Come home to the body
- Ground and center yourself in what matters to you.
- Work with overwhelm and regain balance, inner guidance, and choice.
- Calm your system and listen to the wisdom and resources of your body.
16-week Foundation · English
Becoming What You Need
A Foundation for Embodying Nonviolent Communication
Featuring the Spiral Blend—David’s newest refinement of Somatic Consensus for bringing NVC into everyday life.
Tuesdays Learning with David, supported by AmyThursdays Practice with Ellen
The Foundation in Somatic Consensus
You know the language.
Can your body find it?
Somatic Consensus is a somatic approach to Nonviolent Communication. It brings the distinctions of NVC into the living body through nervous-system awareness, movement, relational practice, and the cultivation of choice.
You may understand empathy, needs, observations, and honest expression—yet in the heat of a real moment, attention narrows and old patterns return. This Foundation helps you build a personal practice so presence, relationship, and choice become more available when they matter most.
“Somatic Consensus is an opportunity to transform how you communicate with yourself and the world—understanding the importance of love and empathy.”— Reggie Townsend
The newest refinement of Somatic Consensus
The Spiral Blend
A somatic map for embodying Nonviolent Communication.
The Spiral Blend helps you bring NVC into moments of activation, uncertainty, and conflict.
Move among its vantage points to return to the body, find resources, listen for what matters, and respond with greater choice.
SenseTrack breath, sensation, emotion, posture, and impulse.
ResourceReturn to steadiness, support, and a wider field of attention.
RelateListen beneath words and meet difference with curiosity.
ActSpeak, set boundaries, repair, and choose what comes next.
In the Foundation, you use Spiral Blend to build a personal practice for deepening relationships and becoming who you want to become. Learning to share the map with others is developed in the Advanced Training.
16 weeks · Ten modules
A clear arc from inner awareness to compassionate action.
Each module combines concepts, demonstration, guided somatic practice, relational exercises, and time to integrate the learning into daily life.
Meet patterns with choice
- Recognize old reactions and turn habitual patterns into resources for connection.
- Listen deeply to your needs and discover new possibilities.
- Find your ground for empowered words and actions.
- Receive support from relationships, community, place, and nature.
Relate, repair, and act
- Listen with empathy while staying connected to yourself.
- Move between listening openly and speaking your truth with care.
- Work through misunderstandings and find common ground.
- Create solutions together and take action that honors everyone’s needs.
Explore all ten modules
01Entering the Spiral BlendOrientation, centering, S.U.R.F., resourcing, and pendulation.
02Come Home to the BodyNotice breath, sensation, emotion, posture, attention, and impulse.
03Wind—Self-RegulationCreate enough space to choose through breath, movement, and widened attention.
04Core StrategiesMeet defending, withdrawing, appeasing, controlling, and freezing with curiosity.
05The Ground You Stand OnListen for the need beneath reaction and stand for what matters.
06Resourcing Our RelationshipsReceive support from people, place, ancestors, community, and nature.
07Empathic ConnectionPractice deep listening, timing, humility, and the empathic guess.
08The Empathy–Honesty PulseMove between receiving and expressing, with boundaries and care.
09Mutual StrategiesBring inner and outer consensus into relationship and include concerns.
10Compassionate ActionChoose, speak, commit, and act with embodied power.
Included with the program
Your practice resources.
Our online learning community includes the Spiral Blend workbook, visual maps, recordings, and reflection prompts to support your practice between sessions.
The rhythm of learning
Practice over time, accelerated through community.
Embodied learning grows through repetition: learning something, trying it, receiving feedback, and returning again. A cohort accelerates that process. Others help us see what we cannot see alone, and relationship becomes part of the practice itself.
Tuesdays: learning16 weekly learning sessions led by David Weinstock and supported by Amy Dyer, with concepts, demonstrations, guided somatic practices, and integration.
Thursdays: practice16 weekly practice sessions led by Ellen Chinnock, with partner work, questions, feedback, and support for embodiment.
Your scheduleEvery Tuesday and Thursday for 16 weeks, 10:00–11:30 a.m. Pacific Time, starting February 2, 2027.
Cohort learningA consistent group supports connection, diverse perspectives, and continuity for deep learning.
Meet twice each week. Recordings, the workbook, and course materials are included.
Weekly practice sessions are led by Ellen Chinnock, a Certified Somatic Consensus and Nonviolent Communication trainer, who accompanies the cohort throughout the course.
Who this is for
For people who want presence, not performance.
No trainer identity is required. Beginners and experienced NVC practitioners are welcome. What matters is a willingness to practice, listen, feel, and learn through the body.
Begin with what matters to you and build a practice for daily life.
Find steadiness and regain balance when emotions overwhelm you.
Recognize habitual reactions and respond with greater choice.
Listen with empathy while staying connected to yourself.
Speak honestly, make clear requests, and set boundaries with care.
Take decisive action aligned with your values—and follow through.
Four streams · One living practice
Nonviolent CommunicationNeeds, empathy, honesty, and life-serving action.
SomaticsThe body as a source of intelligence, learning, and transformation.
AikidoCentering, blending, timing, and power without domination.
Consensus & CommunityHearing every voice while practicing conflict, accountability, and repair.
Our teaching team
Meet your instructors
David Weinstock
Lead Instructor
David is the founder of Liminal Somatics and originator of Somatic Consensus and the Spiral Blend. An international NVC trainer, somatic coach, fourth-degree Aikido practitioner, and author of Becoming What You Need, he brings more than four decades of embodied practice to the meeting of conflict, relationship, and compassionate action.
Ellen Chinnock
Practice Trainer
Somatic Consensus and Nonviolent Communication Certified Trainer
Amy Dyer
Support Trainer
Somatic Consensus Certified Trainer
What participants say
“The seeds planted during the training are still sprouting in my body, taking root and helping me navigate life with the deepest respect for all beings.”— Kirsten Elfandahl
“It has given me an intrinsic trust in myself and the group, allowing me to open to parts of myself I was not able to open to before… so I’m not afraid of being afraid. So I can start to be free.”— Shana Deane
Tuition & enrollment
Choose the level that matches your capacity.
Every tuition option leads into the same complete Foundation experience.
We invite you to choose with honesty—caring for your own needs while also considering what it takes to sustain the teaching team and the wider learning community.
Foundational Tuition
$1,495The full tuition for the four-month Foundation, paid in one payment.
Choose FoundationalSupported Tuition
$1,250For participants for whom the foundational rate would create genuine financial strain.
Choose SupportedFour Payments
$374 Ă— 4Spread tuition across four monthly payments while receiving the same full experience.
4 Monthly PaymentsReturning?
Have you practiced Somatic Consensus with David before?
If you’re a Somatic Consensus trainer or have completed one of David’s foundational programs of 24+ hours of core instruction, discounts are available to support your continued learning—including the path toward certification.
Not sure if your program qualifies? Check eligible courses below.
Check Eligibility
Which program have you completed?
Inquire About a DiscountSupport another participant
If you're in a position to give, a donation of any size goes directly toward supported places, so someone who couldn't otherwise join can take part.
Make a DonationTalk with David
Please reach out before deciding the program isn't for you. Send a brief note sharing:
- the program you'd like to join
- the amount or monthly payment you can realistically offer
- whether partial scholarship support would make it possible
No lengthy application or proof of hardship is needed. We'll respond personally and find an arrangement that works.
Contact Davidor email Amy at [email protected]
