How Shammi’s workshop influence led the foundation to my parenting style and it has been an incredible 9 years for me as a parent with Riya. The other day one of her friends got scolded and that child cried for 15 minutes. She just sat in front of him on a video call on the laptop, listened to him and said, I am here if you want to talk but even if you don't want to talk I am still here for you. The boy cried his heart out in front of her, let out a sigh of relief and then they both started playing. For me to witness that level of centeredness, holding a space and it comes naturally to her. It's a really amazing feeling for me as a mother.

One day I was like oh Riya you saying this makes me feel guilty. Riya said, Papa, no I am sad still I am also okay with the decision you're making but that doesn't mean I can't be sad, so we can have a space of me being sad and you can continue to do what you're doing. Things like this, where she is now able to hold a space for me and Akshay. Also, I don't think she even realises that she is doing this. It's all quite unconscious or subconscious. It's her way of naturally being.

I am really looking forward to seeing how this relationship evolves. But so far it has been an amazing journey. I would credit like 90 percent of my parenting to NVC. I use those visibles on a day to day basis. I keep correcting myself and reflecting on things, going differently. And you giving me that foundation has been a really important part. Thank you. Wishing you all the best!

At no point any of us felt judged, there was no one telling us who is right or wrong or what point had more weightage rather helped us just get deeper into where the triggers are coming from and helped us listen to each other's perspective in an open empathetic way. Where we truly understood not only what we were thinking but also where that thinking was coming from.

After the session we realized we didn't need each other to change to accommodate, we needed to change within and get out of the right/wrong thinking which the societal impressions make us get into. It was not an end to a discussion, it was the beginning of a conversation that started with my own self and that still goes on within when I see judgements surfacing. It helped me not only in this relationship but many. Highly indebted for making me grow internally so much through this one mediated discussion to Shammi and in many many other workshops I have attended with him .

I recommend this deep way of communicating to understand yourself and in the process of understanding others too who need it in the current stage in their lives.

This came to mind years later in 2021 when we contacted Shammi to support us in our bereavement. He took us through two long Zoom-based sessions, during which we focused on communication practices and styles. Although we were already familiar with the work of Marshall Roseberg, Shammi's embodiment of NVC through his presence made us more able to witness the patterns in our communication style as a couple that had led to painful interactions.

  The most helpful element of Shammi's guidance was his willingness to share his own struggles to support us in ours. He showed us that he was part of our story through his willingness to empathize with us, and yet he was always helping us to find humor and laughter in the process of self-exploration and inner healing. Considering the great value of what Shammi has to offer, his sessions were very reasonably priced and we were grateful to support his work and outreach in community-based programs.

At the outset of the 3-day workshop, Shammi asked if we should begin the workshop discussing money, after lunch, or at the end of the day. Of course we dove straight into the trigger issues, and so much got revealed around everyone's pain around money. We were actually already deep into learning NVC right there and then. 

Shammi is super flexible and creative. He can switch direction very capably taking the workshop where the participants need to go—dealing moment to moment with what is live right then and there, be it children messing up the neatly laid cards in the centre or a participant triggered about the upper limit of the sliding scale.

At the International NVC conferences, my husband John and I loved Shammi's sessions best because of how alive and relevant they were to each person in his circles. Needless to say, I highly recommend Shammi's NVC workshops. It is worth paying the upper figure on the sliding scale and fighting with him about it at the start.

I wanted to say Thanks to Shammi and everyone for holding this space. This was very enlightening in lot of ways, so many concepts and tools to work with, and there might be lot to it i know, but the way shammi held the space without rushing and listening and sharing everything intently,(feels like a core need was being met by him) even if there are concepts that he was not able to share but it has opened up a new world for me on which now i can build on, in small steps also trying to inculcate in life( practice), but it is new to me so also brings up a little fear with it like am i doing it even right? Did I even get it right?

And connecting to people, I felt like not being alone in this journey of life, there was also a lot of mourning for others and self, and empathy for others and self that came up.

But as someone shared, it's so new that it also sometimes feels like playing with fire to try doing it alone. I would like to take the learning in small steps so that it's not overwhelming for me, building it gradually over time with small small practices And staying with me for a lifetime . And for that i feel the need for some practice sessions but initially with some guidance. Or however the things move within the group with the agreement of all.