Nonviolent Communication (NVC)

NVC is a concrete and powerful tool that I can use to enhance the quality of my communication and the relationship with myself and others.

It’s a way of thinking and communicating that supports a deep and honest connection with the people around me. Instead of trying to change others by using punishment, guilt, shame and rewards – which often contribute to violence and non-cooperation for all – NVC helps me talk from my heart in a way that supports connection, harmony and peace.

Expressing myself authentically and hearing myself and others empathically, I can slowly learn to:
  • Be honest AND care for the relationship
  • Take care of my needs AND the needs of others – at the same time
  • Hear what people are REALLY trying to tell me
  • Enjoy challenging messages like judgments towards myself
  • Free myself from guilt
  • Welcome and be with my unpleasant feelings with more softness and presence
  • Soothe my past pain and traumas
  • Accept myself as I am

Marshall Rosenberg

Nonviolent Communication was developed 40 years ago by the American Ph.D psychologist Marshall Rosenberg.

A student of the humanist psychologist Carl Rogers, and nourished by different sources of knowledge from both East and West, Marshall Rosenberg developed a model of communication that is now used with great success all over the world between individuals, in families, schools, businesses, jails and other organisations and institutions. Nonviolent Communication is also used in politics as a tool for “conflict resolution” and “mediation” between different groups, the military, tribes and governments.

Above all, Nonviolent Communication is a revolutionary approach to transforming both our relationship to ourselves and to those around us – our family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and so on.