Retreat
Living Peace Retreat
Date
January 17 – 22, 2020
Are you interested in developing skills to keep your heart strong in the face of the immense challenges of our times?
The tools of Nonviolent Communication can support us to keep ourselves healthy in turbulent times and to make a difference for everyone whose lives we touch.
Join us for this special residential retreat program where we’ll delve into NVC as an embodied practice for transforming our lives, relationships and world. During this five-day retreat, you’ll learn ways to:
- Stay grounded and balanced in challenging moments
- Enhance your ability to listen well and speak with clarity
- Deepen intimate and family relationships
- Develop insight and self-mastery
About the retreat
Each day at the retreat includes teaching sessions with the whole group, practice in smaller groups, empathy groups, participant-led offerings of arts and movement, and time for rest and enjoying the outdoors.
The retreat curriculum is designed to meet the specific needs and interests of participants, including flexible workshops focused on skill-building in a range of contexts. You will have the time, space, and support to work on the issues that matter most to you. Typical topics include:
- Doing political or social change work
- Being in a partnership or being single
- Parenting or connecting with children in other contexts
- Communicating across any kind of divide
- Collaborating at work
- Helping others work through conflict
BAYNVC IMMERSION PROGRAM:
Participants may apply to continue their learning in the BayNVC Immersion Program, an 8-month intensive program that meets in Berkeley one weekend per month in 2019, March through October.
“There is no replacement for working with this material in an interactive group field with a grounded and spiritually mature, capable instructors. It’s been invaluable!”
— Dawn Neal, Life Coach, Berkeley CA.
WHO’S IT FOR?
This retreat is appropriate for those new to Nonviolent Communication as well as for experienced practitioners seeking to bring their practice to a new level. Previous retreats have drawn therapists, activists, teachers, health care providers, parents, writers, artists, engineers, life coaches, and many more.
GET SUPPORT IN KEY COMMUNICATION AREAS, INCLUDING:
- Understanding internal conflicts or “stuck” places
- Making clear decisions
- Collaborating more effectively
- Resolving conflict with colleagues
- Working with clients, patients, and customers
- Growing communication skills with children
- Embodying nonviolence in social change work
LOCATION:
The 2019 Living Peace Retreat will be held at the beautiful Ben Lomond Quaker Center among the redwood forest of the Santa Cruz mountains.
All meals are provided by our fabulous chef, starting with dinner on Friday evening and ending with lunch on Wednesday the 22nd. All meals include vegetarian options, and can accommodate most common dietary restrictions.
Ben Lomond Quaker Center: 1000 Hubbard Gulch Rd,
Ben Lomond, CA 95005
Arrival: Friday, January 17th, 3-5pm (retreat begins with dinner at 6pm)
Closing: Wednesday, January 22nd, 12pm (retreat ends with optional lunch)
Download a sample daily schedule.
Accessibility: The dining hall and main building are wheelchair accessible. There is a paved road on a large hill between them, with an option to drive and park.
PROGRAM LEADERSHIP
The Living Peace Retreat will be co-led by Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainers Roxy Manning, Ph.D. and Oren Jay Sofer, and will be supported by a team of experienced NVC assistants. Our leadership team is designed to provide significant individualized coaching in small groups, with an average teacher to student ratio of four or five to one.
Roxy Manning, Ph.D., a CNVC Certified Trainer, has co-led various BayNVC’s depth programs since 2008. A passionate champion of social justice, she brings NVC to her work as a licensed clinical psychologist, and has supported groups around the world interested in causes from LGBTQ rights to equity and transformation of social structures related to race, ethnicity and social class.
Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication nationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. Oren is also the author of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.
PROGRAM COST
This retreat has a separate cost for Tuition and Room & Board. Both the BayNVC Immersion Program and the Living Peace Retreat offer the cost of tuition on a sliding scale. People who contribute at the top of the sliding scale support our ability to offer spaces at a cost below the bottom of the sliding scale to those who would otherwise be unable to participate.
RETREAT TUITION
Sliding Scale: $1400 – $750
Our sliding scale is intended to make this retreat accessible to people of a wide range of income levels. Please choose an amount that reflects your ability to contribute. Scholarships and youth rates (24 and younger) available. Details below.
ROOM & BOARD
When you register, please choose an available housing option (all options include meals).
Dorm: $475 Commuter: $300
Quad: $525 Camping: $425
Single: $625 Double: $565
SPACE IS LIMITED, REGISTER EARLY!
Download the Living Peace Flyer (coming soon).
Sponsored by BayNVC
FINANCIAL AID & ACCESSIBILITY
We wish to support all people who are passionate about this work to have access to it, independent of their current access to financial resources. We recognize that, because of various social and economic systems, some people experience financial barriers to participating in events with cost-based attendance.
We are explicitly inviting participation by people who come from any of the following communities. We know that when these people are included, all communities benefit:
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People with visible or invisible disabilities
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People who do not have white skin privilege and/or who come from communities who have been targets of racism
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Low-income/Poor or Working class people (please refer to this definition as a guideline when self-identifying in this category)
If you identify as part of one of the communities listed above and would like to be considered for a low-cost space, please click here to apply for a scholarship. Preference will be given to those who are new to this work and who have not attended past events at reduced or no cost.
“Roxy is a natural healer with a huge capacity to hold pain and and create space for deep healing. I love the way Roxy facilitates groups; there’s something about her energy and the way she leans forward that inspires me and gives me hope.”
— Martha Lasley, Founder and Certified Coach, Leadership that Works
“I was blown away by Oren’s ability to clearly, consciously, and potently articulate and bring to life so many teachings. The organization of his retreat was flawless, which made it much easier for me to see the connections between various ideas and practices. I would be thrilled to spend another retreat with Oren.”
— Retreat Participant
— Kitty Costello, Author and Psychotherapist, San Francisco, CA
— Laura W., Middle School Teacher, Oakland, CA.
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