Authentic Relating Experience

Awareness | Relating | Embodiment

Hi and Welcome!

 We, Marcus & Maria, are passionate about creating spaces where authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability can be practiced together. 

This work grew from our own search for deeper relationships and the transformations we’ve experienced through Authentic Relating. We don’t stand above this work, we walk alongside you, sharing from lived experience, continued practice, and a genuine desire to connect.

We believe in communities where empathy and authenticity coexist, where connection is possible without masks, and where people are empowered to bring their full selves into relationship.

Our vision is a culture where authenticity is the norm, where vulnerability is met with care, honesty with respect, and connection with curiosity.

What is ARE?

Authentic Relating Experience

ARE is a complementary expansion from AR and is a transformational framework designed to help people explore and reconnect to themselves, others, and the world around them. Through a blend of psychological awareness, embodied practice, and authentic communication, ARE guides individuals into deeper presence, emotional maturity, and relational intelligence.

We integrate Authentic Relating practices as a core part of our foundation, valuing the honesty, curiosity, and human connection AR cultivates. We build upon these practices by weaving in somatic awareness, shadow work, nervous system regulation, embodiment, and introspective psychological tools. This creates a holistic and multidimensional journey that supports growth on every level: mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and relational.

ARE Framework

ARE is a transformational journey built on three pillars: Awareness, Relating, and Embodiment, inviting you to meet yourself and others with greater depth, presence, and truth. It begins with Awareness, the practice of being awake to your inner world and the moment as it unfolds. It expands into Relating, the art of connecting authentically with yourself and others through honesty, attunement, and shared humanity. And it becomes real through Embodiment, where insights move out of the mind and into lived experience, expressed through the body, behaviour, and presence. Together, these pillars form an integrated pathway toward deeper connection, emotional intelligence, and meaningful relationships—within yourself, with others, and in community.

We are Relational Creatures.

We live in a world marked by increasing disconnection and isolation. Neuroscience shows that our brains are social organs: mirror neuron's allow us to resonate with others’ emotions, and the vagus nerve helps regulate safety and connection through co-regulation. 

Yet, paradoxically, the very longing that draws us toward others often collides with our fear of rejection, judgment, exclusion, or misunderstanding. We crave truth but hide behind masks; we long for intimacy but guard ourselves with strategies of performance, withdrawal, or subtle manipulation. Too often, we relate from fear rather than love, protecting ourselves instead of opening to connection.

Download Guidelines
Two women laughing and chatting on a pink couch in a cozy living room. One woman is holding a tablet, and a small table in front has a plant, water bottle, and candles.

When we risk discomfort, we discover deeper intimacy. Vulnerability becomes the bridge, allowing us to dismantle transactional interactions and instead build bonds rooted in empathy, honesty, and genuine care. 

By practicing awareness of our intentions, and shifting from defensiveness to curiosity, from assumption to presence, we create the conditions for trust to grow. In this way, the discomfort of directness becomes not a threat, but the very pathway to freedom and deeper human connection.

Core Values and Why They Matter

  • Showing up with transparency and truth, not oversharing but revealing what is real in the moment to reduces misunderstanding and build trust.

  • Choosing engaged presence over withdrawal. Effort is not about perfection but about practicing new ways of relating, turning intention into an embodied experience.

  • Staying aware of disconnection and reaching back toward presence, within ourselves and with others. Connection doesn’t avoid conflict, it allows growth through it.

  • Meeting each moment with openness and care instead of judgment or assumption. Curiosity turns defensiveness into discovery and makes connection more alive.

  • Meeting reality as it is, without denial or distortion. Acceptance shifts us from: this shouldn’t be happening to this is what is happening, how do I respond?

  • Holding presence without fixing or projecting. True empathy honours another’s unique reality, creating a bridge of compassion and understanding.

  • Owning our choices, needs, and responses rather than blaming or handing power away. Responsibility strengthens both self and community.

  • The courage to be seen without armour. Vulnerability is the birthplace of intimacy and trust, allowing deeper connection and healing.

Intention Over Perfection

Authentic Relating is not about performing perfectly or always saying the “right” thing, it is about aligning with intention. What matters most is not flawless words or polished behaviour, but the inner movement behind what we express. When we bring awareness to our intention, we begin to notice what truly motivates us, revealing unconscious patterns that otherwise drive our interactions from the shadows.

Questions before getting started?

Get in touch.

Our work celebrates multiple approaches and points of view in which everyone deserves to be seen, welcomed and valued without judgment or exclusion. We welcome and value all differences, including race, gender, sexual orientation, generation, religion, disabilities and beliefs.