What is Nonviolent Communication?

Imagine connecting with the human spirit, in each person, in any situation.

Imagine interacting with others in a way that allows everyone's needs to be equally valued.

Imagine creating organizations and life-serving systems responsive to our needs and the needs of our environment.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC), created by Marshal Rosenberg, Ph.D, helps connect us with what is alive in ourselves and in others moment-to-moment, with what we or others could do to make life more wonderful, and with an awareness of what gets in the way of natural giving and receiving.

NVC language strengthens our ability to inspire compassion from others and respond compassionately to others and ourselves. NVC guides us to reframe how we express ourselves, how we hear others and resolve conflicts by focusing our consciousness on what we are observing, feeling, needing, and requesting.

Nonviolent Communication Language: It awakens empathy and honesty, and is sometimes described as "the language of the heart."

For key facts about NVC, click here:

For the international Centre for Nonviolent Communication, click here: www.cnvc.org

Marshall Rosenburg the creator of NVC

What people are saying about Marshall Rosenberg and Nonviolent Communication.

"Marshall Rosenberg provides us with the most effective tools to foster health and relationships. Nonviolent Communication connects soul to soul, creating a lot of healing. It is the missing element in what we do."
- Deepak Chopra, author, How to Know God and Ageless Body and Timeless Mind

"Marshall Rosenberg's dynamic communication techniques transform potential conflicts into peaceful dialogues. You'll learn simple tools to defuse arguments and create compassionate connections with your family, friends, and other acquaintances."
- John Gray, Ph.D., author, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

"I believe the principles and techniques in Nonviolent Communication can literally change the world, but more importantly, they can change the quality of your life with your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your co-workers and everyone else you interact with. I cannot recommend it highly enough."
- Jack Canfield, author, Chicken Soup for the Soul Series

"Dr. Rosenberg has brought the simplicity of successful communication into the foreground. No matter what issue you're facing, his strategies for communicating with others will set you up to win every time."
- Anthony Robbins, author, Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power

"We know that when people learn to communicate effectively with each other, their lives and their relationships can be truly transformed. Nonviolent Communication gives people both a way of expressing their needs congruently and non-blamefully and a way of listening so others feel not just heard, but understood."
- Dr. Thomas Gordon, author, Parent Effectiveness Training

"Nonviolent Communication is a powerful tool for peace and partnership. It shows us how to listen empathically and also communicate our authentic feelings and needs. Marshall Rosenberg has a genius for developing and teaching practical skills urgently needed for a less violent, more caring world."
- Riane Eisler, author, The Chalice and the Blade, Tomorrow's Children and The Power of Partnership

"Years of meditation and spiritual study left me with discouragement at my inability to implement the resulting high ideals. The Nonviolent Communication process turned out to be the liberating key that is showing me how to put spiritual teachings into concrete practice in my daily life."
- Lin Rose, Bellevue WA

"Perhaps I've benefited the most from this tools in how I've applied it to my own self-talk—my inner dialog. It's helped me to translate judgments and self-criticisms, so that I could see what was the life-connected impulse they were coming from. Then it was easy and joyful to change without any ‘shoulds.' I can't say enough good things about my experience with this tool."
- Alan Seid, Bellingham WA

"I have found the NVC practice to be a powerful complement to the Buddhist teachings on right speech. While the Dharma helps me know which forms of speech to avoid, NVC shows me how to use language in ways that build more compassionate connections with others."
- Tom Pedulla, member, Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, Cambridge MA

"Nonviolent Communication has catalyzed a process of clarification/healing/empowerment in me that I could never have imagined. This process has impacted every area of my life, and continues to unfold. For me, it unifies the spiritual truths I've found in all the world's religions. It facilitates and strengthens connections to others and its truths are experientially testable."
-A reader in Florida

"Nonviolent Communication allowed me to overcome my toxic conditioning and find the loving parent and person that was locked inside."
- A nurse in California