of being, and bring emerging states into connection with yourself, life, and others. The forest and mountains will be our resources and teachers.
Here are some of the themes that will guide us during the retreat:
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Embodied listening to others and to nature
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Presence and subtlety in movement and action
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A growing awareness of the moments we move in and out of presence and surrender
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Non-doing action
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Trust in life and its intelligence
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Radical acceptance and engaging from that place
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Intelligence beyond the ordinary mind; innate knowing
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The beauty of humanness—its shadows, potential, and limitations
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Timlessness of the natural world
This event is suited for people trying Circling & Surrendered Leadership for the first time and any experienced participant. If it is your first time joining a Circling / Transformational Connection / Surrendered Leadership event, feel very welcome to book an intro call with Mateusz.
Facilitators Team
The team
The retreat will join a group of 3-7 experienced circling practitioners who will support our group process with their surrendered leadership. To the team are invited other certified practice leaders, or people who have spent a handful of time in the circling paradigm or other similar approaches.
Mateusz’s Circling passion started in 2019, and since 2022 he has hosted the practice regularly and completed several trainings in Circling facilitation.
He works as a somatic therapist and focuses on modalities rooted in touch, felt sense, breath, presence, and inquiry. He carries a deep curiosity and wonder about the nature of reality, consciousness, and the potential that exists in human awareness, including interpersonal and transpersonal states. His training includes BioDynamic Breathwork, Myofascial Energetic Release bodywork, Compassionate Inquiry by Gabor Maté, Circling, and a background in Internal Family Systems. He is passionate about dancing, the integration of spirituality and contemporary psychology, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and community building.
'' (...) there are some big shifts that have happened in my life in the last couple of weeks, and I think that’s mostly thanks to what I released during the Circling weekend. I felt very connected to everything and everyone afterwards, and like I had accessed some higher state of consciousness. (...) ''
"The rawness of this wave of honesty! And the intensity of it. And the 'being present' with all there is. Wow. I am blown away! And deeply humbled! Such an undemanding state of 'doing'! And yet, it is so lacking in the everyday."
"I am deeply grateful for learning the circling technique at this event. Just two days later, I can already feel it transforming how I interact with others in everyday life."
Uniquly Placed
I am touched to invite you into the land of my ancestors, as I am in the process of settling down in the Polish mountains called Góry Izerskie
This is the region where a neo-spiritual, nature-loving, shamanic, healing, plant medicine, embodiment, art, and theater Polish community has been settling down for multiple years now. While wandering around, you can find many homes with a soulful atmosphere and visionary landowners, as well as several larger projects and festivals. Time slows down, travelers arrive to recharge, and the Milky Way is glowing bright due to low levels of light pollution.
And once you enter the forest, you are surrounded by a deep silence of countless listening trees, soft moss beds, and wondrous peat bogs. Rocks there happen to shine with silver and golden flakes, thanks to the geological alchemy of nature. The numerous hiking trails cover the region with a web of paths, including both more ambitious, steep trails and relaxation-friendly ones. The closest peaks are rather innocent, reaching 1000–1400m.
The middle of October is the peak of the season that is called here the ‘Golden Polish Autumn’, highlighting the multiplicity and vividness of colors as plants are shifting their rhythm towards the winter months. It will be rather chilly, refreshing, and very picturesque and seductive.
The Venue with a History
On the foundations of the house where we meet, a tavern already existed back in the 17th century. Over the years, it was rebuilt and restructured, functioning as a cultural house, a community cinema, a library, and finally, in the 90s, a puppet theater. Then the building burned down in 1998 and found new life as a husky farm, and now, as an agritourism venue.
We will have access to lots of space, comfortable 1-2-3 people rooms, and a very Slavic-style, wooden, tavern-like dining hall and fireplace room. There are also beautiful gardens and a terrace, and of course, the main practice room in a wooden style, with a garden view. We will be the only guests there during the retreat time.
Logistics and Meals
Retreat Starts
Tuesday at 19:00 with dinner and an evening session. Arrivals at the venue are possible from noon.
Retreat Ends
Sunday at 13:00
We will have a vegetarian breakfast and dinner cooked for us. Lunch, depending on the day (indoors or outdoors), will be organized for us in different ways. If you have specific dietary needs, please mark them in the sign-up form.
The group will likely have a size between 10 and max 20 participants.
How to get there?
Location
Agroturystyka Do Woli, Wolimierz 51, 59-820, Poland, https://maps.app.goo.gl/hdm2rLj5hikrXzKF7
Plane
Fly to Wrocław (2.5h drive), Prague (2.5h drive), or Berlin (3h drive)
Train
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Wrocław - Jelenia Góra https://www.intercity.pl/en/ , 2h 15min, direct train or 1 transfer, then we coordinate a pick-up
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Prague - Liberec, 2h 15min, 2 transfers, then we coordinate a pick-up
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Berlin - Görlitz, 2h 40min, 1 or 2 transfers, then we coordinate a pick-up
(Pick-up from nearby train stations is a 40-60-minute drive. I might need to involve external drivers, and in such a case, depending on the station and number of people, it will cost 15-30 euros.)
Travelling note:
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Commuting sheet - in the confirmation email you will find a commuting sheet link. Please use it to share information about your travels (where from, how). I will also help coordinate it.
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I suggest you book your flights, but wait to rent cars or buy train tickets until closer to the retreat time to see what the best options are for teaming up with others.
Prices
Price:
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425 Euro - low-income ticket
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550 Euro - regular income ticket
Plus:
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460 Euro for food & accommodation Tuesday eve-Sunday noon.
If you wish to join, but cannot afford these prices, describe your situation in the intake form and apply for further reduction.
What is Circling- Transformational Connection (TC) and Surrendered Leadership (SL)?
Circling, also referred to as Transformational Connection (TC) is about bringing our presence, aliveness, and vulnerability into connection with one or more people or a whole group. Through practice, we develop sensitivity, the skills to communicate our internal states effectively, our needs and boundaries to the world, and the capacity to regulate and lead ourselves in connection with others.
Surrendered Leadership (SL) involves following the immediacy of relational flow that emerges within a group. It is a paradigm of leadership that transcends the presumption that a leader's role is to impose a certain direction or structure. Instead, we focus on developing the capacity to attune to what is already happening and explore it with presence, thereby opening up organic and deep developmental potential. It is a cross-paradigmatic approach that addresses various aspects of human growth potential, using categories from Integral Theory as an illustration: Cleaning-up, Waking-up, and Growing-up.
The practice is best explored by experiencing it. You do not need to understand what Circling or SL is before you attend, and you are very welcome to ask any questions and ask for support throughout the weekend, as well as before or after it. You are invited to come in contact with a direct knowing, available here and now, for everyone, guided by the emergent nature of reality.
📖More Resources About the Practice
'' (...) Waking up after this weekend and a night of so much intense dreaming with so much feels. A lot of feelings flowing through me. I have to say this was one of the best circling events I had so far. I now understand connection a lot more than I ever did. Some layers in me have come alive in such an expansive rich way. Thank you for being there with me, for poking me, for believing in me. (...) ''
'' (...) I wanna say how in awe I am by how thematically intelligent this whole experience has been and still is. So many themes that I've been inquiring into for months, even some lifelong patterns, somehow they were brought up and offered to me in a new light, with new possibilities of meeting them. Through you guys and how you met me, through the group, and through my own inquiry. No matter what came up, how twisted or painful or pleasant, the brightness I'm in when I'm in this space is my home. And I want to be here more, together. (...) ''
"I came without expectations and I left with a new deeper understanding of myself and how I relate to others. I feel stronger in my capacity to embrace authenticity—both my own and others. I learned things about myself that I haven’t been able to touch in years of practice by myself. Mateusz is a beautiful being with an incredible ability to hold space for the group and himself. His way of leading is so subtle, it’s almost as if he lets himself fall into whatever the present moment brings up. And yet he has been guiding me and the rest of the group to an openness and immediacy that leaves me with a profound impression. (...)"
