Summer Nonviolent Communication and Mindfulness Retreat on Fire Island August 21-28-details below!!
New***Fire Island Day Workshop Sunday August 23
NVC training for Facilitators
NVC Support Group for Teachers
inquire at : info@steps2peace.com
Self Empathy- Listening and Connecting to Yourself with Love
Monday evening series
Woodstock New York 7:30-9 pm
We will create a learning community to experience and learn the foundational practice to staying in the energy and consciousness of nonviolence. In that energy, our presence itself creates the possibility of connection and understanding .
Sliding scale for entire series: $60-120
Preregistration requested: info@steps2peace.com
845 246 5935
July 19 A Day in NVC Consciousness Saugerties, New York flyer
with Roberta Wall, NVC trainer and student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
In addition to providing concrete and accessible means for connecting and communicating to oneself and others, NVC consciousness and skills help bring us from the shore of separateness and confusion to the shore of self awareness, compassion, presence and acceptance. This is a day to explore this path together, through contemplation, silence, sharing and practices.
10-5 p.m. Sliding scale $45-100 for the day
info@steps2peace.com
Partnership NVC
Couples series
Woodstock, New York
Compassionate Communication with Nonviolent Communication to help you build the intimacy, understanding and connection you want in your partnership relationship. Learn to help your partner communicate what is in his or her heart- to you and to the world!
$150 per couple for the series
Registration, directions and Inquiries:
July 10-18 NVC Family Camp
Family HEART Camp
Northern Va.
http://www.familyheartcamp.org/
August 21-28
NVC ON FIRE ISLAND-
BEACH HOUSE RETREAT
New***Fire Island Day Workshop Sunday August 23
Spend a week relaxing at the beach this summer, sharing meals, in Fair Harbor,Fire Island. 8 people maximum. NVC classes 3 hours daily; optional morning meditation and yoga, evening empathy groups and buddies. Register early! info@steps2peace.com
http://www.fireisland.com/photos/
On going NVC Practice Groups in New Paltz :
Susan Reeves 845 255 2341
http://www.practicingpeace-newpaltz.com/
Please contact steps2peace for information about
next Parenting Series and
Teen Peacemaker Institute in Kingston, New York
Also Available:Trainings for Organizations, Communities, Couples, Educators, Hospitals, Businesses, Therapists, Counselors and Coaches; workshops and trainings for mediators, organizations and communities; private mediation and coaching
Private sessions available. Please inquire.
Please note that all cost amounts are requests and we welcome inquiries about discounts.
Nonviolent Communication (NVC),
developed by Marshall Rosenberg, helps connect us
with what is alive in ourselves and in others moment-to-moment, with what we or
others could do to make life more wonderful, and with an awareness of what gets
in the way of natural giving and receiving. Imagine
connecting with the human spirit, in each person, in any situation. Imagine interacting with others in a
way that allows everyone's needs to be equally valued. Imagine creating relationships,
communities and organizations that are life-serving and life- enriching.
NVC is a transformational life
practice. There is a common life force that moves through all of us,
through all life. Some call it Divine Energy or flow; some call it life
energy. It is what we mean when we talk about core needs and values in
NVC. NVC offers us a door to living in awareness and connection with
that energy and flow- it speaks to the longing in all of us to
communicate from the depth of our authenticity and to meet the other
person in their depth of authenticity. Various tools and practices from
NVC remind us to touch that authenticity from which we are trying to
communicate. The consciousness and skills of NVC show us how to
connect with what is alive in ourselves and in others
moment-to-moment, with what we or others could do to make life more
wonderful, and with an awareness of what gets in the way of natural
giving and receiving.
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About Roberta:
Roberta Wall is a lawyer, mediator, NVC trainer, mindfulness practitioner and coach. She lives in the beautiful Hudson River Valley of Upstate New York and travels the world coaching couples, individuals and organizations and facilitating workshops and retreats in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as developed by Marshall Rosenberg.
Roberta uses her 20 years of experience as a lawyer, meditator, mediator, coach, teacher, parent and activist in service of peaceful resolution of conflict, individual and organizational growth, and community and spiritual development. Among her students and clients are families in the Hudson Valley, businesses in India, centers in New York City, Mexico, France, California and India, peace activists, court advocates, spiritual communities, teachers, students and healing professionals.
48 Blue Mountain Manor
Saugerties, New York 12477
845 246 5935
http://shambhalatimes.org/2009/01/31/buddhism-and-nonviolent-communication/
Roberta's NVC Blog
Dear Friends,
This blog entry ends with a new poem from Mary Oliver (scroll down) that unfolds the gift of taking your time. Watching the first mesclun seedlings bravely unfurl from the soil this morning, the ducks linger lazily on the creek- everywhere the world is teaching us to "take your time." And what about in our relationships? In the most precious jewel of intimate and satisfying connection with another human being- what stops us from taking our time to connect? From lingering with the tender shoots of intimacy when our loved ones reveal what is in their hearts- their vulnerability that comes with fear, anger, frustration, love. Sometimes its hard to hear the beauty and vulnerability in the message. Whether we step into NVC for a business mediation, a conflict with a loved one, sefl inquiry, or deepening an important relationship, NVC is our ally in learning to take our time to let the tender shoot of connection unfurl.
From Mary
Oliver's latest volume, Red Bird,
"Invitation":
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Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy
and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles
for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,
or the most expressive of
mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong blunt beaks
drink the air
as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine
and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude–
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in this broken world.
I beg of you,
do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.
It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life
April '09
I’ve been thinking a lot this month about hard –to- hear messages and difficult- to -deliver messages. A friend was telling me the other day about a friend of hers who said to her, “when you do this, you make me feel resentful.” And then I received an email two days ago, that ended with, “ We have been more than accommodating of your requests to date but your behavior is now causing our family a great deal of stress.”
Do you, like
me, feel a tightening in your belly just hearing these messages? I know I am triggered as soon as I feel that
tightening, and in this triggered state, I am only able to hear one thing -
someone blaming another person for the way they feel, holding the other person
responsible for how they feel. I’ve lost my mindfulness, my NVC, my aspirations
to hear and listen to others with an open heart and compassion.
My exploration of NVC these days is very focused on understanding what happens that sends me to this triggered place? How can I hear a difficult message, and get to the place where I only hear someone saying “please” to me- where I can hear their “please” as a gift to me- the gift of letting me know what is important to them, alive in them, what I could do to make life more wonderful for them. How do I get there from the triggered place, and how can I change my habitual responses so that I go there instead of to the habitually triggered places?
I’d love to hear
from you how you are working with these same issues, and whether this speaks to
what is important to you in your communication and transformation?
Passover and Nonviolent Communication
Mitzrayim is the word in the Torah for the triggered place- where you go, what happens, when you hear something or see something or think something that sends you into a tight closed place- in ancient Hebrew texts, that place is Mitzrayim- Egypt. Passover is the story and map for how we as individuals and as a people can transform the stuck places inside of us and around us. Pharoah- the inner or outer Pharoah- is stuck, identified with what we call in NVC a life ailenated place- a place where we have stoped up the flow of life, so can't see the other person's aliveness and can't access the place inside ourself where that flow can bring us into connection.
" Liberating your Dream "is an NVC workshop where we work individually, in small groups, and then in the group as a whole, to identify our dream of freedom for ourself, then meet (give empathy to) the inner voices that hold us back from stepping into freedom. And then we put ourself into connection with the energy of our dream- what we want to do or say, but have been held back by fear or other obstacles.
New Column:
Your NVC Story Here- Hundreds of people have been practicing NVC in the Hudson Valley-Let's share our successes and insights HERE with each other!!
send your story to info@steps2peace.com
From a Saugerties NVCer:
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An ongoing romantic
relationship has been helped tremendously by my understanding and
practice of Nonviolent Communication. What began as a friendship
progressed to a more romantic involvement, then it seemed to revert back to
friendship, but then it re-reverted to a more serious yet lighter (if those
two attributes can co-exist) romantic relationship. While this back and
forth may seem like a recipe for turmoil, it hasn't been that way, and I
think the difference has been my understanding of her needs and feelings as
well as my own. I have been able to hear
whatever she's said about our involvement with each other as an expression of
her own needs. While I was sad at times because I wanted something
other than what was, my being clear about what she needed allowed me to
simply enjoy what was because I recognized just how many of my needs were
being met by the quality of the time we were spending together. The
level of communication between us has been deep, and this has been so
gratifying and satisfying. My NVC experience has met my need for
understanding and communication and connection. I'm excited about this,
too! |
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Enjoying Roberta's Work:
Beautiful Needs Calligraphy created by Barbara Bash in Roberta's Self empathy Workshop
With Parents and Children:
We dream that all parents everywhere find
relief from struggling with their children and have all the support they need
to raise their children in accordance with their values. We want to build
a society where parents cherish and enjoy time with their children,
attend to their own needs for rest, rejuvenation and self-care, and have
meaningful and supportive relationships with their significant others. We
want to help parents gain the skills to inspire joyful cooperation from
their children and teach them the values they hold dear, while forming strong,
life-long bonds with them.
www.steps2peace.com
With Couples:
“Roberta created a safe place and supportively guided us to be honest and loving and I am happy to report it sent us down a path of closeness again...”
At retreats and workshops:
"As I watched Roberta roll with the different flows of the retreat, I was inspired to let go of the controls a little bit in my own life. "
"At the end of the workshop I realized I saw for the first time that needs need not be in conflict -that I can get my needs met, not at the expense of others getting their needs met. Roberta is a great teacher and, full disclosure, she's my mom!."
Private Coaching:
"Roberta's skillful coaching helped me to understand the interplay between the thoughts and feelings arising out of my needs and how the choices I make are always attempts to meet those needs."
| With organizations and businesses: |
| Roberta coaches a start up company in Mysore, India. The construction agreement was stalled until the company representatives used their NVC consciousness and skills to negotiate and connect with the builder. See the News! page for the video of the celebration! |