Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships

by Marshall B. Rosenberg Ph.D.

Foreword by Deepak Chopra

Nonviolent Communication Guidebooks

5,000,000 Copies Sold Worldwide • Translated in More Than 35 Languages

What is Violent Communication?

If “violent” means acting in ways that result in hurt or harm, then much of how we communicate—judging others, bullying, having racial bias, blaming, finger pointing, discriminating, speaking without listening, criticizing others or ourselves, name-calling, reacting when angry, using political rhetoric, being defensive or judging who’s “good/bad” or what’s “right/wrong” with people—could indeed be called “violent communication.”

What is Nonviolent Communication?

Nonviolent Communication is the integration of four things:

• Consciousness: a set of principles that support living a life of compassion, collaboration, courage, and authenticity
• Language: understanding how words contribute to connection or distance
• Communication: knowing how to ask for what we want, how to hear others even in disagreement, and how to move toward solutions that work for all
• Means of Influence: sharing “power with others” rather than using “power over others”

Nonviolent Communication serves our desire to do three things:

• Increase our ability to live with choice, meaning, and connection
• Connect empathically with self and others to have more satisfying relationships
• Sharing of resources so everyone is able to benefit

About the Author(s):

Marshall B. Rosenberg: American Psychologist

Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD founded and was for many years the Director of Educational Services for the Center for Nonviolent Communication, an international peacemaking organization. During his life he authored fifteen books, including the bestselling Nonviolent Communication, which has sold more than one million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than thirty languages.

Deepak Chopra: Indian-American Author

Deepak Chopra was born in New Delhi, India in 1946. He was educated as a medical doctor, specializing in endocrinology, at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. He served as Chief of Staff at Boston Regional Medical Center, and has taught at Tufts and Boston University Medical Schools. He recognized limitations in the ways that his medical education approached treatment of individuals. Introduced to the ancient methods of Hindu healing, known as Ayurveda, by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, he saw a way to add a spiritual dimension to treatment of illness.

Chopra's thinking led him to develop a theory that he called Quantum Healing, which combines Western and Hindu medical practice. In 1984, Chopra brought Ayurvedic medicine to the United States, and within a year he established the Ayurvedic Health Centre of Stress Management and Behavioral Medicine in Lancaster, Massachusetts. He is also the founding President of the American Association of Ayurvedic Medicine and eventually founded the Chopra Center for Wellbeing. He has written more than 55 books including Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: The Quantum Alternative to Growing Old; Creating Health: How to Wake Up the Body's Intelligence; Creating Affluence: The A-to-Z Steps to a Richer Life; The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams; The Shadow Effect and Muhammad: A Story of the Last Prophet; Spiritual Solutions: Answers to Life's Greatest Challenges; Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being; and The Healing Self: A Revolutionary New Plan to Super Charge Your Immunity and Stay Well for Life.

He has won numerous awards including a Quill Award for Peace Is the Way and the grand prize at the 2005 Nautilus Book Awards for The Book of Secrets. He also writes novels including The Return of Merlin; Soulmate; and Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment.

“Dr. Rosenberg has brought the simplicity of successful communication into the foreground. No matter what issue you’re facing, his strategies for communicating with others will set you up to win every time.”
—Anthony Robbins, Author, Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power