Living Peace Retreat

An Online Retreat in nonviolent communication with Roxy manning & Oren Jay Sofer
August 10 – 13, 2023
9:00–11:00am & 1:00–3:00pm PT, Daily

Are you interested in developing skills to make peace in your life, in your community, at home, and at work? The tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) can support us with skills to navigate challenging situations with loved ones, in hierarchical workplace settings, and during these challenges times. With training, we can learn to stay balanced and make a difference for everyone whose lives we touch.

Join us for this special online retreat where we’ll delve into NVC as an embodied practice for transforming our lives, relationships and world. During this four-day retreat, you’ll learn ways to:

  • Stay grounded and balanced in challenging moments

  • Enhance your ability to listen well, regardless of how others are relating

  • Speak with clarity and openness in a way that supports collaboration

  • Deepen intimate and family relationships

  • Develop insight and self-mastery in your relationships

Registration for this retreat is now at maximum capacity. If you are interested in attending, please join our waitlist and we will contact you if a seat becomes available.

About the Retreat

This online retreat includes two interactive sessions per day with teaching, practice and discussion: from 9 – 11 am and 1 – 3 pm Pacific Time, plus the option to join a one-hour empathy practice group each day (empathy groups will be offered at various times to accommodate times zones and work schedules).

Certain sessions will focus on applying Nonviolent Communication (NVC) at home and with friends, while others will focus on using NVC in the workplace. Typical topics include:

  • 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 nonviolent communication

Participants may apply to continue their learning in the Immersion in NVC (“IN”), an 8-month online program that we are offering from September 2023 through April 2024. More detailed information can be found in the IN info packet. NOTE that the Living Peace Retreat fulfills the pre-requisite for IN.

““There is no replacement for working with this material in an interactive group field with 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.

Please note: This program does not offer CEs.

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

““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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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 coaching in small groups.

Roxy Manning, Ph.D., a CNVC Certified Trainer. Roxy’s experience as an Afro-Caribbean immigrant to the US and academic training and professional work as a licensed clinical psychologist and CNVC Certified Trainer and Assessor fuel her passion for work supporting social change at the personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels. A San Francisco based psychologist and an Assessor with CNVC, Roxy delights in helping opposing voices hear each other and see past individual hurt and struggles to the structures that contribute to those challenges. Roxy is the author of two forth-coming books, Antiracist Conversations and The Antiracist Heart.

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, co-author of Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents, and author of the forth-coming title Your Heart Was Made For This.

Program Cost

This retreat is offered on a sliding scale with scholarships available. 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.

Sliding Scale: $900 - $300

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. If the requested sliding scale is not sustainable for you, we invite you to apply for a scholarship spot in the lottery application.

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:

  • 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

  • People who identify as LGTBQIA+

  • 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 apply for a scholarship spot through the lottery application.

Questions about this retreat? Feel free to email us here.

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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

“The Living Peace retreat offered the space to put into material practice the fundamental skills of non-violent communication. There was ample opportunity to take risks and explore new ways of expression, without fear of 'making mistakes' - all in a warm and welcoming environment.”

— Living Peace Retreat Participant

“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


“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.