Immersion in Nonviolent Communication

An 8-month Online Intensive
with Oren Jay Sofer and Roxy Manning

september 2025 - APril 2026
1 Weekend/month, 9AM–12pm & 2–4pm PT

Communication is about more than what you say.
Nonviolence is not passivity, but a courageous and demanding practice supporting us to act with integrity.

Nonviolent Communication develops internal resources to realize our potential and live in line with our values. It’s about showing up authentically and compassionately in all circumstances, learning to care fully for ourselves and for others, and transforming moments of immobility and helplessness into experiences of empowerment and choice.

 
 

Immersion in NVC will help you

  • Hone your listening skills
  • Deepen your capacity for empathy
  • Find your authentic voice in any context
  • Enhance your ability to support others
  • Transform recurring conflicts
  • Return to balance when dysregulated
  • Shift areas of your life that seem stuck
  • Build community focused on nonviolence

PROGRAM DETAILS

  • When: One weekend per month, Sept 2025–April 2026
    Plus: One coaching call and two empathy groups per month
  • Where: Online via Zoom
  • Who: Prerequisite of introductory NVC training
  • Sliding Scale: Full Program $2,000–$4,500; Alumni $800–$1,600
  • Scholarships: Apply by June 30th (then rolling)
  • Recordings: All sessions are recorded and available indefinitely
  • Questions? Check out our info packet or email us here.
““A life changing experience. Oren and Roxy are, hands down, two of the best facilitators I have ever experienced (who complement each other beautifully). I came away inspired and equipped with powerful and effective tools for supporting interactions... Lastly, many of the connections I made with my cohort have continued long past the training. I am glad and grateful for being a member of this new community.””
— Melody Noll, ESL Instructor

About the Program

The Immersion in Nonviolent Communication (“IN” for short) will deepen your understanding and embodiment of key principles of NVC. IN’s core training spans eight monthly weekend workshops, with multiple other components to encourage practice and integration throughout the program. IN asks that all participants have some prior training (including small-group practice) in Nonviolent Communication.

Our Immersion in NVC attracts a diverse range of participants: those who are relatively new as well as more experienced students, including alumni of BayNVC’s Leadership Program and previous Immersion programs. Practitioners find great value in the continuity of the monthly meetings and the opportunity to learn and grow in a lively community.

We invite and welcome participants from all backgrounds and walks of life. In order to make our community welcoming to all, we will ask all IN participants to explore and agree to a set of practices about caring for one another in a multicultural space.

* Please download and read the IN info packet here before applying. *

““The Immersion Program has been life-changing! I’ve learned skills that have helped me develop deeper self-awareness, express myself more authentically, and connect more compassionately with others. I have so much gratitude for Roxy and Oren, the assistants and this wonderful community!” ”
— Hongxu Liu, Software Engineer, Oakland, CA

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2025-26 Program Dates:

Living Peace Retreat: 4-day online training, August 21-24, 2025
(Optional but recommended to fulfill prerequisite for practice experience.)
Please register separately for the Living Peace Retreat here.

Immersion in NVC, 8-month program: One weekend per month, September 2025 through April 2026, 9:00am– 12noon and 2:00–4:00pm Pacific Time; two empathy groups per month; plus an hour-long live coaching call with a lead trainer once per month. Topics may shift; please check back for updates in the schedule. See our trainer and guest trainer bios below.

Program Dates

  • Sept 13, 14: A Foundation of Self-Empathy (Oren & Roxy)
  • Oct 11, 12: Living with a Heart of Empathy (Roxy)
  • Nov 8, 9: Making Powerful Requests (Oren & Kathy S.)
  • Dec 13, 14: Power, Resources, and Choice (Roxy & Kathy S.)
  • Jan 10, 11: Authenticity and Vulnerability (Oren & Ranji A.)
  • Feb 14, 15: Mourning, Healing, Reconciliation (Roxy & Ranji A.)
  • March 14, 15: Mediation and Difficult Dialogues (Oren & Liv L.)
  • April 11, 12: Integrated Practice (Roxy & Oren)
See our lead and guest trainer bios below.

What You Receive

  • Expert training from Certified NVC Trainers
  • Curriculum with reference materials, journal prompts, and practice assignments
  • Monthly coaching calls with lead trainers
  • Small group coaching sessions *
  • Weekly calls with an empathy buddy
  • Empathy groups twice per month
  • One 45-min private NVC coaching session *
  • Online forum for community discussion *
  • Indefinite access to all recordings
* Offered or moderated by program assistants

Who's it for?

This program is appropriate for those newer to Nonviolent Communication as well as for experienced practitioners seeking to deepen their practice. Applicants are expected to have some prior training in NVC, including small group practice experience. Attending the 2025 Living Peace Retreat would meet this prerequisite recommendation.

Past years have drawn therapists, activists, teachers, nurses, doctors, writers, artists, engineers, life coaches, and many more. Please note: This program does not offer CEs.

Alumni Cohort Option

As a way to engage in an NVC learning community, we are pleased to offer a special option for IN Program graduates (including the BayNVC Immersion Program, BIP) to participate at a reduced cost. Members of this Alumni Cohort will have access to all core teaching sessions, program materials, monthly coaching calls, and our online community forum, as well as self-organized practice groups, empathy groups, and empathy buddies. (Alumni cohort members will not have access to assistant-led small group coaching.) We envision this opportunity as a rich way to refresh, deepen, and further integrate NVC consciousness into daily life, all within a supportive learning community. For more details about what is and is not included in the Alumni Cohort option, please see our info packet here.

““If there is one course I would like the whole world to know about, it is this one. While I was attending it, I could see the changes in my daily life. I stopped being afraid of conflicts because now I can stay in a “difficult” conversation while staying regulated, focused and embodied. There is no fight or flight reaction anymore (or at least not so much) but instead a clear idea and a deep trust in how to navigate through the conflict.””
— Julia Münchbach, Doctor, Germany

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Program Leadership

The Immersion in NVC will be led by Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainers Roxy Manning, Ph.D., Oren Jay Sofer, and renowned guest trainers (see below), all of whom will be supported by a team of experienced NVC assistants. Our leadership team is designed to provide significant individualized coaching in small groups, with an average teacher-to-student ratio of five- or six-to-one. Oren or Roxy will lead one or both days of each core training weekend, with guest trainers leading on several Sundays.

LEAD TRAINERS

Roxy Manning, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, certified Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) trainer, and author of How to Have Antiracist Conversations and The Anti-Racist Heart. Since 2004 she has operated a private consulting business and regularly holds international workshops and intensives centered around nonviolent communication and social change issues. She has served as executive director of Bay Area Nonviolent Communication and focuses her outside efforts on working with the homeless population of San Francisco.

 

Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication internationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University and is certified as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma. Oren is a husband, a father, and the author of several books including Your Heart Was Made For This, and the best-selling title, Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication.

GUEST TRAINERS

Kathy Simon’s teaching incorporates her decades of experience as an educator, non-profit director, and political activist. She works with parents, couples, educators, and nonprofit leaders. Most recently, she has focused on how NVC can help people stay in conversation across political and social divides, applying that work currently to her series of courses with Itzel Hayward, called “Responding to Everyday Racism.”  Kathy has been practicing NVC as a partner and a parent since 1995 and teaching it since 2006, and she is certified with CNVC.

 

Ranjana (Ranji) Ariaratnam is passionate about healing – ourselves, intergenerationally, and the world.  She has shared NVC with families, teachers, activists, schools, social service organizations, and businesses via workshops, retreats, mediation, and coaching since 2009. Ranji worked for years overseas in humanitarian aid with people displaced by conflict. Now she brings together approaches that are very healing in her own life – NVC, painting and writing, somatic practices, and Vipassana meditation – each addressing different layers of our being. Ranji is a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, and lives on Vancouver Island.

 

Liv Larsson is the author of 24 books. She has been a Certified trainer for the Center for Nonviolent Communication since 2002 and an educator since 1992. Liv is a mediator working with conflicts in small organizations (e.g. between the Same indigenous group in Scandinavia, and forest and mining industries). She holds a masters degree in Literature and Creative writing.Liv has been leading trainings all over the world on different themes and for different audiences for more than 3 decades. She has developed different maps to use in finding how our inner terrain unfolds in connection with the outside world. Liv is passionate about cross-country skiing and loves to spend time in nature and lives in the forest of northern Sweden.

IMMERSION PROGRAM cost

FULL PARTICIPANT Sliding Scale Tuition: $4500 - $2000

ALUMNI COHORT Sliding Scale Tuition: $1600 - $800

Our sliding scale is intended to make this program accessible to people of a wide range of income levels. Please choose an amount that reflects your ability to contribute. People who contribute at or towards the top of the sliding scale support our ability to offer spaces at a cost below the bottom of the sliding scale to those who would otherwise be unable to participate.

Scholarships and youth rates (24 and younger) available. Please see details below.

FINANCIAL AID & ACCESSIBILITY

We wish to support all people who are passionate about this work to train with us, independent of their current access to financial resources. We recognize that, because of various social and economic systems, some people experience financial barriers to participating in events with cost-based attendance.

We are explicitly inviting participation by people who come from any of the following communities. When all people are included, our communities benefit:

  • People with visible or invisible disabilities

  • People who do not have white skin privilege and/or who come from communities who have been targets of racism

  • People who identify as LGTBQIA+

  • Low-income/poor or working class people

If you identify as part of one of the communities listed above and would like to be considered for a low-cost space, please complete BOTH a scholarship form and a program application (full participant application; alumni cohort application) by June 30, 2025. (Applications will be considered on a rolling basis after this date.) Preference will be given to those who are new to this work and who have not attended past events at reduced or no cost.

Questions about this program? Feel free to email us here.

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“This program is the gold standard for learning NVC—with exquisite care for everyone’s needs. It offers an expansive map and a guide, a cherished community, and skillful, generous mentors to practice liberatory skills that transform me inwardly and support my work to end oppression and foster collective liberation.”

— Sowmya Swaminathan, Educator, Facilitator, Writer, Chennai, India (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

“I’ve never encountered a community quite like this. The trust, support, and vulnerability were unparalleled. The teachings offered both depth and breadth, with practical tools for personal healing and social change. I’ve applied them to shift long-standing relationship patterns and navigate systemic challenges. These skills feel essential for anyone working toward a more compassionate, sustainable world.”

— Morgan, Data Scientist, Portland, Maine (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

“This program offers a safe space to show up authentically, build relational trust, and connect to my feelings and needs. It’s been a beautiful opportunity to unlearn harmful internalized messages through nourishing experiences of care and attunement.”

— Katy Yang, Brooklyn, NY (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

“This cohort provided the structure, exercises and learning to translate concepts about mindfulness into real-life tools in an approachable and genuine way. I felt supported and deeply nourished by this community.”

— Randy Ginsburg, Motion Designer, Brooklyn (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

"This program grounded me in myself and transformed how I communicate. I no longer shy away from hard conversations, which has deepened my relationships. I feel more inspired by what’s possible—for myself and for others."

— Diana Lim, Program Manager, Singapore (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

“This program transformed NVC from a list of ideas to a living practice, helping me pursue what’s most important to me.”

— William Vaughn, Sales Engineer, SF Bay Area (Immersion Program 2024-25)

 

"Life changing.  Life enriching.  Period."

— Tracy (Immersion Program 2024-25)