What is Compassionate Communication?
Compassionate Communication is also known as Nonviolent Communication. Dr Marshal Rosenberg developed his language of life in order to find a more compassionate way for us to understand one another.
Relationships, Family, Work.. Living with ourselves and with others is not always easy. Do you find yourself arguing with your partner about little things or feeling constantly helpless about being a parent or connecting with your parents, or feeling like nobody will ever be able to understand you?
A compassionate and honest relationship with ourselves helps us to obtain balance and joy in our lives. And yet listening to and communicating our deeper needs in an authentic, compassionate way is something our current culture and society does not teach us.
The practice of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers simple but extremely powerful tools , to better understand ourselves and each other and to find solutions that work for everyone through observation, compassion and honesty.
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Non-Violent Communication (NVC) is a holistic system that, when engaged with, naturally brings about a paradigm shift in how we participate in life.
Most of us are born into a culture of right-wrong thinking. We are programmed to believe in narratives that ultimately cause suffering and separation rather than possibility and connection.
NVC teaches us how to live in compassionate reality with the people we love, to connect with what’s important for us, to be honest and clear and develop our ability to respond to each other beyond our imagined projections and habitual patterns.
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For a full explanation of NVC and how it works please visit the CNVC website.
​The Key Concepts of NVC
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Universality of human needs/values
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All actions are attempts to meet those needs
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Compassion for self and others
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We possess the desire for natural giving
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There is enough in our world materialy and emotionally, for everyone's needs to be met
What is Authentic & Compassionate Relating OR NVC?
About Me
My Experience of Non Violent Communication is based on my personal understanding, through extensive training, studying and embodiment of NVC over the past 8 years. I share my understanding of NVC in order to help others thrive through embodying compassion and honesty in their lives and relationships.
I'm Emma and my passion is the language of compassion.
A language that, when put into action in how we communicate in our intimate relationships, has the potential to unlock a way of connecting to ourselves and each other that is deeply loving, accepting and meaningful. For more than seven years, I’ve dedicated my time and energy towards learning and teaching Non-Violent Communication (NVC). I have offered dozens of online and in-person workshops, mediated conversations between couples and created and hosted community healing spaces like the Empathy Cafe, a weekly gathering where people could come together for learning and practicing the skills of deep listening.
What inspired my NVC journey
The principles of NVC, or Compassionate and Authentic Relating, entered my life at a time when my relationship with a partner reached a breaking point. I had just left my job, flat and community in London and was about to move to Greece together with my partner when something unfolded that left both of us, in different ways, feeling judged and unheard. The way I had engaged with life up to that point would have caused our relationship to crumble, as so many do in the modern world.
It was at this juncture that he shared with me a video of a training offered by Marshall Rosenburg, the psychologist and teacher who founded NVC. Within minutes, I felt my heart being pierced by Rosenburg’s description of a way of relating to myself and others that was unlike anything I’d encountered before. I was transported to a different way of being in the world — one where the language of life is compassionate and honest, a vast departure from the language of judgement and blame that’s become so woven into the fabric of our societies and families that we’ve lost the ability to see it. And as a consequence, we have forgotten how to speak from the heart, which is our natural language. I somehow intuitively knew that I would spend my life living and sharing this language.
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The transformative power of NVC in my life:
My personal journey of living these principles transformed how, first and foremost, I related to myself and, from this place of greater integration, has enriched the quality of intimate connections in all areas of my life. It deepened my bond with my partner so much so that, even when we eventually separated four years later, we were able to maintain a meaningful friendship. It has allowed me to cultivate a more spacious and caring space to spend time with my parents and it has invited deeply nourishing friendships into my life. Finally, it has empowered me to step fully into my purpose of supporting the co-creation of a new paradigm for humanity, where our systems embody the language of compassion and honesty.
And ultimately the narrative that I keep coming back to is the recognition of my own humanity and understanding that I have been born into a world
Perhaps the most profound change for me has been an acceptance of my own humanity: The knowledge that even though I will continue to make mistakes and behave in ways that I regret, the lens of compassion views every unfolding (within myself and others) as a gateway to meeting needs.
The path that led me here
From a young age, I've been a natural mediator who sought to bring harmony to the relationships around me. As an art teacher for seven years, I taught various forms of art to almost every age bracket, from dozens of 3- to 11-year olds to groups of teachers to adults with learning disabilities. And as a sculptor, I have learnt that in order to mould a piece of art, we need to really be willing to be vulnerable, curious and open to getting the clay under our fingers.
We can see relationships, too, as works of art – perhaps our foremost art projects – and I'm here to teach you the techniques to create and nurture bonds where compassionate honest communication can flow more naturally.
Beyond NVC
Beyond NVC, my unique way of working has been informed by various modalities that complement and expand on the possibility for understanding the complexity of human relational experience. These teachings, listed below, have enabled me to hold spaces where I meet people on all levels of their human experience: mind, heart and body.
My Experience
October 2021 - Present - Adult Educator at Learn Harrow, teaching adults with special needs, families and community members NVC and self expression through art.
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July 2021 - Present Facilitating Weekly, "The Empathy Cafe" - in Person meet ups/ London
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2019 -Present - Facilitating numerous NVC courses from Beginners to Intermediate level / online and in person training's.
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October - March 2023:In Person 115 hrs Assistant for Embodying and teaching NVC” Yoram Mosenzon and Empathy City Zurich
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May - July 2022: Online Assistant for "The Art of Making Love" With Bonno + Merijeh (connecting2life training's)
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January - June 2021 - Mediation Practitioner Training - Yoram Mosenzon
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Co Producer of "NVC Rising", global online festival
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October - July 2021: ONLINE 115 hrs Assistant for “Embodying and teaching NVC” Yoram Mosenzon
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April - May 2021 (attending) Psychosynthesis Essential
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November 2020 - March 2021 Certificate in:"Principals of Collective Trauma Healing" Online with Thomas Hubel
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July - October 2020 - Director and co-manager / producer of : The Empathy Cafe, The Empathy Circles web and the Conflict Resolution Team, for the 2nd NVC Global Rising Festival.
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2018-2020 - Teaching NVC Basics weekend trainings in Greece, the UK, France and online.
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July 2020-9 weeks Advanced Course Assistant - Yoram Mosenzon
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July 2020-11 weeks Intermediate Course Assistant - Yoram Mosenzon
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September 2020 4 weeks, Online - “The art of Mourning” Assistant - Yoram
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July 2020 - present day: Facilitating online + in person, weekly Empathy Cafe events
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May -June 2020 Online Assistant 30 hrs “NVC basics course” Orian Boyer
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May - June 2020, Online - 34 hrs participation “Your Resonant Self Immersion Programme”, Sarah Payton
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May - June 2020 - Co-creator and organiser of The Empathy Cafe at the NVC Global Rising Festival (online)
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October - July 2020: The Netherlands 115 hrs participation “Embodying and teaching NVC” Yoram Mosenzon
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November 2019, 20 hours, Ukraine, Assistant“Anger Guilt, Shame and other dear friends”, Yoram Mosenzon
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September 2019 - 42 hours participation “Mediation and Facilitation”, Israel, Yoram Mosenzon
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July 2019 Assistant at “Dancing with Life – Embodying Compassion” Pilion, Greece - 6 days training with Tracy seed
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May 2019 – Nonviolent Communication International Intensive Training, Kranjaska Gora, Slovenia – participation in a 9 day training with Kathleen Mcferran, Yoram Mosenzon, Robert Krzisnik and Vivet Aleui
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2019 - 3 day participation in Zazen meditation intensive - Athens with Hyon Gak Sunim
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March 2019 – “The basics of Nonviolent Communication” – Athens, Greece - 2 days participation with Giorgos Tsistsirigkos
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March 2019 24 hrs participation in "Facilitate NVC Groups with Joy and Confidence"
with Mary Mackenzie (online)
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2018 - 2019 NVC Facilitating a weekly practice group on Aegina Island
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2018 - online “Fearless, Empowered and Free to be Me” – 12 week participation in an emotional detox program with Rozy Kalliabetsos
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2016-2018 Teaching English, Art and Compassionate Communication Skills at an English Language school, Aegina Island Greece
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August 2017 – “Dancing with Life – Embodying Compassion” Pilion, Greece - 6 days participation and training with Tracy seed
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Watch and Listen to Marshal talk about NVC and give examples of how to use this language of compassion.