Mindful Communication:
A Wise Speech Retreat
with Donald Rothberg and Oren J. Sofer
NOTE: This retreat is full - Add your name to the waitlist.
• Deepen insight and self-understanding
• Train the heart to find balance when challenged
• Learn practical tools to navigate differences
Integrating meditation practice with our speech and communication is one of the main ways to bring deeply-held values into our daily lives and actions in the world. In this retreat, we connect mindfulness and lovingkindness practice, the Buddha's teachings on Right Speech, relational awareness practices, and the contemporary discipline of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Collectively, these practices form a powerful foundation for cultivating insight, awareness, and empathy; develop our capacity to listen and speak from the heart; and strengthen our ability to stay present and be more skillful in challenging situations.
This retreat will include periods of silent meditation and interactive speech practices. It is designed for those who want to bring more attention to speech as a spiritual practice, for those who have emphasized communication and want further grounding in meditation, and for those who are helping professionals.
NVC will be taught at a basic level; reading Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication before the retreat is strongly recommended. A local follow-up group for continued practice will be available after the retreat.
Non-Residential Retreat, (BART Accessible)
Cost: $300 plus donation to teachers (Dana)
Dates: Aug. 1-6, 9am - 5pm daily
Payable: by Credit Card, Paypal or Check.
* NOTE: We request that you attend the entire retreat to participate.
About the Teachers
Donald Rothberg, Ph.D., a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock in California, has practiced Insight and Metta Meditation since 1976. He writes and teaches on on meditation, spirituality and psychology, transforming the judgmental mind, working with conflict, speech and communication, and socially engaged spirituality. He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life.
Oren J. Sofer is a teacher and practitioner of Buddhist meditation, Nonviolent Communication, and Somatics. e holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma and a graduate of the IMS - Spirit Rock Vipassana Teachers’ Training Program.