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A Special Invitation
David Young
ACI Founder
Dear friends,
If you work with leaders, teams, or groups, you have likely felt a subtle shift.
In certain moments, something beneath the surface begins to reveal itself—a tension that doesn’t resolve with better strategy or clearer frameworks.
You might recognize it:
A group subtly divides. Conversations stall. People stop being able to feel each other.
And you find yourself asking:
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What do I do when something charged comes up and the room shifts?
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How do I work with tension I can feel but no one is naming?
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How do I stay grounded when the group starts to split?
What's often left unaddressed is the collective field itself.
Polarization is not just disagreement. It is a breakdown in the felt sense of “us,” the activation of unresolved history, and a loss of shared awareness.
These are signals that something requires digestion and integration.
And when that happens, more tools are not enough.
This is when the way you show up creates transformation.
What is needed is training—
training your nervous system to regulate collective wounds that reveal themselves under pressure.
This is the focus of the Fundamentals of Collective Integration,
an experiential 3-day, in-person training in Lisbon, where you will:
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learn to work with polarization in an embodied way, restoring a felt sense of “us”
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refine your capacity to work with tension, rupture, and fragmentation
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understand how history shows up in the present
You will practice through guided exercises, group work, and live exploration—so these capacities can show up when you actually need them.
This training is also the entry point into our two-year Collective Integration Facilitator Program.
We look forward to welcoming you into our in-person training in Lisbon.
Warmly,
The Art of Collective Integration (ACI) is a trauma-informed, somatic, and relational approach to working with collective systems
ACI builds on individual somatic awareness and extends it into relational, group, ancestral, and societal fields.
Rather than forcing coherence, ACI trains practitioners to sense fragmentation, integration, and developmental movement already underway.
“The work is not to fix the divide, but to develop the capacity to stay present with it.”
The Curriculum
Day 1
Foundations
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Session 1: Understanding Polarization as a Breakdown of “Us”
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Session 2: Felt Sense and Distance — Sensing the Collective Field (including numbness, rupture, and grief)
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Session 3 (Live Practice): Sensing the Collective Field in Real Time
Day 2
Depth & Capacity
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Session 4: Self as Instrument: Developing Capacity Under Pressure
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Session 5: History and Grief in the Room: Collective and Ancestral Layers
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Session 6 (Live Practice): Working with Tension, Rupture, and Fragmentation
Day 3
Application & Practice
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Session 7: Restoring Collective Awareness and Facilitating Real-World Dynamics (including time, structure, and when things go off track)
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Session 8 (Live Practice): Facilitating Collective Integration in Real Time
Why Collective Integration?
Why Now?
If you are working with people, groups, or systems, you are aware how increasing speed, complexity and pressure of modern life are intensifying the divides in collective spaces—resulting in hyper-activation, overwhelm or shutdown in individuals.
You have likely encountered the limits of existing approaches.
You’ve tried:
- better communication
- more precise facilitation
- frameworks for dialogue and alignment
And yet, conversations stall. Tension doesn’t resolve. People are not able to feel or even hear each other.
You are not alone.
Over the course of three days, you will learn and practice:
Working with collective dynamics
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Sensing and working with the collective nervous system
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Guiding groups and organizations through tension, fragmentation, and integration
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Multi-track facilitation in complex and polarized environments
Understanding how history lives in the present
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How ancestral, systemic, and collective wounds show up in group dynamics
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The role of trauma in shaping relational and collective experience
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Introduction to collective epigenics
Core capacities for collective integration
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Presence, silence, and systems sensing
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Articulation as transmission
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The role of integrity, responsibility, and spirituality in group process
Working with conflict and polarization
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Developing practical capacity in group conflict work
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Recognizing stress points and moments of rupture
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Identifying key one-to-one interactions that influence the whole
Experiential practice
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Guided exercises and situational practice
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Working directly with live group dynamics
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Immersive engagement with stress points in real time
Meet the Teacher
David Young (楊正賢), M.A., CMMT is the founder of The Art of Collective Integration and the Co-Executive Director of Somatic Experiencing International, and a Senior Advisor at the Global Restoration Institute. As a teacher and facilitator, he brings over 20 years of experience in systems change, trauma-informed consulting, public speaking and leadership development.
What People Are Saying
"As a martial artist, David embodies the calm and peaceful presence of a Sensei, a master who works quietly and harmoniously, with humility, for the advancement of his students. He will guide you steadily along the path..."
"This work is not something you just ‘learn’ and then apply later. It’s a daily, moment-by-moment awareness practice. I find myself noticing dynamics in real time now, both in myself and in groups, in a way I never could before.”
“I realized that feeling dissonance isn’t a problem to solve. It’s part of life. Instead of trying to resolve it quickly, I’m learning how to stay with it, sense it, and work with it. That’s been incredibly grounding.”
“There’s something rare about being in a space where you can feel both the intensity and the care at the same time. It allowed me to stay present in situations where I would normally shut down or try to control what was happening.”
“There’s a level of depth here that I haven’t experienced in other trainings. It’s not just ideas or frameworks. You’re actually learning to feel what’s happening in the collective field, and that changes everything about how you respond.”
“Something shifted in how I understand distance. I used to think it meant disconnection or failure. Now I can feel how distance is actually part of coherence, something that can be gently held rather than fixed. That alone has changed how I show up in groups.”