Join the 2024 Living Peace Nonviolent Communication Retreat

with Oren Jay Sofer & Roxy Manning
August 7-11, 2024

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

Registration is not yet open. Add your name to the early notification list below, to be notified when registration opens.

About the Retreat

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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

Immersion In NVC Program (IN):

Participants may apply to continue their learning in the Immersion In Nonviolent Communication Program (IN), an 8-month intensive online program that meets one weekend per month September – April. View last year’s program here, Check back for more information by April 15.

 
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““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.


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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

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““Learning NVC has changed my perspective on communication... It has positively impacted my relationships with adults and with my students. I feel more space for compassion and understanding, even in stressful times.””
— Maria, Elementary School Teacher, San Francisco
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 Location:

The 2024 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 Wednesday evening and ending with brunch on Sunday. 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: Wednesday, August 7th, 3-5pm (retreat begins with dinner at 6pm)
Closing: Sunday, August 11th, 12noon
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.

Registration is not yet open. Add your name to the list to be notified when registration opens.


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Program Leadership

The Living Peace Retreat will be co-led by Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainers Dr. Roxy Manning 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.

Dr. Roxy Manning is a clinical psychologist, certified Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) trainer, and author of How to Have Antiracist Conversations and The Anti-Racist Heart. Since 2004 she has operated a private consulting business and regularly holds international workshops and intensives centered around nonviolent communication and social change issues. She has served as executive director of Bay Area Nonviolent Communication and focuses her outside efforts on working with the homeless population of San Francisco.

Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication internationally. 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 and is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma. Oren is a husband, a father, and the author of several books including Your Heart Was Made For This, and the best-selling title, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.

Program Cost

This retreat has a separate cost for Tuition and Basic Expenses. (Basic expenses covers room and board, supplies, administrative costs, etc.) Both the Immersion in Nonviolent Communication Program (IN) 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: $1500 - $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.

Basic Expenses

Sliding Scale: (Cost TBD pending venue rates)
When you register, please choose an available housing option (all options include meals).

Dorm: (TBD) Commuter: (TBD)
Quad: (TBD) Camping: (TBD)
Single: (TBD) Double: (TBD)

Registration is not yet open. Add your name to the list to be notified when registration opens.

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. When all people are included, our communities benefit:

  • People with visible or invisible disabilities

  • People who do not have white skin privilege and/or who come from communities who have been targets of racism

  • 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 return here once registration is open to request 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.


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“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

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“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

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“Being able to tune in to myself and become more fully present while in the presence of challenges with loved ones has been revolutionary. This training is making me more attuned as a therapist.”

— Kitty Costello, Author and Psychotherapist, San Francisco, CA

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“This practice has brought me closer to my family and friends than any other life event. I see the world as a more beautiful place now.”

— Laura W., Middle School Teacher, Oakland, CA.