Resolving Conflicts through Skillful Communication - Focusing meets Nonviolent Communication

An online, interactive 4-session course facilitated by Amona Buechler.

Four sessions on Wednesdays: August 4, 11, 18, and 25, 2021 at 11:00am-1:15pm Eastern (NY) time.

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The class size will not be limited. Recordings of each session will be distributed to all registrants prior to the next session (except in the case of technical difficulties).

Registration Note:  We strongly recommend that you attend this course live as practices will be the core and you will be sharing your experiences with others. Also it will be recommended to practice with another student in between sessions.

The sessions will build on one another. If you are not available to join one of the sessions, please listen to the recording so that you can develop your learning in the given sequence. Recordings will include Amona's presentation, Q&A, and group exercises/sharing. Exercises carried out via breakout rooms are not recorded.

PROGRAM

Fruitful communication starts with owning our feelings when challenging situations present themselves to us. This means to go beyond right and wrong, to stop pointing fingers, at others in blame, or at ourselves causing shame. Instead, can we become interested in how differently each of us perceives what’s happening? Can we become interested in how each of us feels about it?

So, let’s get curious.

When this open and curious atmosphere has been established, this can enable us to more clearly recognize needs and wishes, our own and those of the other party involved. As we learn to truly listen to one another, unseen pathways toward resolving a conflict can be found.

But there is yet another step: How can we empathically, honestly, and self-responsibly communicate with one another so that we feel inspired to meet each other’s needs?

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Focusing in combination offer a beautiful ground for exploring how to refine these delicate listening and communication skills.

This workshop provides a space to explore the following:

•     Recognize, accept, and express our feelings and needs
•     Identify what we hope to experience when our wishes are being met
•     Learn to self-responsibly and empathically express ourselves
•     Discover new possibilities of meeting each other’s needs
•     Release the habit of judging and demanding
•     Recognize unspoken needs behind the words of others
•     Learn to respect everyone’s freedom of choice, including our own
•     Give space and time for that which is (yet) without words
•     Envision & sense into the joy of fulfilling each other’s wishes

We will benefit from useful shortcuts as used in NVC to identify what feelings we are experiencing and what needs are present. Explicitly recognizing our feelings, needs, and wishes can be very eye-opening and breath-opening.

We will benefit from learning the art of aimless inner listening into what’s initially vague and fuzzy, as practiced in Focusing…a way of freshly being with a felt experience for which we may not have words (yet).

Prerequisite

Familiarity with Focusing or Nonviolent Communication. If you have neither Focusing nor Nonviolent Communication experience, please book an online session with Amona before this course begins. This way you get to know and experience the basic tools in a one-to-one guided setting. Contact Amona for details at https://move-with-life.org/online/

About Your Facilitator

Amona Buechler has been offering courses, workshops, and sessions on- and offline since 1998. She is a certified Focusing Trainer as well as a certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. Before starting her journey with Focusing she had a 15-year foundation of daily meditation and regular Feldenkrais practice, two approaches in which the inner inquiry is taken on one's own. The challenge of expressing that, which is noticed inside to another person, and the interactive component in Focusing added a precious value to her growth process and work. Currently, Amona offers Basic Focusing Skills Courses. She also offers a variety of courses inspired by Focusing, with themes such as finding ease and clarity in one’s professional life. In co-facilitation with her sister, she offers retreats combining Focusing with Authentic Movement. With great fascination, Amona explores how insights from the Focusing process find their way into our lives, leading to self-responsible and empathic communication and wholehearted action.

FORMAT

We use Zoom videoconferencing for our online classes. The class will be held in MEETING FORMAT so that all participants can see the presenter and each other. (There is an option to turn off your video if you prefer and technical instructions will be given at the class start). You will need to have a computer/mobile device. Calling in by phone is also possible but not preferred as participation in breakout rooms will be limited.

THE SMALL PRINT

Refund policy: A full refund minus a $15 administrative fee for cancellations 14 days before the start date. Cancellations less than 14 days before the start date are nonrefundable. The International Focusing Institute reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule for insufficient enrollment or for other unanticipated reasons. In such cases you will be given a choice of applying your tuition to future programs, or having the full enrollment fee returned to you.

For more information:

Contact Elizabeth at [email protected] or (845) 480-5111.