Free NVC Learning Resources

Here are five practical ideas from Ceri, Jo, and Sarah for creating simple agreements with any group you are working with when conflict arises!

Trees don't fight the winds of life; their movements demonstrate how to accept whatever comes your way. Listen in as Mina guides you through the Four Mudras – hand movements – that will open you to life in this excerpt from her course, Learning from Nature: Dancing Like a Tree.

What exactly IS permaculture? And how do permaculture and NVC fit together? Listen to this excerpt from Marco Matera’s and Elena Bernasconi-Tabellini’s course, NVC and Permaculture, where Marco shares the ethics and philosophy behind the permaculture movement.

Puzzling about needs and feelings? Check out this excerpt from Dian Killian's course, Embracing the Body: Somatic Self Empathy, where she leads participants through an exercise that demonstrates how our physical sensations connect us to our feelings and needs.

When you experience an emotion, your body send a message to your brain that lights up the amygdala. Then what?  Listen as Sarah Peyton demonstrates of the NVC practice Naming the Feeling and Need, which calms the amygdala and enables you to move into relational space.

What do you do with feelings of shame? During this 12-minute excerpt from her course, From Shame to Vulnerability, Liv Larsson uses The Compass to explore the four directions you can move to when experiencing shame, and guides you through the different responses.

Yoram defines empathy as a blending of the arts of listening and following, and says it is the biggest gift we can offer each other! Listen what can happen when a restless child has the presence and attention of his mother.

Be present to the life in your group even when it differs from the agenda! Learn how to pivot and meet the needs of the facilitator, of the individual, or the group – and learn how to live in the possibility that all needs can be valued, even though all needs may not always be met.

Want to get rid of old patterns or habits, like procrastination? Arnina suggests: 1) ask two specific questions when you are eager to change a habit; 2) make your brain your ally; and 3) be patient, change takes time.

Hear Miki work with a participant looking for environmental sustainability within an existing system. Miki offers guidance around creating bridges for applying NVC principles instead of techniques when engaging with groups or organizations.

How DO we live our lives? What is an effective response to what is happening in the world? Listen in as Miki dialogs with a participant asking, "What is mine to do?", and honors the dissonance we feel when we are working to change.

Listen in as Roxy explains how NVC approaches systemic change: through the protective use of force, the ability to self connect and connect to others, requests vs. demands, and understanding needs that are motivating behaviors. 

Want ideas on how to more easily build resilience and navigate life's challenges? Listen in as Jim and Jori review their 4-Step Gratitude Practice and their 60 Challenge Practice, too!

When asked to talk about Self-Empathy to a professional group with no NVC background, Mary devised a quick and easy new practice: Jackal vs Needs. It takes the basics of NVC and turns them into delightfully clear and straightforward questions! Excerpted from the 2017 NVC Telethon.