Findhorn NVC Intensive
with Kit Miller, Dominic Barter and Leo Sofer.
Saturday 14th to Sunday 22nd July 2012.
We are happy to be holding the Findhorn NVC Intensive for the 5th consecutive year. It has become one of the most transformative and fun things in our calendars and we really look forward to learning with you there in July.
Our vision for the Intensive began with a strong calling to nonviolent living, and an invitation to experience the application of Nonviolent Communication principles in community. What would it be like to live with the consequences of such principles for a week?
Each year we have explored how to invite each other and all those who join us to actively engage with this question. This is not how most workshops are run. Along the way we've learnt a lot about how to balance participant expectations with the opportunity to experiment with nonviolence at the edge of what we know.
About how the Intensive works:
We are delighted that NVC is now widely available in many countries in Europe. Since almost all of these learning opportunities are based on developing understanding of NVC itself, we thought it would be valuable to take a different tack. We wanted to find out how to support people to learn nonviolent living by applying NVC principles to a week spent in community - both the Findhorn community, but more specifically the temporary community of the Intensive. Less about classes then, and more about the nitty gritty of heart-based living with a bunch of people you are still getting to know.
We found ourselves good choices for this as each of us, in our way, are principally engaged in organisational, creative and social change. We each have many years of teaching experience - and this tends to take us away from classroom and workshop contexts and out into the world. Everyday we test NVC out with our families, with groups, in organisational and systemic contexts (like business, education, social services, ecological activism), and the creative work of telling and retelling stories about who we are and where we're going. Our focus is finding out what works when the question is human relationships and the world we want to live in.
So, whether you are new to this work, or have been investigating it for years, the Intensive is an invitation to step off road with us, experience some creative disorientation, and begin to find your inner compass navigating a world where everyone's needs matter.
To make the most of the week, you would probably be well served by attending introductory trainings in Nonviolent Communication, or at least reading Marshall Rosenberg's book of the same name. There are many other resources online and in print.
About who participates and how we sustain the Intensive:
Since we began the Intensives at Findhorn we have sought ways to increase access for those who felt called to be there, regardless of their access to financial resources. This relates to a core value of ours - that everyone who wishes to learn this work be able to do so.
In 2011 we, together with our hosts and partners at the Findhorn Foundation, are taking a significant step in that direction. There will be no fixed upfront fees charged for participation in the 2011 NVC Intensive.
None.
We, and Findhorn, will be offering the Intensive as a gift. We hope you'll receive it as one.
We find this opens up huge possibilities for creative co-responsibility. What would a gift economy look like? How would our lives be if money were a factor, but not a barrier?
As we are doing this within the current economy, and are not seeking any external sources of revenue, we would also like each participant to come mindful of some of the practical aspects of such a strategy. Together we will look at questions such as: Where will the money come from to sustain the 3 of us? How will the Findhorn Foundation be able to cover its costs, during the week?
Closer to the event, and again during it, we will share the costs involved in organising the Intensive. And during the week we'll propose processes whereby each of us can arrive at a voluntary financial contribution.
We will, as before, be able to receive contributions in cash, by cheque or credit card, through the Findhorn Foundation.
The Intensive is not free. Neither is living at Findhorn for a week. However, we would like your participation to be freely entered into. We hope this will create a richer, more varied community for the Intensive, by removing one of the barriers to greater diversity. We also find this experience of shared responsibility a great context for change and connection. We hope handling the finances in this way fosters concrete co-creation with the entire learning community that week, supporting each of us to develop awareness of power and choice in our daily living.
It's important for us, and for the Findhorn Foundation, to have a sense of confidence that when people say they intend to be attending, they really mean it - so that we can ensure that those who want to have a place. The Foundation's usual way of getting this kind of commitment is to ask for a £95 non-refundable deposit. If participants are willing to demonstrate their clear intention to join us in this way, then they can send a cheque for £95 payable to the Findhorn Foundation. If they prefer to demonstrate their clear intention to participate in writing, then we request that they describe that intention in a few lines and send it to bookings@findhorn.org.
Our hopes for this Findhorn week are to create a diverse, co-responsive learning community. Through the lens of Nonviolent Communication, we will have opportunities for working through real-life shared challenges and opportunities, holding the needs of all with care, creativity and honesty.
Love from
Leo, Kit and Dom
To book contact the Findhorn Foundation bookings office:
Telephone (44) 1309 691653 or email bookings@findhorn.org
Or to book online click here
Feedback from previous years:
"I liked the 'immersion' style of the training. I liked watching the process unfold and seeing Dom, Kit and Leo model the living principles. I am deeply grateful for your perseverence over the past years to learn and investigate the underlying truths to which NVC directs attention - and your generosity in sharing what you've discovered. It eases my exploration to have your clarity and ideas available."
"The focalisers were skilled, transparent, very, very real, human, inspiring, willing to meet all sorts of random needs, and self aware. They were good humoured and great role-models. This was an enormous opportunity to participate in a way of building community based on a willingness to be true to myself and to honour and engage with the truth of others in a constructive way."
"I enjoyed the freedom to explore the meaning of NVC and to discover something unexpected."
"Everything about this training was better than I could imagine or expect. The trainers were the embodiment of the practice they are guiding us towards, and a true inspiration and model of the deepest essence of NVC, compassion and spiritual values. I experienced real healing and a deep shift within me that is now part of me and is totally unlike a "learning" that can be forgotten or eroded with time."
"I feel more hopeful about our ability to live sustainably and happily on the planet."
"Thank you for a massively rich, inspiring and useful week. It really has given me something exciting and tangible to chew on!"
"I most valued the integrity, transparency and generosity of the trainers, their openness to sharing their skills and experiences."
"My major learning on this training was realising that deep needs are often hidden and unexpressed. I've come away with a desire to listen to others more deeply and openly."
"What the trainers offered on this program far exceeded my expectations. What I received was deeply rewarding, experiences that I'll cherish always. They truly modelled leadership from an NVC perspective."
"Such novelty, hope, revelation, promise and joy!"
"I started not only to understand NVC but to really feel what connecting with oneself and with other people means"
"This training was fantastic and full of learning for me. Thank you for co-creating this sense of harmony, equality, caring and freedom."
"After Findhorn I am used to a learning environment where no question remained unanswered, no need unmet."
 The gardens at The Park, Findhorn |
 The "Nature Sanctuary" at the Park, Findhorn. |
 Findhorn Bay |
 Findhorn Bay |
 Findhorn Bay |
 The beach at Findhorn, looking out to the Moray Firth. |