Celebrate your communitas!

When we start a new chapter in our lives, it’s important to pause, look back, and celebrate those who have played a role in our journey. I wrote about this a few months ago when I began this newsletter to mark my new path in coaching. In the same spirit, I paused to celebrate the communities I belong to: the Stanford LEAD alumni and the FIFA Master alumni ones. These communities has shaped the person and the professional I am now, and I am sure they will play a main role in my next chapters.

Over the past year, my journey in coaching has introduced me to a multitude of incredible individuals, each with a unique story and countless lessons to share. Today, I want to celebrate them.?But this isn’t just about celebrating another community. It’s about something deeper—something profound and completely different: it’s about celebrating a communitas.

A communitas? What is this?

The term communitas might not be familiar, but its essence is something I am sure we have all experienced at some point in our lives. I first encountered the concept as a student of cultural anthropology, through the work of British anthropologist Victor Turner. Turner uses communitas to describe a special kind of human connection—one that transcends the usual boundaries we experience in a structured society.

Unlike a traditional community, communitas is not about formal organization where roles are clearly defined. It is an unstructured and spontaneous state that arises in specific circumstances, typically during transitional or liminal phases in life. In these moments, the usual social norms, regulations, and roles that define our experience—our job titles, social statuses, or affiliations—fade away. Instead, people come together as equals, bound by a shared experience or purpose.

Communitas is not permanent. Unlike communities, which are stable and enduring, communitas is temporary. It exists only in the moment. But within this moment, it has a profound impact, fostering creativity, connection, and transformation.

Communitas thrives in the absence of traditional rules. It exists on the margins of normal life. And it is deeply human. It is rooted in emotional and human connection. It emerges when people allow themselves to be vulnerable and open to others, creating bonds that transcend superficial differences.

Examples of communitas include pilgrimages, festivals, or a football match, where the experience of participation and connection outweighs individual roles or identities. What defines communitas is not who you are but the fact that you are fully present, contributing to and immersed in the shared experience.

My experience with communitas

This is exactly what I experienced during my training as a coach at the Co-Active Training Institute , one of the most prestigious coaching academies and the one that has shaped my journey. Across five modules, spanning different time zones, I spent over 100 hours with nearly 100 peers in profoundly emotional sessions, unveiling our personalities, aspirations, and vulnerabilities.

Each module was an entirely new communitas, a safe and emotional place where we could be truly creative. With every new group of peers, we stepped into a liminal space—a space outside the usual constraints of our lives, where creativity, growth, and connection could flourish. By coaching each other multiple times, we co-created something extraordinary: a space for trust, empathy, and transformation.

Training at Co-Active was one of the most impactful experiences of my life, and I feel immense gratitude for the incredible people I met—their courage in sharing their truths, their willingness to challenge my perspectives, and their openness to co-create. This, to me, is the power of communitas: a space where we can collectively create something extraordinary by suspending the usual and embracing the possible.

Like in a long pilgrimage, I shared part of the way with each of my peers. We met, we connected, we exchanged, we created, and we parted ways every time richer, more present, and more complete.?

So, shall we seek communitas?

My answer is a big yes! Communitas reminds us of something deep and crucial: our shared humanity. It also reminds us of our potential to innovate and connect deeply when we step outside the ordinary and take risks.?

Let’s seek more of these moments in our lives—moments where creativity flourishes, boundaries dissolve, and we can experiment together. Let’s honor the communitas we encounter, knowing that even if they fade away, their impact can last a lifetime.

What about you? Have you experienced communitas recently? I’d love to hear your story.

Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter. I look forward to reading your experiences, comments, and questions.

My name is Matteo. As all of you, I contain multitudes.

Join the conversation or share.

Matteo