Nonviolent Communication Retreat – 16th – 19th of May 2019

Making empathy great again in Romania

A residential program for those who want wonderful relationships with themselves, with others and with any number of communities in which they belong. No matter your level of knowledge about nonviolent communication (NVC), you can participate in this Retreat to improve the quality of your relationships as well as to practice your skills. Choose this program if you want to:

• Release yourself from fears, internal saboteurs and increase awareness of true needs;
• Reconnect with self and others while walking towards authentic leadership, able to increase responsibility for your own well-being;
• Align or re-align with the beauty of meaningful contribution in groups, teams or the communities you are a part of.

There will be 24 workshops offered by 4 trainers, during these 4 days. There is space for 40 people to be with us and it is our sincere wish that the overall package will give you the diversity and flexibility you need to personalise your learning experience. No matter which workshops you choose, at the end it is likely that you will begin to experience solutions for the following questions:

• How do I resource myself in order to continue to increase my capacity?
• How do I listen and learn from the wisdom of my inner „jackal”?
• How do I look at my fear as a friend who is holding me in care?
• How do I learn to trust myself, my instincts, my intuition?
• How do I efficiently make the transition from conflict to harmony in a relationship?
• How do I prepare myself for giving honest feedback without being afraid of rejection?
• How do I use empathy at work?
• How to be and what to do so that my individual effort will be significant for others?
• How to stay present with what is happening around me externally while also attending to my inner life?

 

A Retreat can offer deep opportunities not only to learn but also to practice skills that can improve our lives. NVC offers life-enriching alternatives for the habitual ways we were were taught to interact with those around us. After participating in this annual NVC Retreat, we hope that you will not only see that we all carry within us the power of choice, but you will  also experience this power and even begin the process of naturalising it within your self.

THE AGENDA OF THE NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION RETREAT

• The titles of the workshops may be modified.
• Most workshops will be in parallel, so the participants will choose one workshop per session of workshops.
• Every workshop will be singular/unique, without repeating during the retreat.
• The workshops in English will have a simultaneous translation to facilitate interactions between trainers and participants.

DAY 1 – Thursday, 16^th of May 2019 = “Welcome” 

• Introducing Nonviolent Communication – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)
• The Retreat Principles
• Exercises of vulnerability and to know each other

DAY 2 – Friday, 17^th of May 2019 – “I”

• Menu for the soul – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Embracing a transforming self-criticism – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• The guru within – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• A (physical) map to remember needs – with Robyn Marie Bors Veraart (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Neuroscience of Empathic Self-Talk – with Robyn Marie Bors Veraart (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Regeneration – with Sabin Mureșan (workshop in Romanian)
• The inner reality – with Sabin Mureșan (workshop in Romanian)
• GROK, the empathy game – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)
• Establishing the fears – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)
• Masculinity and Femininity Circle

DAY 3 – Saturday, 18^th of May 2019 – “You and I”

• NVC + Leadership – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• NVC at work – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Reconciliation and integration – with Robyn Marie Bors Veraart (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Creativity and Care within (sexual) relationship – with Robyn Marie Bors Veraart (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• External reflection – with Sabin Mureșan (workshop in Romanian)
• The evolution dance – with Sabin Mureșan (workshop in Romanian)
• Inspired co-creation – with Sabin Mureșan (workshop in Romanian)
• Be honest for real – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)
• The feedback that unites – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)
• 12 characters searching for an Apocalypse – workshop in Romanian

DAY 4 – Sunday, 19^th of May 2019 = “Together”

• Daily hygiene greetings, gratitude and goodbye – with Lorna Ritchie (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• The Self in Ever-Widening Circles of Community – with Robyn Marie Bors Veraart (workshop in English, with Romanian translation)
• Family Harmony – with Alexandru Moldovan (workshop in Romanian)

The schedule of days is as follows:

• 8.00 = Breakfast
• 9.00 = The community circle (with all the participants)
• 10.00 = Morning session with 3 workshops in parallel
• 12.00 = Empathic support groups (4-5 people)
• 13.00 = Lunch
• 14.30 = After lunch session with 3 workshops in parallel
• 16.15 = “Between lunch and evening” session with 3 workshops in parallel
• 18.00 = The community circle (with all the participants)
• 18.45 = Dinner
• 20.00 = Evening program with all the participants

Some opinions of last year’s participants to the camp/retreat

“Don’t change the winning team. Unless it can be better!”

The team which produced the first edition of the retreat in 2018 (Lorna, Sabin and Alexandru), stayed the same this year too, and added one more trainer (Robyn) as well as one person dedicated to the administrative part (Simona).  We are also bringing on board two new translators (Adina and Geta) and possibly one animator for children activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trainer’s team 

Lorna Ritchie , Dipl.-Psych., Mediator BM, Certified Trainer for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC). 15 years of experience as a CEO, independent trainer since 1990, mediator and coach since 1999.

Robyn Marie Bors Veraart. Born in New York, USA,  is trained as a Psychotherapist (MA Transpersonal Psychology from Naropa University), Music Therapist and Gestalt Therapist.  Her career was spent “on the inside” when she worked in a large and multi-tiered Female Prison as a counselor and offered courses in yoga and meditation.  She came to NonViolent Communication through the door of NonViolence, having spent time in a community in France which was begun by a student of Gandhi.  She considers herself “planted” in a NonViolent lifestyle, having chosen to live in “necessary simplicity” in the small village of Alunisu/Magyarokereke where she is part of building community, actively working with several NGOs for social change and is engaged in the support of “local futures” to find ways of mutual benefit between humans and their ecosystems especially in regards to food systems.

Sabin Mureșan. Facilitator, trainer, musician, climber, scout and initiator. I create spaces and experiences of consciousness and inner peace. I’ve spent my last 20 years on 4 continents, facilitating learning processes and experiential education, creating peace and transforming conflicts, empathic and nonviolent communication, teamwork and, more recently, programs for mind-heart-body harmony (happiness seeds) and masculinity programs (the global network of the project ManKind).

Alexandru Moldovan. He has am extensive career as a soft-skills trainer, doubled by an international experience in consulting and human resources strategies in several industries. He is recommended for the dedication to complete his client’s objectives and for creating learning experiences on long term. He “found” Nonviolent Communication in 2015, reading it as a parenting technique. Since then, he wanted to share this technique to as many people, becoming, eventually, a life style. In the last 3 years he shared Nonviolent Communication’s principles and life style with thousands of people in Cluj and in Romania.

Support team 

• Simona-Daniela Mihăilă = logistic and administrative support
• Adina Moldovan and Geta Vădan = translators

What do you get by participating to this Retreat?

• 3 days full of trainings in Nonviolent Communication, with 4 trainers bringing an abundance of professional and personal experience;
• Approximately 22 hours of pure training;
• For those interested of the NVC trainer certification process, you get a diploma for the participation in an event with a certified trainer (Lorna Ritchie);
• A t-shirt on your size, with the camp/retreat logo;
• A trip to Vadu Crișului’s cave;
• Two sessions of empathic support group;
• One session dedicated to women and one dedicated to men;
• Materials from all workshops.

The event’s location

The “Roua Munților” guest house in Vadu Crișului, Bihor County, will be our host again this year. The comfort and ease about everything we need, along with an already established relationship, helped us choose to come back this year  and to invite you too!  We will have:

• Rooms of 2 – 3 – 4 beds (1 person/bed);
• 3 meals a day (plus surprises) – Swedish Buffet (+ ovo/lacto vegetarian alternatives);
• Jacuzzi and heated pool;
• Free wi-fi in the guest house;
• Free parking;
• Coffee, tea and alcoholic drinks are available from the bar for a supplementary fee.

Directions to the location

• Car: coming on the E60 highway, 50 km from Oradea towards Cluj, or 100 km from Cluj towards Oradea. Follow the “Vadu Crișului” indicators first, and then signs to “Pensiunea Roua Munților.”
• Train: Step off the train in the small train station called “Halta Vadu Crișului”, which is very close to the guest house.

 

For more sleeping places, we will collaborate with the “Corimen” guest house as well, which is 200 m away from the “Pensiunea Roua Munților” where all the activities will take place.

Recommendations for the participants

• Although the Retreat is dedicated to Nonviolent Communication, prior knowledge about this technique are not required. You can very well enjoy the benefits of the program. Still, we highly recommend that all participants read “Nonviolent Communication” from Marshall Rosenberg before coming to the event if at all possible.
• The weather in May we hope will be more like summer rather than spring… However, please pack some clothes for chilly nights, and a swim suit and sunscreen cream, in case of hot days.
• Pets are not allowed in the location.
• We recommend attending this Retreat with your partner. This can contribute to ease and joy as your transition from the event back into daily life, as you will have a shared experience. 
• Children are also welcomed, and we suggest you to take these 4 days just for yourself in order to maximise learning and integrating. During the camp we won’t have any child care system in place, so, if you come with your child or children, you will be responsible for them.  It is possible that we will have some activities designed specifically for children at certain moments depending on the availability of animators.

The NVC Retreat history

In 2017 I (Alexandru) have participated to an intensive 9 days training in Germany, where I was impressed by the way 80 people from 15 countries were able to show their authenticity, while living as a community during those days. There I met Lorna Ritchie and we have collaborated with the idea to create a similar experience in Romania. I’ve had the unconditional support of Sabin Mureșan, who first guided my steps towards NVC, and this way we managed to organise the first edition of this Retreat in May 2018. Last year we were 28 people in total, including the participants, 5 children and 3 trainers.

At the end of the first edition, everybody said the same thing: we want more! We need more experiences like this!! Robyn Marie Bors Veraart is another very good friend that I’ve made through NVC, who (randomly or not) met Lorna during summer 2018 and they also became friends. So, Robyn naturally joined the trainers team, especially in support of our plan to offer this experience to even more participants this year…

We don’t know where this initiative will lead us, but, for now, we would like to invite you to participate at its creation! So now it is time for you to decide to sign up for the 2019 edition of the Romanian NVC Retreat by following the steps below.

 

 

Save your place in the Nonviolent Communication Retreat, the 2019^th edition!

Complete the form below and you can already anticipate the joy of the experience, investing only 250 Euro – final price that includes the taxes as well. To confirm your entry, it is necessary to pay 65 Euro in advance.

 

Transparency and trust

Because we want to offer you this long term experience, we would like to present you how did we got to this price. We don’t want you to limit your development, because of money.

• 3 complete meals, starting from Thursday (16^th of May) evening, till Sunday noontime (including the halls rent and the use of the pool in any time) = 83 Euro
• Accommodation for 3 nights in rooms with 2 – 3 – 4 beds (1 person/bed) and separate bathroom = 38 Euro
• Transportation, accommodation and food for the trainers and support staff = 22 Euro
• Materials for activities, portfolio and personalized t-shirt = 17 Euro
• Wages for administrative organization of the Retreat = 12 Euro
• Marketing and unexpected costs = 11 Euro
• Taxes for the Romanian state = 7 Euro.

All of these being said, we offer a limited number of places at the price BUDGET, of 190 Euro, which covers only your expenses as a participant.

The BALANCE price is 250 Euros, which means that you are contributing to the trainers’ expenses as well.

The COMMUNITY price is 315 Euro, and the price difference from BALANCE is directed to supporting the ones that can only afford the BUDGET price. As a thank you gift, you will receive for free a GROK game in Romanian language (that’s going to help you develop your empathy skills), that  costs 25 Euro).

Update 14th of May 2019: REGISTRATION IS CLOSED.