Colleen Crowley, CNVC Certification Candidate, May 2025

” On a retreat at Allsgood Farm with David Weinstock and Aya Caspi I had a rich opportunity to practice Nonviolent Communication in community and learn to express it in my own way. In addition to the formal learning sessions, there were plenty of opportunities to ask questions over a meal or in passing and put the learnings into practice. During sessions I was able to observe Aya mediate between retreatants in real time which helped me learn to pick out the cues on what their hearts were saying behind their words and how to help them express those messages in a way the other could receive them. At one point one party couldn’t find words, but their care was so evident in the way they put their hands upon their heart and leaned forward looking into the other’s eyes that the other party softened. It struck me how much intention matters, and though it’s not the end of the conversation, it can be the beginning of opening the lines of communication. It also showed me that Nonviolent Communication is not the words per se, it’s the living of it. “