Communication Trainings and Peace-making Services
At Sacred Groves we believe that….
direct, authentic and compassionate communication is essential for healthy relationships, families, communities and our global village. The following services are our way of supporting others who want to learn from their conflicts and develop heartfelt listening and speaking skills. Our intention is to create a more peaceful world for our children and our children’s children.
2013 Compassionate Listening Workshops at Sacred Groves
Taught by Therese Charvet, Certified Facilitator
Autumn 2013–dates to be determined still. Please contact Therese if you are interested.
There is a lot of talk these days about the need for more compassion and peace, but most of us have not learned effective ways of resolving conflict in our every-day lives. This week-end intensive will provide many opportunities for participants to reflect upon their chellenging and difficult relationships. Through a series of structured exercises designed to help you understand the root cause and underlying needs in these situations. your understandings will deepen and ways for resolution will emerge. Come with an open heart, willing to share your stories and practice new skills with a small group of dedicated learners and listeners. Sacred Groves is a unique, healing place, ideal for doing this heart-opening work.
Compassionate Listening is a practice that reaches deep into the heart of discord or disconnection, teaching people to listen with a different “ear” to those around them. Its powerful tools help transform the energy of conflict into opportunities for understanding, intimacy at home, healthy relations, productive teamwork, and positive action. It is a practice that provides a road-map to what sages from all ages and cultures have taught: cultivating the wisdom of the heart is the key to real peace “from the inside out.”
The Five Core Practices of Compassionate Listening:
* Holding Compassion for Oneself and Others
* Suspending Judgment
* Maintaining Balance in the Heat of Conflict
* Listening with the Heart
* Speaking from the Heart
Suggested donation for the workshop is sliding scale: $125-200 for both days, one day only: $75-100. If both partners of a couple want to attend, we’ll give you a discount. This does not include meals or lodging.
Pre-registration and a deposit is required. Contact Therese directly by e-mail (info@sacredgroves.com) or phone (206-842-7141.) Pay your deposit on-line (suggested: $50-100) by clicking the “Donate” button and using PayPal or your credit card.
The Compassionate Listening Project
The Compassionate Listening Project (TCLP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering individuals to strive for peace through the cultivation and practice of powerful listening skills. Therese is a Certified Facilitator with The Compassionate Listening Project and chair of TCLP’s Board of Directors. She has been integrating its tools and teachings into her community healing work since 2002. She believes that Compassionate Listening can help us find our way to reconciliation and understanding in our challenging relationships, re-weaving our families and communities.
Couples Counseling using Compassionate Listening
Therese offers herself as a coach and facilitator for couples who are having difficulty listening to each other and speaking from the heart. Compassionate Listening skills are taught and practiced during these private sessions. Therese creates a safe container for each person to speak openly as well as listen compassionately. She helps each person understand when she/he is triggered and how to interrupt reactive responses that result in separation and distance. Through her coaching, couples have moved into deeper intimacy, more harmony and enhanced personal growth through the relationship.
Listening Council
is a unique model for conflict resolution and peace-making, applicable for couples, families, friends, work environments, and organizations. At its core, it is about creating a ‘container’ for deep, full-hearted listening for those in conflict or in challenging situations. Because our conflicts –whether inner or outer–affect others in our families and communities, the support and compassion of these others can be a healing force for the evolution and resolution of the situation. “Listening Council” was co-created with Brian Berman of Berman Healing Arts in 2001-2002 and has been used successfully in a variety of settings ever since. Contact Therese for more information about how this works.
What people say about CL:
Dear Therese…….A few months ago, my friend’s grandpa died. This grandpa was like a father to him. I knew that the time for his grandpa to die was near and I called to check up on him. Because of the skills I learned in your Compassionate Listening workshop, I wasn’t afraid to call. For most people it is uncomfortable to talk about death, but because of the skills I learned from Compassionate Listening I knew I didn’t have to fix it I just had to open my heart, be present, and listen. This was such a wonderful gift for him when he felt that his other friends and family had abandoned him because they didn’t know what to say. I knew I didn’t have to say anything, just listen with compassion. We became very close friends after this experience we shared and now we are in an intimate relationship. Thank you so much you have blessed both of our lives. Love, S.
When Someone deeply Listens to you by John Fox
When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you’ve had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.
When someone deeply listens to you,
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind’s eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!
When someone deeply listens to you,
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.
— John Fox
* Suspending Judgment
* Maintaining Balance in the Heat of Conflict
* Listening with the Heart
* Speaking from the Heart
Dear Therese…….A few months ago, my friend’s grandpa died. This grandpa was like a father to him. I knew that the time for his grandpa to die was near and I called to check up on him. Because of the skills I learned in your Compassionate Listening workshop, I wasn’t afraid to call. For most people it is uncomfortable to talk about death, but because of the skills I learned from Compassionate Listening I knew I didn’t have to fix it I just had to open my heart, be present, and listen. This was such a wonderful gift for him when he felt that his other friends and family had abandoned him because they didn’t know what to say. I knew I didn’t have to say anything, just listen with compassion. We became very close friends after this experience we shared and now we are in an intimate relationship. Thank you so much you have blessed both of our lives. Love, S.
When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you’ve had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.
When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind’s eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.