About Nonviolent Communication

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) has been described as a roadmap out of conflict, as a language of compassion, and as a tool for positive social change. NVC is a way of living — how we relate to others and ourselves. It is a way of communicating that supports connection with and compassion for ourselves and others. Out of this connection, everyone's needs are valued and we regain our natural joy in giving.

As a practice, Nonviolent Communication:

• Facilitates the flow of communication needed to exchange information and resolve differences peacefully
• Focuses on shared human values and needs
• Encourages the use of language that increases good will, and compassion for ourselves and others
• Provides an alternative to language that contributes to resentment or lowered self-esteem

As a consciousness, NVC is rooted in a fundamental principle:

Underlying all human actions are needs that people are seeking to meet. By understanding and acknowledging these needs in others and ourselves, we create a shared basis for respect, connection, cooperation, compassion - and more globally, peace. As a consciousness, NVC focuses our attention on 2 key questions: What's alive in us? and What can we do to make life more wonderful?

NVC skills emphasize personal responsibility for our actions and the choices we make when we respond to others. These skills assist us in dealing with major blocks to communication such as demands, diagnoses, and blame. We learn to express feelings without attacking or locking in to right/wrong thinking. This minimizes the likelihood of facing defensive reactions in others. These skills help us make clear requests and receive hard-to-hear messages without taking them personally or losing self-connection.

Nonviolent Communication was developed about 40 years ago by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg. A participant in the Civil Rights and Peace Movements, he was seeking a way to reduce the violence he saw in the world. Drawing from the deepest principles of many world traditions, and on his own training as a psychologist, Dr. Rosenberg developed NVC as a means to help us live in ways that concretely manifest this knowledge, and to help people make life more wonderful for themselves and others.

Twenty years ago, he founded the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), now a worldwide organization. Through living and teaching NVC, an international network of NVC practitioners, including over 140 certified trainers, endeavor to create life-serving systems, interpersonally and within the organizations that make up our societies, which contribute to the well-being of all. NVC is used with warring tribes and countries; in schools, prisons, and corporations; in health care, social change and government organizations; and in intimate personal relationships.