What I experienced very powerfully throughout the day I was your sincerity of presence and embodiment of NVC consciousness. I felt so touched, embraced by that essence of NVC through you. I enjoyed having movement and experiential learning being center-stage in the way you structured the day. As many of us expressed, the quality of connection and the learning environment you created were deeply nurturing and supported us in living the practice.
Lucy Leu, NVC Trainer and author of The NVC Workbook
I love the opportunity to pay attention to what is happening sensation-wise in the body, to explore what stimulates that, what it means, and how I can become more empowered to choose to better meet my needs based on that awareness. I am still meditating on some of the awareness’s I got on Saturday.
-Barbara Larson Certified NVC trainer
Foremost in my mind is my excitement and joy in how deeply the Aikido movements actually support and facilitate the embodiment of NVC consciousness as I understand and hold it. I also appreciated David’s fluidity with integrating those and sharing them in a very accessible way. I was enthused to use some of the movements the very next weekend in a workshop I gave, as streamlining the integration of NVC consciousness in students is my foremost intention, and his presentation certainly supports that. I sense that David has the ability to deeply self-connect, to be transparent and available to the moment, to hold an empathic presence with others and to share his gifts with humility.
–Loren Swift Certified NVC Trainer
I personally experienced substantial shifts in perspective as a result of how thoughtfully and skillfully I was encouraged to step out of my box, and guided along. David’s leadership touched the hearts and moved the minds of others’ present, as well. The depth of his ability to listen, to meet each person where they were, and to hold both the empathy and the tension, were remarkable.
– Lou Ann Street, Transformational Breathing Instructor
Here you’ll find a coherent approach to NVC through your body and perceptions. You’ll discover you have unsuspected and unused strengths in your own body.
– Bill Leicht, President of Urban Visions
I enjoyed and have longed to see NVC combined with the body! My perspective comes from training as a yoga teacher and therapist. When I share one move of David’s in one of my NVC bums on chairs classes, one student cried! The man loved the simplicity demonstrating the NVC consciousness in one move. The student experienced a shift in consciousness that I saw deepened his NVC understanding and skills throughout the rest of our classes.
– Taylor Duvall, Yoga Instructor
I found what he presented to be engaging and compelling. I suspect his approach may be unusually effective in helping certain concepts “stick.” I found David’s Aikido and movement based metaphors for NVC ideas to be powerfully engaging. Now, several months later, I still vividly remember his demonstration of “stepping off the line” to let jackal energy pass one by, supporting staying grounded in and hearing in NVC consciousness. This is an image I would want to use myself in a conflict situation, and which I would potentially teach to my own students to present his work in a workshop here.
– Bob Wentworth, NVC Trainer
I was breath-taken by some of the examples he brought, and filled with hope connecting to the possibilities of teaching NVC through these examples. I was also very impressed with David’s presence and ease as a facilitator. It seems that more and more NVC practitioners are including the body in their work; David has his own unique way of doing that and I just hope that as many people as possible could access his work.
– François Beausoleil, CNVC Certified Trainer
NVC is a whole practice like Aikido (Marshall “Art” Rosenberg) is a life practice; and we need to learn how to bring into being what we really love. And these (NVC & Aikido) are beautiful ways to change the default settings.
– Nora R.
What I loved: The openness and vulnerability of David. Lots of experiential exercises.
- Rachel M.
I have been leading NVC workshops in prisons in Washington State through the freedom project since 1999, David to be highly skilled in Nonviolent Communication and he has many tools and talents to enhance his teaching of NVC, making it a fun and highly experiential workshop. He uses music, somatic awareness and aikido to support others to a deeper understanding of NVC consciousness, coupled with high energy and compassion to others.
- Janice Eng- NVC Freedom Project trainer
David created and held a space that enabled honesty, authenticity, learning, and realization. What I enjoyed most was (is) the feeling of love that I’m left with and the gift of self-awareness that I’ve been supported in realizing.
- Emily C.
I used the centering practices I specifically learned from David in the workshop during what became a 7 hour deposition in which I was the deposing witness. By combining the centering practices with NVC language and consciousness, I was able to slow down and self-connect for every single question, so that when it was over I was completely satisfied with my answers, my attorney was amazed and thrilled, and I was actually physically energized when I left.
- Gregg W.
David’s integration of body based practice with NVC is effective at helping students integrate mind and heart. Also I think his methods, by making the practice physical, help to speed recall and learning, Indeed, on many occasions, remembering the felt experience of an exercise has prompted me to check in with myself at moments and more consciously chose my present state. I would highly recommend this workshop and teacher and hope very much he will return to teach at Evergreen again.”
-Josiah Mitchell, age 29, Evergreen Junior.
This workshop was absolutely amazing. I feel grounded, powerful, and passionate after participating. David’s work fits perfectly with Evergreen’s commitment to personal action, activism, self-awareness. His creative, centering approach to nonviolent communication helped me deepen into my own meaning and values as a way to communicate my needs, and sort out conflict with others. He provided me with a set of skills that I’ve been searching for to deepen into my personal commitment to my interests and loves as a way to facilitate life and relationships. I’ve shared some of the activities with friends and family because I feel that these practices are a great way to form community and help individuals in a community process and deepen into their own sense of personal meaning and strength, for the benefit of the whole.
Chloe Brown, Senior Evergreen State College
“It was such a powerful experience and it really helped draw together a few of my loose ends in terms of realigning myself with my intentions in life and affirming my direction. It was fantastic! I loved the pace of it too. After a hectic quarter taking 20 credits and working and all sorts of other activities it was such a privilege to slow down and be present with a community of lovely people. I’ve taken so much from the workshop, a restored sense of spark and enthusiasm for the work I want to do in the world, a centered sense of being and tools for re-centering for when I inevitably fall off balance. Thank you so much, I would LOVE to participate again.
-Kailan Tyler-Babkirk, Multicultural Counseler