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Trust Leans

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One person leaning back into the arms of another as expected in trust development exercise called Trust Leans or Trust Rocks

Trust Leans

Trust development exercise for progressive confidence building.

  • Exciting
  • Promotes trust & empathy
  • Develops critical thinking
  • Partner activity
  • No props

Trust Development Exercise

This exercise invites groups to incrementally build their confidence rather than being overwhelmed by a high-stakes challenge. Trust Leans allows careful observation of comfort zones and communication patterns as partners negotiate boundaries together. The progressive nature of this trust development exercise reveals individual readiness levels whilst developing fundamental spotting skills essential for advanced trust work.

Step-by-Step Instructions

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Original post October 2015, last updated October 2025.

BY Mark Collard - Experiential Trainer, Author & Speaker

Comments (2)

  1. David Piang-Nee

    One of the very first activities I participated and learnt very early on. Still use these today for a variety of purposes. Focussing on the spotting stance itself, it can be really useful when pointing out to participants the importance of being in balance for whatever situation. Demonstrate variations on them for archery, bike riding, surfing… any activity really can be heightened through the skill of spotting and the importance of being in balance… could be something you might feel like incorporating in your program. Feel free to ask

    Reply
    1. Mark Collard

      You’re right David, and thanks for sharing. It just takes a little thought to connect any experience to important learnings for our groups. Please, anyone, reach out if you’re struggling to think of a way in which a particular experience could amplify the learning in your program.

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