UK Transformational Connection Festival 2026

Genderqueer SL

Ben Hodgson

When was the first time you identified as a man? Or as a woman? If the answer to this seems like a clear negative, something more fluid, or even a curious blur, perhaps you'd like to join me in honouring and exploring gender as a non-binary phenomenon.

Ben has been practicing transformational connection for over a decade, based in London, and facilitating events in the UK and Europe. He loves the esoteric side of the practice, exploring humanity through the magical nuances of symbolism. Ben is exploring the frame of TC as a deep meditation in and around the ground of consent. A consistent participant in the scholar teams at events, he believes in honouring the supporting structures in TC process, and the great value to be gained through working meditation. Ben is a fencing instructor, perfume collector, philosopher, artist, board gamer, pole dancer, web designer, and coder.

Shadow Cabaret

Ben Hodgson

Dress code is 'pride, shame, and envy': please come as you are, wearing your finest shadow attire. No talent is too big or small to fill this void of yearning. Tragedy, comedy, satire, and more! Disappointment is not guaranteed, but improvised mischief is a distinct possibility.

Ben has been practicing transformational connection for over a decade, based in London, and facilitating events in the UK and Europe. He loves the esoteric side of the practice, exploring humanity through the magical nuances of symbolism. Ben is exploring the frame of TC as a deep meditation in and around the ground of consent. A consistent participant in the scholar teams at events, he believes in honouring the supporting structures in TC process, and the great value to be gained through working meditation. Ben is a fencing instructor, perfume collector, philosopher, artist, board gamer, pole dancer, web designer, and coder.

Outdoor Fire Sessions

Daphne van Run

Daily fire-side spaces to wake up, reflect and reconnect. With 14 years of devotion to Transformational Connection (TC), Daphne brings her love for the elements and human connection together. 

Alongside leading TC & SL sessions at the festival, these open-air circles offer a landing patch. In the warmth and simplicity of the fire, Daphne invites you into the body, presence and connection as a doorway into the day ahead. Whether it is for 5 minutes or for the full hour, you are welcome. 

Daphne van Run is a relational artist, mother and maker living amidst the rolling hills of Devon, England. For the past 14 years, Transformational Connection (TC) has been a living, breathing thread through her life — shaping how she creates, listens and relates.
Her approach to TC carries a mythic seed — one that honours deep time as well as the evolving rhythms of human togetherness. With an eye and ear for the poetic, she holds spaces where the personal meets the collective, and where relating becomes a doorway to something vaster than words.
Next to TC & SL sessions at this UK Festival of Human Connection, Daphne will also be offering Outdoor Connection Sessions — alongside a fire, Daphne opens the space for integration, reflection, and quiet belonging. In the company of fire she often finds warmth, simplicity, and shared humanity. You are welcome.

The Art of Energetic Presence - From Core to Connection

Ellen Waenink

A workshop in Energy awareness and skill for Facilitators, Leaders & Spaceholders. This is for the ones drawn to the mystery and mastery of the unseen dynamics that shape our interactions.

Ellen Waenink is a transformational coach, senior TC leader, and embodiment facilitator dedicated to guiding individuals toward the realization of their innate wholeness. With a rich background in leadership, organizational change, and relational practices, Ellen creates spaces where authentic connection and personal transformation naturally unfold.

Her approach is grounded in the belief that each person is inherently whole, like a seed containing the full potential of a flourishing plant. Ellen's work focusses on deepening contact with oneself and others, and support clients to remember their true selves and navigate life's challenges with courage, creativity, and compassion.

The Hollow Hill

Ellen Waenink

"The Hollow Hill" is a descent into the felt, the ancient, and the unseen. An embodied ritual of connection inspired by myth, mystery, and the lands beneath our feet.

Ellen Waenink is a transformational coach, senior TC leader, and embodiment facilitator dedicated to guiding individuals toward the realization of their innate wholeness. With a rich background in leadership, organizational change, and relational practices, Ellen creates spaces where authentic connection and personal transformation naturally unfold.

Her approach is grounded in the belief that each person is inherently whole, like a seed containing the full potential of a flourishing plant. Ellen's work focusses on deepening contact with oneself and others, and support clients to remember their true selves and navigate life's challenges with courage, creativity, and compassion.

The Space Between: An Inquiry Into Self, Other, and Awareness Itself

Georgie Nightingall

Explore what’s alive right now- within you, between you, and beyond you. Drawing on the principles of Circling and non-dual meditative awareness, this session invites you to meet yourself and others with radical presence, uncovering the deeper layers of your being and the relational field that connects us all.

Georgie Nightingall is the founder of Trigger Conversations, a London-based organisation on a mission to make the world more human through the lost art of meaningful conversation. Tired of surface-level small talk, she created Trigger to spark deeper, more creative and authentic dialogue through global trainings, transformative experiences, and organisational programmes. Her work is shaped by over a decade of practice in relational presence—drawing on circling, non-dual embodied consciousness, zouk and contact improvisation dance, NVC, life coaching, and improvisation theatre—to explore how we meet ourselves and each other. Georgie’s work has featured on TEDx, Channel 4, The Times, and in Joe Keohane’s The Power of Strangers. She’s currently a PhD candidate at Imperial College, researching how we design for human connection. Personal website: https://www.georgienightingall.co.uk/ 

Stemless - Waking Up in Connection

James Brown

The Truman Show, Matrix, Sixth Sense, Escher, Vipassana, a Jazz festival, Wimbledon and a picnic

Come practice with others 

Witness your own mental constructs, as you make them 

Step out of the imaginary room you’ve unconsciously boxed yourself in

We help each other by letting ourselves project crudely

We use raw projections outward, so we can follow their emotional footsteps, 

back through the doors they’ve banged open in our minds

Unfiltered statements, jam our machinery,

Trip ourselves, so we stumble into awareness

Flailing for our glasses,

We hit the light switch, 

Frightening shadow monster, 

Now yesterday’s washing pile

Silly me

Trusting each other to try and see ourselves, to share our own story making. Using each other as mirrors, to see, as we rail against, the reflections of our own limiting self judgements. Finding the shoulds, judgements, if onlys, edges and rules of what I need to do for you and how it’s their fault and there’s no way out...

Artist - “the necessity to externalise inner experience in symbolic or aesthetic terms”.

Coach, lay therapist, mentor, facilitator.

High achiever.

Playful, thoughtful, sensitive, enthusiastic.

Less arrogant than people often project.

Trying to find what is true.

Last 5 years dedicated to TC/Relatefulness/Transformation Connection

20+ years Design and Communications

Co-founder of stemless.org  

Co-founding Global Mental Health for Wellbeing initiatives

Traveller, 10+ years nomadic

Wholeness, Sexuality and the Challenges of Embodied Life

John Thompson

What's possible when we let our sexuality be guided from presence and connection? What does sexuality teach us about how full-bodied eros can permeate our lives? How can we skillfully navigate a deeper embodied life when we encounter the likes of anger, needs, shame and blame? How whole are we? This workshop will be mainly about practices exploring these themes.

John Thompson is the co-founder of Transformational Connection. John is also an Integral Master Coach and a Master NARM Facilitator. He originated the 5 principles of Surrendered Leadership and has trained and certified hundreds of facilitators. He's worked with world class leaders in AI, Collective Intelligence, Sport and business and recently developed a Coaching training programme. Previously John ran an elite tennis academy based on Integral Philosophy, authored award winning papers in the field of personal development and started an internationally famous project for street children in Delhi. John’s kindness and empathy are equal to his fierce heart and his passion to uncover what's most important.

Partner Dancing

John Thompson

A playful exploration of connecting in dance, leading and following, presence to each others’ expression with space to share what gets touched in us in the dance.

John Thompson is the co-founder of Transformational Connection. John is also an Integral Master Coach and a Master NARM Facilitator. He originated the 5 principles of Surrendered Leadership and has trained and certified hundreds of facilitators. He's worked with world class leaders in AI, Collective Intelligence, Sport and business and recently developed a Coaching training programme. Previously John ran an elite tennis academy based on Integral Philosophy, authored award winning papers in the field of personal development and started an internationally famous project for street children in Delhi. John’s kindness and empathy are equal to his fierce heart and his passion to uncover what's most important.

InterPlay

Karl Steyaert

Join us for InterPlay – a practice to connect with ourselves and one another in embodied, creative ways, exploring movement, voice, and storytelling through improvisation.

Karl Steyaert is passionate about supporting people, communities, and organizations to thrive, fulfill their highest potential, and contribute to the well-being of all life. For over 25 years he has facilitated personal and collective transformation – catalyzing transformational community projects and offering coaching, training, group process & conflict facilitation across North America, Europe and Asia. A CNVC Certified Trainer and Assessor in Nonviolent Communication and a Level 1-3 trained Internal Family Systems practitioner, Karl has also undergone intensive training in Process Work with Arnold Mindell, Collective Trauma facilitation with Thomas Hübl, and Aletheia Coaching. More on Karl at www.karlsteyaert.com.

Widening Circles of Purpose and Impact

Karl Steyaert

We will weave together Joanna Macy’s Work That Reconnects with the relational depth of TC. Through embodied connection and collective inquiry, we’ll explore our place in the Great Turning and the inner resources that support world-changing action.

Karl Steyaert is passionate about supporting people, communities, and organizations to thrive, fulfill their highest potential, and contribute to the well-being of all life. For over 25 years he has facilitated personal and collective transformation – catalyzing transformational community projects and offering coaching, training, group process & conflict facilitation across North America, Europe and Asia. A CNVC Certified Trainer and Assessor in Nonviolent Communication and a Level 1-3 trained Internal Family Systems practitioner, Karl has also undergone intensive training in Process Work with Arnold Mindell, Collective Trauma facilitation with Thomas Hübl, and Aletheia Coaching. More on Karl at www.karlsteyaert.com.

Play Fighting

Karl Steyaert

Explore the art of Play Fighting—a dynamic, playful practice that blends physical engagement with deep self-connection and relational attunement. In a safe and supportive space, we’ll explore our relationship to touch, power, and competition with curiosity, presence, and joy.

Karl Steyaert is passionate about supporting people, communities, and organizations to thrive, fulfill their highest potential, and contribute to the well-being of all life. For over 25 years he has facilitated personal and collective transformation – catalyzing transformational community projects and offering coaching, training, group process & conflict facilitation across North America, Europe and Asia. A CNVC Certified Trainer and Assessor in Nonviolent Communication and a Level 1-3 trained Internal Family Systems practitioner, Karl has also undergone intensive training in Process Work with Arnold Mindell, Collective Trauma facilitation with Thomas Hübl, and Aletheia Coaching. More on Karl at www.karlsteyaert.com.

Metaphor & Mystery: Mapping the Unseen to the Self with Archetypal Images & an Integral Lens

Nayma Genin

An immersive practice blending creative play with deep inquiry — This workshop invites you to:

- Engage across realms of shadow and light, story and symbol

- Design actionable insights via evocative imagery (Dixit) and an Integral framework (AQAL)

Nayma is a transformational facilitator, coach, and cultural edge‑walker.

With over seven years of experience in Transformational Connection practice, she now serves as an assistant-in-training with TC Europe. Certified as a Practitioner of Integral Accompaniment through Holiniis and currently engaged in Diamond Approach studies, Nayma weaves therapeutic precision with embodied presence and a taste for the mythic.

After co-organizing this year’s Integral Youth Gathering, she co‑founded Integral Youth Fields, helping spark generational dialogue and evolution. Her facilitation is infused with resilience, boldness, and systemic flair—creating spaces where insight lands, connection deepens, and a quiet Wilberian hum echoes beneath it all.

Rise & Connect

Nayma Genin

As the sun rises, so do we.

Wipe the dreams from your eyes and stretch into the day! We’ll wiggle, breathe, share what’s alive — and maybe even lie on the floor.

This is not your average wake-up call —it’s a full-body hello with a side of presence.

Rise & Connect is both a soft activation and a deep arrival.

TC, breathwork, and a sprinkle of connection magic included.

Nayma is a transformational facilitator, coach, and cultural edge‑walker.

With over seven years of experience in Transformational Connection practices, she now serves as an assistant-in-training with TC Europe. Certified as a Practitioner of Integral Accompaniment through Holiniis and currently engaged in Diamond Approach studies, Nayma weaves therapeutic precision with embodied presence and a taste for the mythic.

After co-organizing this year’s Integral Youth Gathering, she co‑founded Integral Youth Fields, helping spark generational dialogue and evolution. Her facilitation is infused with resilience, boldness, and systemic flair—creating spaces where insight lands, connection deepens, and a quiet Wilberian hum echoes beneath it all.

Transformational Moving Connection

Robyn Wilford

Transformational Connection and Surrendered Leadership invite a deeper presence with ourselves, while in connection with another person or group of people. Movement and Dance practices activate our senses and perceptions, they invite an aliveness and activate the intelligence of the body.

This workshop will be a fusion of these presence based practices. Tranformational Connection & Surrendered Leadership will be combined with Movement and Dance practices, drawing on authentic movement, contact improvisation, 5 rhythms, ecstatic dance, and partner dances.

Theoretical Physicist and Certified Transformational Connection Leader

NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model) Practitioner for working with complex trauma (CPTSD)

School of Being Teacher with Jan Day

Men's Surrendered Leadership

Robyn Wilford

What excites me about this is bringing the potential of the Surrendered Leadership practice with a group of men. My relationship with other men is complex and has evolved over the years. I particularly value my male friendships, eventually allowing myself to feel soft and held by them. Over the years I’ve taken part in — and led — many forms of 'men’s work' and men’s groups. I’m super curious to explore being together at the festival.

Theoretical Physicist and Certified Transformational Connection Leader

NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model) Practitioner for working with complex trauma (CPTSD)

School of Being Teacher with Jan Day

Sameness & Difference: Relating Across the Gap

Ruby May

In a world increasingly shaped by polarisation, how do we stay open to difference without losing connection? And how do we feel a sense of sameness without collapsing into conformity or merging? In this workshop, we’ll explore the dynamic tension between sameness and difference - within ourselves and in relationship with others. Through embodied meditation, paired enquiry, and group dialogue, we’ll surface the unspoken, reflect lovingly on our experience, and examine how othering shows up in subtle ways. What balance do we need to feel safe and alive in a group? What shadow material is asking to be met? Together, we’ll practice welcoming what is, in all its complexity.

Ruby May is a British, Berlin-based coach, facilitator, and community weaver devoted to midwifing a culture rooted in body wisdom and right relationship with the world. Since training as a sexological bodyworker in 2010, she has researched and taught on sexuality, intimacy, and shadow work all over the world. Her years as a dominatrix sparked a deep inquiry into power and feminine leadership, leading to a focus on the role of the female body in personal and cultural transformation. Ruby now serves as community lead for Red School’s alumni - the largest global network of women exploring feminine spirituality through the womb - and offers coaching and talks on menopause as a rite of passage through SABIA. Central to her work is cultivating the relational skills needed to live with nuance, compassion, and connection in an increasingly polarised world.

AI & Artificial Intimacy: A Talk and Discussion

Ruby May

In an age of accelerating artificial intimacy, what does this reveal about our humanity? A talk and discussion centred around how AI mirrors the complexities of human connection, revealing deeper truths about intimacy, safety, and relational trauma in our modern world. These times call for us to come together, to listen deeply, and to make meaning collectively. Through shared reflection and embodied dialogue, we’ll explore the intelligence that can only emerge in relationship.

Ruby May is a British, Berlin-based coach, facilitator, and community weaver devoted to midwifing a culture rooted in body wisdom and right relationship with the world. Since training as a sexological bodyworker in 2010, she has researched and taught on sexuality, intimacy, and shadow work all over the world. Her years as a dominatrix sparked a deep inquiry into power and feminine leadership, leading to a focus on the role of the female body in personal and cultural transformation. Ruby now serves as community lead for Red School’s alumni - the largest global network of women exploring feminine spirituality through the womb - and offers coaching and talks on menopause as a rite of passage through SABIA. Central to her work is cultivating the relational skills needed to live with nuance, compassion, and connection in an increasingly polarised world.

Coming Back to Self

Tanka Georgiev and Nick Hayes

We dive into what it really means to come back to Self — that infinite place inside us from which love flows naturally. We’ll explore how unsafety pulls us away from that Self-connection and how bringing gentle attention — through breath, somatic awareness, and relational presence — helps us meet the parts of us that are longing to be seen.

Tanka has a background in intense problem-solving fields like chess, poker, and software engineering. Along the way, his body and soul were neglected, which led him to the path of self-discovery about 10 years ago.

Since then, he has explored yoga, mindfulness, climbing, partner dance, shamanic and psychedelic arts.

His soul eventually found his home in the practice of Transformational Connection and he decided to quit his job to fully commit to spreading the message of Wholeness and Self Love.

Tanka now lives with his family in the Bulgarian mountains and takes daily plunges in the nearby cold river.

Nick is a technologist and educator who is fascinated by the relational. In a past life, he was a software engineer in the London tech startup scene. In recent years he's been on quite the quest of self discovery, returning home to himself through the practice Surrendered Leadership. He also has a unique personal practice where he uses a camera to cultivate states of creativity and potential.

His gifts are in his presence, his embodiment and life force connection, and his capacity for love: to have you feel seen and met deeply where you are. His best friend describes him as "My second favourite psychedelic".

When he's not travelling for retreats or visiting his friends in Europe, you'll find him at home in Lancaster in the North West.

He's here to share, as directly as he can, his path of Self Love.

The Big Surrendered Leadership Circle

John Thompson and team

Each year on the penultimate afternoon, we step into the unknown as a practice community. We dare to Surrender as a whole!