First Saturday of most months with Arnina Kashtan and/or Heather Austin (varies per session)
Heather also offers sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays for additional support and community connection. đ
Click here if you'd like to receive weekly or monthly invitations to our regularly scheduled offerings.
Read on for more details and to register for an upcoming session...Â
In these online sessions, Arnina and Heather invite parents on a courageous, transformational, and fulfilling parenting adventure to transcend socialized parenting paradigms and limiting beliefs instilled from their own childhood experiences. Rather than teach âparenting techniquesâ or âbehavior managementâ, they hope to reconnect parents with their own innate wisdom so they can engage with their children more compassionately and responsively rather than parenting on auto-pilot â fueled by repetitive patterns â and often (over)reacting in regrettable ways.
âThe most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
When mindfulness embraces those we love,
they will bloom like flowers.â ~ Thich Nhat HanhÂ
Arnina and Heather will also share practices and principles for cultivating more presence, awareness, compassion, and resilience so parents can show up in ways that are more deeply aligned with their values and dreams. And because children learn more from what parents do than what they say, parents will also be cultivating these same life-serving qualities in their children.
These sessions include a wide range of content and space for deep engagement so participants can receive the following benefits and more:Â
Compassion for yourself through understanding why your capacity may lag so far behind your commitment and what you can do to bridge the gap;
Compassion for your children as you understand better what life is like from within their own experience rather than from the outside looking in;
Compassion for and from other parents: so many parents, especially those shifting into to more liberating paradigms, feel alone and lack support; here you will find others whose struggles are similar;
A glimpse of life beyond right/wrong thinking as you release yourself from both the old concepts of what is right, such as âan obedient childâ and the new concepts of what is right, such as âa parent who never loses it;â
Practices for cultivating more mindful and heartful presence for yourself and with your children;
A growing capacity to remain empathic with your children even in challenging moments and increased transparency about your own needs as natural limits;
More choicefulness about your âyesâ and your âno;âÂ
More capacity to remain calm when your children become dysregulated and more skills to help their nervous systems settle; and
More togetherness (and ease!) in your relationship with them as well.
First Saturday of Most Months: Â 9:00 am - 10:30 am PT (check your local time here)Â
Alternate Fridays:Â 9:00 am - 10:15 am PT (check your local time here)
4-Session Series on Wednesdays: 8:30 am - 9:45 am PT (check your local time here)
Questions, Comments, Requests? Please don't hesitate to reach out to Heather4Compass@nglcommunity.org and if contributing within the sliding range presents a barrier to your participation, please inquire about other pathways to care for both the accessibility and sustainability of these offerings. Please also consider supporting our sustainability and enriching our learning space by sharing these offerings with others. Thank you!Â
If you have any questions, comments, or requests, please email Heather Austin at heather4compass@nglcommunity.org.Â
If you would enjoy additional support, Heather offers individual and family sessions via Zoom as well as home and school visits.â„ïž
Arnina Kashtan, certified NVC trainer (1992), is the creator of âThe Compassâ, the process for personal, familial & collective liberation, and author of âFalling in Love with Myself Againâ (2016). Founder of Meitarim, the Center for The Compass & NVC Studies in Israel (2000), she delivers workshops and trainings, online & offline, to the general public, as well as trainings for coaches, mediators & trainers (in Hebrew, English & Spanish).
Arninaâs passion and special gifts are in enhancing breakthroughs in awareness, thus bringing forth deep transformations on all levels. Her unique approach combines a profound, laser-like exploration into our innermost core supported by a rare sense of humor and embedded in deep, embracing empathy. The emerging almost magical space she creates has enabled her students all over the world to open up into new understandings and embark on a fresh, compassionate, and expanding free path.
Heather Austin was introduced to, and fell in love with, Nonviolent Communication (NVC) through Inbal Kashtanâs book, âParenting From Your Heartâ and she is deeply grateful to have been working closely with and learning from (and together with) Inbalâs sisters, Arnina and Miki, for over five years as a founding member of the Nonviolent Global Liberation (NGL) Community, the Event Coordinator at Bay Area Nonviolent Communication (BayNVC), and The Compass Program Coordinator.
Heatherâs passion is to support parents and children in cultivating their capacity for non-judgemental present moment awareness; deepening their connection with one another; and co-creating compassionate, purpose-aligned, collaborative family systems, in the hope that these family systems will serve as seeds for creating a world that works for all. She has been doing this with the consciousness and practical tools that are part of her learnings from NVC, NGL, The Compass, UCLA's Adaptive Schools & Parent Empowerment Training, Attachment Theory, Polyvagal Theory, and more.
In addition to her work with the Kashtan sisters, Heather facilitates parenting classes, and groups, and offers individual support sessions including home and school visits. She brings wisdom from her decades-long journey of teaching parents and children of all ages, in and out of school settings, both in the U.S. and Mexico (and more recently across Europe!) as well as her own journey of parenting and homeschooling her neurodivergent child.
âMy sister Arnina puts together so much â systemic perspective, compassion for trauma, deep understanding about how humans function, and more â into a comprehensive, deep, and fully accessible framework that supports dramatic shifts in the experience of being alive. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a passion for freedom.â ~ Miki Kashtan
"I am now, at 77 years old, learning the many unconscious ways my body and mind have been habitually programmed, specifically around my parenting. ... Because of Heather's caring, compassionate heart, her skilled teaching methods, and her embodiment of the modalities she shares, we are experiencing the material intellectually through her references to brain science and developmental theory, viscerally, through practicing and experimenting with our bodies, and spiritually, through the presence and unconditional love and acceptance we all feel from Heather. ... I am grateful for this opportunity to create and model a world for my children and grandchildren more in alignment with my highest values."Â ~ Margery Pricket
âThanks to Arnina...I am newly aware of choices there are in how I speakâŠand even though it is a momentous challenge to change, I am hopeful in going forward.â ~ Marge Margulies
âHeather is able to widen any circle of awareness, bringing in what is not easily seen in our parent-children relationships. Heather is connected to her innate care for others, and with her, I feel seen, heard, and understood in my challenges as a mother. She has inspired me with her commitment to walk the path of compassion.â ~ Fernanda Cecin
"Arnina supported a shift toward including myself fully in caring for the whole, that resonates in all areas of my being.â ~ Vesta Kroese
âHeather has given me clarity around dynamics that contribute to strengthening a heartfelt connection with my children. She has offered me practical strategies to transform patterns of reactivity into behaviors that are more aligned with my values.â ~ Grace DeckersÂ
âYou [Arnina] accompanied me very lovingly to âsee my sonâ and I saw him! Wonderful. âŠand you helped me see my daughter in all her beauty, without wanting to change her. Thank you so much for sharing your vital wisdom and for bringing light and clarity where it was tangled and dark. My gratitude cannot be expressed in words.â ~ Marta Delgado
"I love how you [Heather] extract the principle after each sharing and expand it. It provides a sense of being heard for the person sharing and learning for all other participants. I learn so many facilitation skills from you in addition to all the content you share. I was so much longing for exactly a space like this: You bring all the wisdom of the Kashtans and put it into practice for parenting, and I really love this new dimension that mindfulness brings to it. Thank you soooo much!" ~ Csenge Fekete
âI enjoy Arninaâs authenticity, strength, and own flavor bringing NVC into the world. I feel more free, more alive, more motivated and empowered.â ~ Claudia SĂĄnchezÂ
âHeather is a person who gives herself without limits, without judgment, she is a being full of compassion, love, empathy, and resilience. She has the ability to give her unconditional presence toâŠaccompany parents on their parenting journey.â ~ Carolina Zamorano
