While being at Tamera, one of a number of globally known visionary communities, I’ve been pondering this phenomenon of visionary beginnings leading to dilution and, in many cases, to reestablishment of power structures. Here, the founders are still alive, though aging, and many questions about how to keep the vision alive and give it material shape are precisely what we are here to support them with. My question is also very personal, as I am, myself, someone with a very large vision for humanity. I, too, want the vision and what I have learned about how to make it practical to outlive me. 

When we founded BayNVC, my sister Inbal , our colleague Julie Greene (both of whom have since died), and I started the BayNVC Leadership Program because Inbal understood that we wouldn’t be able, ourselves, to take the work and its liberatory potential far enough without having others who are also doing it. Our aim was to teach others to do what we are doing. My own aim, for a long time, and especially after Inbal died, was to make everything I do teachable, so I could pass it on. I also started writing books with the aim of leaving behind enough detailed knowledge that others could pick it up and apply it even without ever knowing me, even after I am gone. 

It was only when I fully grasped the power of explicit systems to anchor vision and increase capacity to exit the patriarchal field that I changed course, yet again. This was also motivated by understanding that the work of women often dies with them precisely because they are less likely to leave behind a community of practitioners that carry the work forward. These two realizations were what led to the Nonviolent Global Liberation community coming into being: a place where we are in interdependent relationships with each other as we experiment, learn, and apply what we learn, within and around us, rather than continuing to function as individuals. It is not surprising to me that the Vision Mobilization work was born within NGL and not before, through our combined work, not in one individual alone. 

The Facing Privilege calls are an opportunity for people to engage on the deep questions that arise as we reflect on the topic of privilege. Info and register

The Overcoming Patriarchy calls are for conversation, exploration, and active challenging of self and other based on the commitment to see and transcend all the ways in which we have internalized patriarchal thinking, to increase our collective ability to notice and act with choice. Info and register

The Questioning Money calls are an opportunity to grapple together with all aspects, both internal and external, of global capitalism and to move toward transforming it inside and out. Info and register

The Nonviolent Activism for Liberation calls are to support activists in empowering themselves within their groups and movements to increase capacity to align means with ends so as to transform cultures of burnout, conflict, mistrust, blaming and shaming into environments of solidarity, trust, experimentation, and increased capacity to move towards the possibility of a livable future. Info and register

This is our 6th year, with many people coming back for their 2nd, 3rd, or even 6th year! Watch the video as several people share what this has meant to them. There is deep magic in the community that forms, too, as people mobilize to change lives within and around them. Whether you are an "official" leader or not, this ongoing program will support you in freeing yourself to fully step into leadership in all aspects of your life and work, and play your part in making life work for everyone. As our social systems unravel, this is more timely than ever. And, for the first time, this is now offered on a gift basis. We are all hoping that this would allow many more people to register who couldn’t otherwise, and that those who can will give more so the course will remain sustainable. Info and register

At a time of rapid transformation and accelerating crises in the world, the three of us are joining together in offering our newest tools for the first time in a public setting. Since the last newsletter went out, we have worked with the NVC Academy to make the course financially accessible to anyone who feels called to contribute to the large vision of this work and for whom the current fee is a barrier.

The August 2021 live course filled beyond capacity, and we are now opening it if you want to participate via the recordings, with the possibility that previous course participants may be available to accompany you.

The course is designed for individuals, communities, and organizations with live demonstrations and tools for continuing the work on your own. It follows every part of the Vision Mobilization Framework, which you can learn about from the packet available here. Info and register

The Circle of Support is a central part of Miki’s commitment to participate in the movement to restore the maternal gift economy: a pattern of resource flow that is based on needs and capacity; not on individuals’ access to money. The Circle of Support acts as a baseline of steady support as more and more of what Miki does in the world is offered without any paywall or exchange. If you want to learn more about gift economy, the Circle of Support, and our experimentations so far with alternative economies, we welcome you to our Circle of Support page on Miki’s website, or join the Circle here. 

With immense gratitude and awe we have seen that, despite the hardships that have come to so many in these times, people continue to join the circle while others leave. This last period, a few more people have joined than left, and the totals are slightly higher than last time. At present, we have 110 people who contribute a total of $3,995 monthly to the Circle of Support. That’s over half of our goal of 200 contributors, and just under two thirds of our goal of $6,000 a month. We feel blessed to have this much support at this time even as we hope to sustain ourselves more easily without dipping into our reserve.

Join the Circle of Support, or read more about it on Miki’s website »

Intrigued? Discover more details about Arnina’s 8-month liberating learning journey, The Compass, here and enjoy the recordings of 3 Free Compass Workshops here.

The Core Nonviolence Commitments Learning and Support Community is an ongoing series of independent units or modules, each one designed to support participants in engaging, in community, with one of the 34 Core Nonviolence Commitments. The series is for people who want to strengthen their commitment to nonviolence and increase their ability to put it into practice in their day-to-day lives. Prior NVC experience is highly recommended.

You may register for the series at any time; once you are registered you will receive an email invitation once a month to RSVP, if you like, for the next module.

January: Commitment #12. Discernment and Courage (January 13, 20 & 27)

February: Commitment #13. Authenticity and Vulnerability

March: Commitment #14. Availability for Feedback

Nonviolence is a way of being and living that orients, in thought, word, and deed, towards integrating love, truth, and courage in individual and collective action aimed at preserving what serves life and at challenging what doesn’t to transform itself so the human family can realign with life. -Miki Kashtan

Manasi inspires me every time I think of her work in India. She co-founded Living Bridges, which fosters and develops empathic development practitioners from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. In addition to their subsidized workshops in Hindi and English, Living Bridges has provided material support for grassroots community projects reaching over 20,000 people during the pandemic alone. So when Manasi asked me for an interview in support of her work, I immediately said “yes” despite the difficult timing. Here’s what she said about the interview:

The Living Bridges Conversations are part of their campaign to support changemakers to lead with empathy. Please offer what support you can here (if you’re in India) or here (for international contributors).

The world is hungry for people with skills to guide diverse groups and stakeholders toward decisions that everyone can wholeheartedly embrace. Are you called to support others with collaborative decisions? See what we have coming up.

We are celebrating our one-year anniversary of offering weekly Convergent Facilitation Coaching Calls. Our first call was on May 11, 2020! This program provides ongoing support from experienced facilitators on real-life challenges you encounter as you begin to use and apply Convergent Facilitation. We ask that you take an introductory workshop or read the book before you attend. Find out more about this project and get involved on the CF Coaching Calls Program page.

We are looking for someone enthusiastic, experienced, committed, and self-directed to support Convergent Facilitation by leading our outreach efforts. We want someone with a strategic vision for how to drive attendance to our workshops and generate interest in Miki’s book, the technical skills to realize that vision, and previous experience. Here are more details. If you are interested, please contact Menaka.

NGL doesn’t currently have any upcoming retreats. All of our work is online at present, and includes many calls where you can learn as well as many opportunities to contribute to our work.

Sabrina (NGL member and apprentice) and Fox (NGL friend and apprentice) have founded the NGL Welcome Crew with the purpose of creating a bridge to ease prospective and new NGL Friends' experience of landing within NGL. They run regular Welcoming Sessions where new NGL Friends can ask questions and and get to know others who are also new to NGL.

The upcoming Welcome Sessions are planned for:

To find out more, or if you need support with the NGL Friend sign-up process, contact them at [email protected]

Read about NGL and see whether being an NGL Friend is for you here - and while you're visiting our site, sign up for the NGL News.

The NGL Online community is a wild experiment in terms of use of resources of all kinds. In terms of financial resources, we pull together all money that comes in from any source, and distribute it in a collective process every four months. In our last distribution circle in August, we used the same process as last time. This was the first time I wasn’t there, entrusting the well-being of BayNVC, the fiscal sponsor and parent organization of NGL, to all the others in the circle to decide about. As in all distribution circles before, the resources available to us were fewer than the total of 12 requests made. This time around, several people received the full amount of their request, everyone else received at least their minimum, and BayNVC again received less than what is long-term sustainable for us, although we are still fine for now. 

We know it’s really hard to convey in words how wild indeed the experiment is. At present there are about 40 or more of us pouring energy into NGL, many of us many hours every week. Only 12 of us have put in financial requests, independently of how much time and energy we put in, independently of how much we have been able to bring in. We are active co-creators of a community that aims to function on a gift economy basis. We are fully committed to uncoupling giving from receiving. Money related to all of NGL’s projects flows into one collective pot of money, as a strategy to increase cohesion and reduce the chances of stratification within NGL. 

If you have the capacity to do so, please donate here.

Principle-Based Teaching of NVC (thoroughly revised)

Upcoming additions are unclear at present, though Miki is still on track to complete the entire set by December 2022. All packets are available on a gift basis, with no paywall.

Many people are skeptical about money coming in when we provide content without a paywall. Our experience is a resounding affirmation that there is enough care and enough trust to begin to re-create flow. We are celebrating that last year people downloaded 1920 items in 1216 orders, giving an average $6.78 per item. Of these, 688 people didn't give any money, and we rejoice in that. Several others each contributed $100 for just one packet. This is the transitional world we want to live in, for as long as money exists: access for everyone regardless of how much money they have, supported by those who have the capacity to give more.

Visit the learning packets page here.

What if you could bring together any group of people to find solutions that are creative, satisfying, work for everyone, and actually get implemented?

In The Highest Common Denominator — Using Convergent Facilitation to Reach Breakthrough Collaborative Decisions, Miki Kashtan introduces a novel decision-making process that is designed to build trust from the very beginning, to surface concerns and address them, and to turn conflicts into dilemmas that groups feel energized to solve together.

For options about how to access the book, including the possibility of an electronic version on a gift-economy basis, visit The Highest Common Denominator.

You can also view videos from the book launch here.

Making Life Work - Online Self-Study Course

In the challenging times in which we live, many of us barely dare dream of a world that honors and seeks to meet the needs of everyone. This self-paced self-study course was born from that dream and it is available without a paywall, on a gift economy basis.

Sign up for the course or learn more here.