Authentically Us - A Weekend of NVC Exploration - Spring 2026 - On Line

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Authentically Us - A Weekend of NVC Exploration - Spring 2026

Authentic Presence – There Is Nothing More Powerful

April 24, 25, 26, 2026

Planting Compassionate Seeds

Supporting Life

“You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can't count the number of apples in a seed.”
- Unknown

A Diverse Team Of 19 Facilitators, 20 Unique Online Events!
Facilitators Are Volunteering Their Time To Support RMCCN
Registration Free – Donations Welcome

Registration Closes April 24 At 8:00 PM MDT

  • RMCCN facilitators are coming together as a community:
  • To support our world by spreading, as widely as possible, the skills to build compassionate understanding across differences.
  • To support RMCCN in having resources to expand our reach to diverse communities, providing co-learning opportunities where we can explore engaged, compassionate living together.

Enroll for free; make a donation if you can.

Registration Closes April 24 At 8:00 PM MDT

* * * * *

Session Recordings.

RMCCN is experimenting with recording sessions.
Not every session will be recorded.
Check the individual session for recording status.

In these tumultuous times we are living in, one thing is clear - if we want to live our values of unity, freedom, trust, mutual care and respect, we need to develop the competency and capacity to do so. Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a body of work created by Marshall B. Rosenberg that helps us develop self-responsibility, deepen our understanding of ourselves and others, and create meaningful dialogues. NVC provides us with concrete tools to align our language with what we really value.

Hence, this invitation to you. Come join Rocky Mountain Compassionate Communication Network (RMCCN) facilitators for a weekend of practice and inspiration via Zoom. Learn the skills needed to:
· have more clarity, compassion, and empowerment in all of your relationships;
· transform resistance and reactivity into connection;
· develop trust and collaboration.

We are excited to share with you how Nonviolent Communication is being applied in many areas of life from child rearing, to connecting across differences and resolve conflicts, to creating environments that support us in having power together. This training is open to parents, teachers, students, social activists, professionals, and anyone who wants to deepen their communication skills and build meaningful connection.

Come join us to bring out the best in ourselves and others to meet the challenges of our lives and to co-create a world where we all can thrive.

PROGRAM INFORMATION AND ENROLLMENT>

Description:

All registrants will automatically be enrolled in this opening celebration. In our time together we will have the opportunity to get to know each other and share interests and intentions for the weekend. Individual exploration is important. So is the accompaniment brought by being a part of a community. You are invited to join us and draw the comfort, strength, and delight that arises as we celebrate our shared journey.

Description:

We cannot change the past, but we can change our relationship with it.

At times, looking back may fill us with deep regret; at times, a single word in the present can bring profound sorrow.

But you do not have to carry this alone.

In this workshop, we will come together in warm, compassionate presence, gently accompanying these feelings of regret and grief. As we do, the experiences and emotions held deep within can begin to move naturally, releasing the life energy that has been frozen.

Description:

Most of us live under the pressure to be efficient and productive, running until the weight of measuring up leaves us depleted and disconnected from our own authenticity. What if our life was built moment by moment from a place of deep longing rather than self-improvement? This session invites us to stop waiting for change and start creating it. We will learn how to move beyond habitual actions to design our own daily, life-serving practices that anchor our values in the unfolding of our day.

Description:

Robots have begun to take the place of humans in our world. Humans, meanwhile, are rapidly becoming robotic.

How can we preserve our humanity?

  • I found the answer to this question in listening with my Giraffe Ears.
  • I need a pair of ears to hear.
  • To listen, I need both my ears and my heart.

When ear and heart unite, it becomes listening from the heart, and in that state, I deeply feel that I am heard, understood, and seen.

Let us listen to each other from the heart.

Description:

Nonviolent communication practices help us move towards ways of relating with others in which power is shared, and this process begins with coming into cultivating a heartfelt relationship with our own power. This cultivating can be a tender process, especially if we have felt powerless or have experienced others' power as harmful. Yet when we are rooted in our own power, we are free to choose togetherness in ways that serve all. In this session, we will explore connecting with the personal power that lives within each of us, and share about how this connection can continue to deepen as our NVC practice evolves. All experience levels are most welcome to join.

Description:

Introducing Nonviolent Communication principles into systems based on a domination paradigm can be challenging. People are likely unaware of how their social and cultural conditioning works to uphold these systems and perpetuate the status quo. My intention is to uncover this conditioning and teach NVC principles and skills in service of transforming how we think about and engage in challenging situations, even in settings where people have no familiarity with NVC. In this interactive session, I will demonstrate this work using a real-life scenario of a woman who lives in a nursing home and the challenges she and the staff are facing together. While this example is from a healthcare setting, the process that I’m going to demonstrate can be applied in diverse settings.

Description:

Are you noticing yourself and others are more easily activated?

Have you experienced “cancel culture” in your community?

 Has family division or estrangement become a deep heartache?

In what ways does our identity (identities) entangle with social issues in ways that create a solidity of  “2 sides”?

If we are all so edgy, how will we ever understand and find new ways forward? Let’s move from corrosive cynicism and irrelevant idealism to being able to hold tensions in life giving ways. We’ll experiment with ways to create the world we want to live in.

From family, work, congregations, to community – we are all absorbing the chaos from around us. The result is comfort of the Domination paradigm of Power over/under or win/lose.  Partnership paradigm of Power with helps us take risks to experiment.  Moving with, rather than against, we embrace the complexity of these times.  New models of inter-relatedness and interconnectedness are available!

In this lab experiment, you’ll have a chance to work with your own situation and learn from others.  Susan will share an introductory packet on bridging models and inspiring stories to create understanding and bridging the gap, including a congregation talking about the Palestinian-Israeli situation and what your concentric circle of influence might be. 

Description:

Have you ever used classical NVC (OFNR) with someone only to have their eyes glaze over showing disconnection because of the jargon? Did you think “What’s wrong with them?” “They should get it.” “I used perfect NVC!” Sometimes creating an energetic connection using colloquial, everyday language or “Street Giraffe” is more effective.In this session we will explore using vernacular language to help create a quality of connection that allows needs to be met. The focus will be more on the consciousness of NVC rather than the elements, structure or finding the right words. We will practice using figures of speech like idioms, similes and metaphors.There will be whole group interactions, practicing in pairs and sharing successes and challenges.You are invited to join us. I hope you’re as curious as a cat and find it as exciting as a treasure hunt.

Description:

Authentic Relating Games is a lively, connection-rich workshop where you will get to step out of ordinary conversation and into playful, meaningful experiences that build real human connection. Through guided interactive games, you will explore presence, honesty, curiosity, vulnerability, and the joy of exploration with others in a way that feels engaging rather than heavy. This 2-hour online event offers a welcoming space to meet new people, deepen self-awareness, and practice authentic connection skills that you can bring into your everyday life. Whether you are brand new to authentic relating or already love connection work, come join us in discovery and play.

Description:

Are you wanting to make “life more wonderful,” even in everyday moments?

In this workshop you will experience the generative nature of connecting with needs into an organic unfolding of life. This process can bring a sense of lightness to our nervous systems and support more ease, clarity, and aliveness.

We will work with thoughts that can carry subtle weight or anxiety, such as:

  • “I’ll/They’ll never change.”
  • “I’ve got to stop____”
  • “I’m worried that_____”

Together, we will explore:

  • How does your focus impact your lived reality?
  • Actualizing NVC to shift your focus to what you genuinely value and long for.
  • Dropping into your heart to determine your next steps in alignment with the energy you DO want to bring into the world.

From this place, many people experience more wholeness, agency, and hope.

Live participants will have the opportunity to receive community support as we practice together in a way that honors choice and authenticity.

Description:

When we feel stuck, we might notice ourselves pulling back, procrastinating, hesitating, or staying silent. We might also push outward, reacting impulsively, criticizing, or trying to control. These patterns can keep us from expressing what matters, taking action in ways that feel aligned, and connecting with others in an authentic and meaningful way.

In this session, we’ll explore these patterns and discover the message behind our inner voice. We’ll uncover what truly matters in these moments and practice responding with greater clarity, ease, and confidence.

When we meet our inner voice with openness and warmth, something softens, and expression becomes more natural and less forced. We can turn the voice that holds us back into a guide that helps us move forward.

Description:

Tarot readings are not always about telling someone their future. They can be used to establish heart-to-heart connection, create a safe space for deep sharing and empathic listening, and facilitate self-connection for recipients. Join Mauro Perez as he shares his NVC-informed method which he’s developed over a decade of studying and practicing NVC and reading Tarot for clients.

In this workshop you’ll learn the ins and outs of facilitating insight for others through a Tarot reading, in an NVC style which empowers the participant as the author of their own meaning. You’ll get a chance to witness (or volunteer for) a live demo, and then practice with others using a free online Tarot deck or your own.

As Mauro starts every reading, what is required to play is not belief, but an open mind. You’re invited to take what is useful, and leave the rest, in this creative and compassionate approach to Tarot and NVC.

Description:

You have to have empathy to offer empathy. As we live NVC, we encounter times when our inner jackal struggles to hear our inner giraffe. Writing can be a powerful practice for quieting the mind, opening the heart and offering empathetic presence. In this session, we will write a dialogue between our self today and a former version of our self in the midst of a challenging experience.  How might writing this dialogue with nonviolent communication be a form of empathy? How might writing this dialogue help us replace blame with responsibility and empathy? How might writing this dialogue remove the enemy story we have towards our self, so we are less likely to create future enemy stories of others? The conversations we have with others are preceded by the conversations we have with ourselves. Come write a conversation with yourself and learn how reflective writing can prepare you for intentional conversations with others. This session will include a slide presentation, reflective writing, interactive discussion, and role playing in small groups (if you choose)

Description:

There is a profound synergy between nonviolence and truth. Nonviolence provides a grounded stance of right relationship—avoiding both self-sacrifice and self-aggrandizement—while truthfulness ensures our integrity remains sharp and courageous. Through this"powerful dance," you will learn to speak your truth without using it as a weapon, ensuring that even in moments of disharmony, the commitment to do no harm remains your guiding light. Join us to experience how the union of these two principles translatesinto the fullest expression of love and ethical living.

Description:

As we traverse these times of turmoil and upheaval, as humans are want to do, we tend to focus on the traumatic and the dramatic. Yet, percolating beneath the headlines another potent reality is thriving, nurtured by endless care and devotion.

How does the nonviolence/compassion work of Marshall Rosenberg speak to the turbulence we find ourselves in today? When beset by confusion and uncertainty how do we find equilibrium? What is the consistency that we can rely on? How do we connect with that world of endless care and devotion.

When we are disconnected from our own essence, our own sense of self, we look to the world around us searching for just the right circumstance to bring us peace and comfort. Since the external world is beyond our control, we are thus plagued by doubt and insecurity, and the urge to try to control what is happening can become overwhelming.

When we connect with our deep essence, are true to ourselves, become clear about what really matters, then we begin to develop trust and stability. When our security does not totally depend on external events, and we bring compassion to our doubts and insecurities, we feel a warm accompaniment and affirmation that soothes us. We step into a loving perspective beyond right and wrong judgment. We begin to see the humanity in all and our actions speak directly to that humanity as respect and appreciation.

Connecting compassionately, both with ourselves, and with others, we begin to hear the motivations and love behind our seeming criticisms and destructive behaviors. We begin to make peace with who we are, transforming our relationships with family, friends, colleagues, and adversaries. Peace resides at the center of our being. Radiating outward, it heals our world, revealing the loving intentions that surround us.

Join us as we practice stepping into that loving world.

Description:

Words like *privilege*, *racism*, and *DEI* often carry strong emotional charge and can quickly shape the direction of a conversation. This workshop focuses on building the capacity to stay present, grounded, and connected when these words arise—whether we are hearing them or choosing to speak them. Rather than reacting to the label itself, participants will practice listening for the needs, values, and lived experiences that sit underneath the words. Rather than using these words without awareness of their impact, we will practice bringing intention and care to how they are expressed, while staying true to their meaning.

Through guided exercises and dialogue, participants will develop greater awareness and choice in how they engage with charged language—learning to notice their internal responses, hear the human experience within what is said, and express themselves in ways that are more likely to be heard without giving up clarity or authenticity. While we begin with the word *privilege*, the skills developed apply to a wide range of real-world conversations.

Description:

We have all heard that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I would add that you must start from where you are. When you get directions from Google Maps or MapQuest, you must enter your point of departure as well as your destination. If you don’t know where you are to begin with, the directions won’t work no matter how detailed.

This principal is expressed in the NVC phrase "I feel because I". This implies that we take responsibility for our own feelings and perceptions. This puts us in the drivers seat where we have power in our world. This is why self-connection is the root of the NVC Tree Of Life.

The NVC tree branches into listening empathically or expressing honestly. In order to do this we must trust others with their own lives and see them as having power in their world too, literally expressing confidence in them: "you feel because you".

When we can acknowledge where we are at and welcome others as they are, we are practicing Radical Acceptance. This enables us to drop pretense and interact authentically. Come explore how we make the shift out of the victim prone "I feel because you" and guilt laden "You feel because I" perception into "I feel because I" and "You feel because you" thinking and thus live the NVC Tree Of Life.

Description:

En situaciones de conflicto, es habitual construir una “imagen de enemigo” de la otra persona: alguien que está equivocado, que actúa mal o que parece estar en contra nuestra. Esta percepción, aunque comprensible, suele alejarnos de la posibilidad de entendimiento y dificulta cualquier intento de conexión o resolución.

Este taller propone una exploración práctica basada en la Comunicación No Violenta, desarrollada por Marshall Rosenberg, para identificar y desmontar esa imagen de enemigo. A través de dinámicas experienciales, aprenderemos a ir más allá de los juicios automáticos y a reconocer qué necesidades pueden estar detrás de los comportamientos que nos resultan difíciles o incómodos.

El enfoque no consiste en justificar ni estar de acuerdo con las acciones de la otra persona, sino en desarrollar la capacidad de ver su humanidad, incluso cuando no nos gusta lo que hace. Trabajaremos habilidades clave como la autoempatía, la identificación de sentimientos y necesidades, y la escucha empática.

In situations of conflict, it is common to construct an “enemy image” of the other person: someone who is wrong, who behaves badly, or who seems to be against us. While this perception is understandable, it often distances us from the possibility of understanding and makes connection or resolution much more difficult. This workshop offers a practical exploration based on Nonviolent Communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, to identify and dismantle these enemy images. Through experiential activities, we will learn to move beyond automatic judgments and recognize the needs that may lie behind behaviors we find difficult or uncomfortable. The focus is not on justifying or agreeing with the other person’s actions, but on developing the ability to see their humanity, even when we don’t like what they do. We will practice key skills such as self-empathy, identifying feelings and needs, and     empathetic listening.

Description:

The Reflection:
Do you ever feel disconnected from your feelings and needs? While Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers a powerful map for connection, the "thinking mind" often gets in the way. The mind’s common habits like analyzing, listening to respond, or getting lost in stories can overshadow the simple beauty of being with what is alive.

The Experience:
Join us for a unique, 2-hour meditative session where we move from our "thinking minds" into our "communal hearts." Using a “Soup Making” practice I learned in a Buddhist group, we will use poetry as a gateway to uncover feelings, values, and lessons about nonviolence.

How it Works:

In this session, I hope you will:

  • Experience Unembellished Feelings and Needs Tap into a shared space where feelings and needs emerge free from the weight of story, analysis, or feedback.
  • Deepen Empathic Receiving Practice the power of listening without pressure to formulate a response.
  • Connect to Self and Others through Poetry Discover how verse gives life to the unspoken parts of our humanity.
  • Level the Playing Field: Participate in a structure where every voice nourishes the whole.

Why Join?

If you want to touch what’s beyond the analytical mind and practice slowing down to truly hear yourself and others this is for you. I’m excited to hear what "ah-ha" moments simmer to the surface.

Description:

All registrants will automatically be enrolled in this closing celebration and learning harvest. We will have opportunity to share our takeaways and inspirations and to acknowledge what matters to us.

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