COMPASSIONATE LANGUAGE-A PRACTICE TO BRING PEACE TO YOURSELF, AND TO SPEAK AND LISTEN IN WAYS THAT LEAD TO CONNECTION AND UNDERSTANDING.
UPCOMING CLASSES and offerings:
HEART ❤️ F.E.L.T. Program starting! - Foundation Experiential Learning Track!
Open for registration NOW. STARTING October, 2022!
Heart ❤️ FELT is a 39 session program for integrating Nonviolent Communication using the Pathways to Liberation Matrix! This interactive, curriculum was developed to bring a "heartfelt-sense" of the principles and consciousness of shared power, interdependence and prioritizing connection. Each 2 hour weekly session will be facilitated by me on zoom, and we will explore a part of the Pathway to Liberation Matrix. You'll leave each session with a practice you can take into your week. We will be exploring in depth some of the Key distinctions of Nonviolent Communication, the principles, and practices that make up this simple yet complex consciousness so as to deepen your abilities to have self-compassion, empathy for yourself and others, and be able to express honestly while maintaining connection. For some this can be a spiritual journey and for some it may be a de-colonization process with a supportive community.
The purpose of this curriculum is to explore practices for transforming from the domination, punitive, power over culture to a culture of interdependence, compassion, and shared power, IN THE BODY. Each of the 39 matrix aspirations helps you slow down and integrate and remember one by one the part of life-serving ways of being that is within us. The curriculum is based on the Pathway to Liberation Matrix developed by Jacob Gotwals, Jack Lehman, Jim Manske and Jori Manske. And with the help of others, I've added a section each time to explore the obstacles we might have to each new concept and skill on the matrix, looking through the lens of whether we have power/rank/status or do not have power/rank/status.
This curriculum can be helpful for those on the certification path to become a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (yet it is not required you be on the certification journey) and/or as a way to support your journey of living, sharing, and knowing Nonviolent Communication so that we create a world that works for all! The program is open to anyone who has had an introduction to NVC, or done solo study (such as reading Marshall Rosenberg's book, has taken a training, or has been in an NVC practice group).
**** Only 15 spots, so register soon.
Start date: week of October, 24th, 2022 to end of July 2023.
Day of the week and time will be determined by the group once everyone is registered.
Cost: Determined by what is sustainable for particpants and for me as the facilitator and editor of the curriculum. For transparency, $50-100 from each person per month would make this endeavor sustainable for me, so this is the request and I’m very open to dialogue and supporting access while holding care for all.
REGISTRATION:
Heart FELT is also available to purchase as a complete curriculum that you can use with your own group. It comes with complete lesson plans for anyone to be able to facilitate with ease. And it's meant to rotate the facilitator within a group or community for more practice with shared power. Comes as a shared google doc that you can print out with all exercises and video links.
Email Marcia at Marcia@compassionate-language.com for how you can order.
In the works:
Picture feeling and needs cards! Beautiful water color designs representing Needs with no words. (temporarily on pause :(
Parenting from Your Heart Class series:
Beginning when 8-10 people are registered. Currently meeting in Silverdale or Poulsbo area, or online.
Parenting that Promotes Peace—Parents everywhere want to connect compassionately with their children, to show them love and offer guidance even in difficult moments. We'll use Inbal Kashtan's booklet, Parenting From Your Heart, to help us learn and practice Nonviolent Communication (NVC) which will transform your parenting to promote peace for generations to come and which will greatly nurture your connection with the children in your life.
Learn how to communicate with your children in a way that will maintain their self-esteem and promote trust and connection in your relationship, while still teaching them what's important to you.
This class will help you:
- Understand your own needs so you can choose how to respond and ways you can stay resourced as a parent.
- Move beyond power struggles by transforming your habitual responses.
- Gain insight into the ways we speak and are heard as parents and how this can be transformed to foster connection, understanding and cooperation.
- Learn how to foster internal motivation within your children.
- Learn how to help your children navigate their inner landscape of feelings and thoughts so that they are rooted in self-awareness and gain emotional intelligence. Learn the power of empathy!
- Learn how to foster attachment so that you can stay connected to your children even during the teen years.
- Mediate between children to resolve the heart of the conflict.
- Inspire cooperation
Communication for Connection and Understanding
6 Week series
Date: TBD
Whether its larger issues in our country or communication in our families and communities, we need communication skills to be able to reach each other when we have differences, that reach across the divide, and we need ways to stay connected and find solutions that work for all. Not an easy task. That's why we need to explore ways to speak and listen in ways that lead to more connection, understanding and effectiveness. After all, what we say may change the world! We will start with the base we all need - self-compassion so that we may speak and listen from grounded, present places, and so that we may offer compassion and our truth with care and responsibility.
We will review the basics of NVC its form and essence (consiousness). We'll add in processes to transform "enemy images" we have, add in more gratitude practices, and look at beneficial regret practices along with practicing the basics of empathy and expression based on NVC.
Nonviolent Communication as a Spiritual Practice Part I
We all know we want to live our values of compassion, yet HOW to do that is often a mystery, even with a strong spiritual tradition or practice to guide us. Come learn about how Nonviolent Communication can support any spiritual practice and help us to live in alignment with our spiritual values. We will do interactive exercises, solo, pair and group work in a nurturing environment to explore self-compassion as our base for compassion and authentic expression. Nonviolent Communication is based on empathy and truth telling - honest expression that also holds care for all, "truth in love". Learn how compassion does not have to mean agreement or submitting. Learn how to add to how you can respond more with mindfulness and react less.
Dr. Marshall Rosenberg identified a specific approach to communicating — called Nonviolent Communication (NVC) — that leads us to give from the heart, connecting us in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish without giving up the values that we cherish. He spent many years sharing this in some of the most war-torn areas of the world.
While studying the factors that affect our ability to communicate and stay compassionate, Marshall Rosenberg was struck by the crucial role that language can play. While we may not consider the way we talk to be “violent,” words often lead to hurt and pain toward ourselves or to others. That’s because so many of us have been trained to speak in terms of moralistic judgments, evaluations and labels that disconnect us from compassion.
At this one day training we will use various exercises to practice the fundamentals of Nonviolent Communication and apply the language and consciousness to understanding ourselves, listening, and speaking.
We will cover:
- Processes for transforming your judgments into what is important to you.
- Practices for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity and understanding.
- A deeper understanding of empathy and honest communication that can be serving for everyone.
- A process for transforming judgments from others into understanding and connection.
- A community of co-explorers.
- processes that reclaim choice and empowerment for all
COMMUNICATION FOR CLARITY AND CONNECTION continuation
(or Communicating across the Divide).
This class will be a review of the introduction to Nonviolent Communication (Communication for Clarity and Connection). This class is for those who have read Marshall Rosenberg's book or taken another Nonviolent Communication class since we will be reviewing, practicing, and building on practices to continue to integrate this consciousness and skills. It could also be for those who have not had a class before as long as you know it will not be as slow of a pace as a beginning class.
Whether its larger issues in our country or communication in our families and communities, we need communication skills to be able to reach each other when we have differences, that reach across the divide, and we need ways to stay connected and find solutions that work for all. Not an easy task. That's why we need to explore ways to speak and listen in ways that lead to more connection, understanding and effectiveness. After all, what we say may change the world! We will start with the base we all need - self-compassion so that we may speak and listen from grounded, present places, and so that we may offer compassion and our truth with care and responsibility.
We will review the basics of NVC its form and essence (consiousness). We'll add in processes to transform "enemy images" we have, add in more gratitude practices, and look at beneficial regret practices along with practicing the basics of empathy and expression based on NVC.
COMMUNICATION FOR CLARITY AND CONNECTION
(or Communicating across the Divide)
Whether its larger issues in our country or communication in our families and communities, we need communication skills to be able to reach each other when we have differences, that reach across the divide, and we need ways to stay connected and find solutions that work for all. Not an easy task. That's why we need to explore ways to speak and listen in ways that lead to more connection, understanding and effectiveness. After all, what we say may change the world!
Dr. Marshall Rosenberg identified a specific approach to communicating — called Nonviolent Communication (NVC) — that leads us to give from the heart, connecting us in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish without giving up the values that we cherish. He spent many years sharing this in some of the most war-torn areas of the world.
While studying the factors that affect our ability to communicate and stay compassionate, Marshall Rosenberg was struck by the crucial role that language can play. While we may not consider the way we talk to be “violent,” words often lead to hurt and pain toward ourselves or to others. That’s because so many of us have been trained to speak in terms of moralistic judgments, evaluations and labels that disconnect us from compassion.
In this 8 week class series, we will use various exercises to practice the fundamentals of Nonviolent Communication and apply the language and consciousness to understanding ourselves, listening, and speaking.
You will leave with:
- Processes for transforming your judgments into what is important to you.
- Practices for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity and understanding.
- A deeper understanding of empathy and honest communication that can be serving for everyone.
- A process for transforming judgments from others into understanding and connection.
- A community of co-explorers
- processes that reclaim choice and empowerment for all
This is for you if:
- You long to have ways to have tough conversations across differences.
- You are interested in ways to increase your ability to be stay grounded.
- You are wanting to have more peace in your life and to live in alignment with your values.
- You would like to increase your understanding and integration of empathy for yourself and others.
- You would like to find ways to maintain connection in your relationships.
- You long to increase your ability to choose and decrease your reactivity.
- You long to have hope that we can get along
8 week series
email marcia@compassionate-language.com with questions.
REGISTER HERE
Communicating for Effectiveness, Clarity and Connection
Based on Dr. Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication
Whether its larger issues in our country or communication in our families and communities, we need communication skills to be able to reach each other when we have differences, that reach across the divide, and we need ways to stay connected and find solutions that work for all. Not an easy task. That's why we need to explore ways to speak and listen in ways that lead to more connection, understanding and effectiveness. After all, what we say may change the world!
Dr. Marshall Rosenberg identified a specific approach to communicating — called Nonviolent Communication (NVC) — that leads us to give from the heart, connecting us in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish without giving up the values that we cherish. He spent many years sharing this in some of the most war-torn areas of the world.
While studying the factors that affect our ability to communicate and stay compassionate, Marshall Rosenberg was struck by the crucial role that language can play. While we may not consider the way we talk to be “violent,” words often lead to hurt and pain toward ourselves or to others. That’s because so many of us have been trained to speak in terms of moralistic judgments, evaluations and labels that disconnect us from compassion.
At this one day training we will use various exercises to practice the fundamentals of Nonviolent Communication and apply the language and consciousness to understanding ourselves, listening, and speaking.
You'll leave with:
- An understanding of what motivates your own and others behavior
- An increased awareness of what you want and how to move towards it
- A map to be able to increase your ability to empathize with others so you can listen to anyone and have greater understanding
- A way to speak your truth with love that will increase the likelihood of being heard and contributing to collaboration whether it's feedback, gratitude, or your honesty.
- A short form to express appreciation (not praise) that will be more likely to be taken in.
- a group of co-learners
- having had some fun!
Set up a FREE hour appointment in person or by phone or skype to see if the classes, workshops, programs or one-on-one coaching is for you.
Email me at marcia@compassionate-language.com
Practice Groups:
Offered by request. Email: marcia@compassionate-language.com to inquire.
Navigating Transitions:
Seattle Cancer Life support group workshop
Northwest Hospital location
email for information
Would you like to learn skills to navigate your latest change or transition? Has your world turned upside down, or have you made a change that you'd like more help with? Are you wanting to find more grounding during this change? Would you like to have compassion for yourself while you go through a challenging event?
Change is an inevitable, yet sometimes a challenging part of our lives. Through exercises we'll discover what's really important to us during times of change and find ways to adapt to change and navigate it with grace, compassion, and resilience.
This class will provide:
- information on the transition process and our habitual ways of responding to change
- insight into your transition that leads to compassion for yourself and action steps that really work
- support for navigating the transition with clarity and skill
- a community of others working through transition to connect with others working with transitions
During this 2 HOUR EXPLORATORY WORKSHOP you will learn ways to bring compassion and wisdom to whatever transition you're facing. Whether your life has turned upside down, or you're struggling to understand the changes, or you anticipate a change and want to be ready, you'll find insight by bringing in the support of Nonviolent Communication and the stages of transition.
- Find peace amid the chaos
- Gain awareness about old patterns and whether they're serving
- Gain acceptance and room to be however you are with the transition
- Stop being hard on yourself
- Get clarity about the challenge
- Spend less time being stressed
- Speak your truth if you need to
- Ask for help when you need it
- Get energized by your choices and vision of how to move forward
- Greater ability to adapt to change and be more prepared for your next transition
Who's it for?
Those facing cancer or who have a loved one working with cancer.
The Power of Empathy: Living in Alignment with Our Values
Poulsbo: location to be announced.
Minimum enrollment 8 people. EMAIL marcia@compassionate-language.com to request
Self-awareness and self-empathy form a base for increasing our resilience and gratitude in life. It also helps us communicate in ways that lead to more understanding and connection.
Come discover the power of truly understanding nonviolence (ahimsa), having no enemy in your heart. We will look at empathy first for ourselves and see how this then more easily allows us to empathize with others and express our honesty in ways that can be received. By looking at our language we will see how language creates and expresses consciousness.
You will leave with:
- Processes for transforming your judgments into what is important to you.
- Practices for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity and understanding.
- A deeper understanding of empathy and honest communication that can be serving for everyone.
- A process for transforming judgments from others into understanding and connection.
- A community of co-explorers
This class is for you if:
- You are interested in ways to increase your ability to be present and grounded.
- You are wanting to have more peace in your life and live in alignment with your values.
- You would like to increase your understanding and integration of empathy for yourself and others.
- You would like to find ways to maintain connection in your relationships.
- You long to increase your ability to choose and decrease your reactivity.
- You long to have more gratitude integrated into your life.
- You would like to be able to speak honestly and with care so you have greater chances of being heard and understood.
The Power of Empathy in Supporting Connected Communication
Investment: $210 for a single for 6 week class series. $375 for couple.
Self-awareness and self-empathy form a base for increasing our resilience and gratitude in life. It also helps us communicate in ways that lead to more understanding and connection.
Come discover the power of truly understanding nonviolence (ahimsa), having no enemy in your heart. We will look at empathy first for ourselves and see how this then more easily allows us to empathize with others and express our honesty in ways that can be received. By looking at our language we will see how language creates and expresses consciousness.
- Processes for transforming your judgments into what is important to you.
- Practices for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity and understanding.
- A deeper understanding of empathy and honest communication that can be serving for everyone.
- A process for transforming judgments from others into understanding and connection.
- A community of co-explorers
- You are interested in ways to increase your ability to be present and grounded.
- You are wanting to have more peace in your life and live in alignment with your values.
- You would like to increase your understanding and integration of empathy for yourself and others.
- You would like to find ways to maintain connection in your relationships.
- You long to increase your ability to choose and decrease your reactivity.
- You long to have more gratitude integrated into your life.
- *This is a great addition if you are just starting or have a Mindfulness Meditation practice. It helps to bring the intentions of Mindfulness meditation into everyday life through your language and your intentions. Yet, there is not a need to have a meditation practice to enjoy and learn from this class.
PAST CLASSES:
Radical Acceptance
Bainbridge Island, private house intimate setting. Class size limit 10. Will be offered again, date to be announced. If you have a group we can come to you!
In Tara Brach's well known book Radical Acceptance, she outlines how we can stop being at war with ourselves and begin to live fully every precious moment of our lives.
Join me and Certified Trainer Kathleen Macferran, for an exploration of how to weave in the practices, consciousness and tools of Nonviolent Communication and build upon this framework and knowledge for radical acceptance. Through discussion and reading from Tara's book, exercises, solo work, work in pairs, journaling, and guided meditations (no meditation experience required) you'll learn and practice step by step ways to achieve Radical Acceptance at a level you've never experienced before!
Explore how to stop being at war with yourself.
Get practical skills for compassion and loving empowerment.
Learn to embody a level of acceptance you've probably never experienced.
This class is for you if ...
- you are tired of self judgment and the tape in your head saying "I"m not good enough" or "I'm not lovable" or "I can't do this."
- you're self talk is crippling you and keeping you from fun and progress in your life
- you're wanting more self-awareness and clarity to go for what you want
- you're wanting to access gratitude and appreciation in your life
Request is $100 for 9 hours of classes, three 3-hour sessions
The Power of Empathy: Living in Alignment with Our Values
Poulsbo: location to be announced.
Minimum enrollment 8 people. EMAIL marcia@compassionate-language.com to register
Self-awareness and self-empathy form a base for increasing our resilience and gratitude in life. It also helps us communicate in ways that lead to more understanding and connection.
Come discover the power of truly understanding nonviolence (ahimsa), having no enemy in your heart. We will look at empathy first for ourselves and see how this then more easily allows us to empathize with others and express our honesty in ways that can be received. By looking at our language we will see how language creates and expresses consciousness.
You will leave with:
- Processes for transforming your judgments into what is important to you.
- Practices for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity and understanding.
- A deeper understanding of empathy and honest communication that can be serving for everyone.
- A process for transforming judgments from others into understanding and connection.
- A community of co-explorers
This class is for you if:
- You are interested in ways to increase your ability to be present and grounded.
- You are wanting to have more peace in your life and live in alignment with your values.
- You would like to increase your understanding and integration of empathy for yourself and others.
- You would like to find ways to maintain connection in your relationships.
- You long to increase your ability to choose and decrease your reactivity.
- You long to have more gratitude integrated into your life.
- You would like to be able to speak honestly and with care so you have greater chances of being heard and understood.
Calling all Service Providers!
Any and all...Advocates, Counselors, Law Enforcement, Corrections Officers, Social Workers, Educators, Activists, Doctors, Nursers, Teachers, Etc.
Self Care & Restoration for the Service Provider
Complimentary Offering...aka FREE
Open to those who serve others in challenging roles such as social worker, advocate, counselor, etc.
Are you passionate about making a difference in the world? Do you work “in the trenches”? Do you struggle with burn out sometimes? Do you feel guilty if you take time to take care for yourself? Do you long to know more ways to support people in pain? Are you in need of deep relaxation and tools to nurture yourself the same way you nurture and care for others so that you can continue to contribute?
Join us for one or both of the offerings each month to create a sustainable self-care practice to ensure a long and prosperous life of serving others.
- Restore yourself so you can keep on giving to the world and do what you do best
- Meet others who share the same calling
- Reignite your passion to make a difference
- Learn more tools for self-compassion and using the language of compassion to help others
- Stoke the fires of contributing to the world
- Prevent burnout
9AM – 10AM:
A Restorative Yoga practice acts as a therapeutic tool to heal the body and the mind. When you practice regularly, the health benefits, such as improved concentration, decreased anxiety and stress, improved sleep, stronger immune system, normalized weight, improved digestion and reduce blood pressure become apparent.
10:15AM – 12 NOON:
During the Compassionate Self Care workshop, Marcia will help you explore why do you do this work? What is important to you that gets met by this work? And we’ll look at what feeds the motivation to make a difference and how to keep the “fire” burning. We’ll also have space to explore what the challenges are and how to bring compassion to those places within us. This will help us learn more ways to support others who are in pain with compassion.
Register at www.vivaflowyoga.com
NEW TELECOURSE: - postponed.
Cultivating Inner Strength and Peace: Sow the seeds for self-awareness, compassion, self-responsibility, and empowerment.
In this 4 part series, we will explore ways that we can change our inner experience to one where we have a sense of empowerment, choice and fun. You will be able to grow in self-awareness and cultivate compassion for yourself and others and take away usable practices to integrate into your daily life. You will leave with:
1. A process for transforming your judgments into what’s important to you so you can be motivated by your values instead of motivated by guilt and shame.
2. A 4 part process for self-awareness and connection that will bring clarity, understanding and peace.
3. A practice for looking at the choices you make and how to choose mindfully.
4. A tool for transforming regret into learning instead of beating yourself up.
5. A process for transforming judgments of others into compassion for yourself and others.
Thursdays, 10:30am to 12:30pm, Pacific Time zone, Oct 18, 25, Nov 1, Nov 29 and Dec 6th.
Register for the first one for FREE and have the choice to sign up for the next 4. Five classes total.
$100 for all 5 classes.
Also being developed: A telesummit on Mourning and Celebrations for sending your first child off to college or moving out of the house: Navigating this special transition time for parents.
Transforming Self-judgments and Fostering Motivation
VivaFlow Yoga, 515 4th Ave, Bremerton, WA. TBA
Self-judgments can be serving, yet often they get in the way of what we're really wanting. Humans are often the most violent to themselves. So how do we have self-responsibility and compassion?
Come to this 2 hour workshop and learn to:
- Transform your inner self-judgments into life-serving motivation.
- Learn ways to find the peace you get on your yoga mat in every day situations.
- Learn the choices you have for communicating with yourself and others.
- Bring more joy into your life and relationships.
SECRETS OF THE TEEN BRAIN RESCHEDULED DATE to be announced. Can be requested.
Advances in neuroscience are giving us insight into that mysterious and for some – terrifying – landscape of the teen brain. In this workshop, Elizabeth makes the neuroscience accessible and useful to understanding the teens you live, work with and love. Under the sponsorship of the Educational Services District and the Kitsap County Health District she has presented this popular and helpful workshop to teachers, parents and teens throughout the region. It will shed light on many of those mystifying corners of the adolescent mind so parents can find their way to supporting their teen and optimizing this (truly) magical and dynamic stage of development.
Workshop will include:
- the latest neuroscience information on the Teenage Brain and what it means
- Five tips for parenting Teens
- A process to slow down and get what's important for you as a parent and listen what's important for your teen so you can maintain connection, trust and understanding; and
- A short process for the quickest way to keep your cool while keeping your teen safe and well.
REGISTER at www.bainbridgebodhicenter.com
Connect With Respect: An Introduction to Nonviolent Communication for YOUTH
A five hour program available for youth groups, school service groups, youth leadership teams, Peer Mediation groups, classrooms, etc.
Have a group or organization to design a training for? I can create a specially designed training just for your group. Or on a particular topic such as "Transforming Self-judgments", "How to Get out of the Blame Game", "Connected Parenting", "Anger and It's Purpose", "How Our Brains Work", etc.
PAYMENT
My ideas regarding payment: I really value this material and I would like there to be no obstacles for anyone receiving it. I also believe I am offering a valuable service that people will get their money's worth and it will be some of the best results from anything you pay money for. Therefore, I offer scholarships for everything I offer. I do like to try to have a balance of people in the class who can contribute with people who have scholarships so I am able to meet my needs for financial security and contribution while helping others to get the learning they would like. Ask yourself what it is that you are wanting and how important is it for you to obtain? And what would meet your needs for financial sustainability.
Guarantee: You can get any amount of your investment returned if you are not satisfied with the class series, up to the 5th class.
