Excellence in online learning since 2006
Robert Gonzales

CNVC Certified Trainer from Portland, Oregon, USA (1949-2021)

Robert’s passion was in the spirituality of the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process. He saw NVC both as a process that helps people connect more authentically with themselves and others, and as a spiritual practice and way of living.

Robert Gonzales received a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1989. He met Marshall Rosenberg and was introduced to NVC in 1985, and offered NVC training in some form from 1986-2021. His original professional background and training was as a licensed psychotherapist.

Robert worked with the Center for Nonviolent Communication in a number of capacities, including: past President of the Board, CNVC Certified Trainer, International Intensive Training (IIT) trainer and North American Assessor.

Listen to Leo Sofer speak with Robert Gonzales about NVC & spirituality in this 2010 interview:


The worldwide NVC community mourned when Robert died in 2021. He is greatly missed and his work is dearly appreciated.

Latest NVC Library Resources with Robert Gonzales

The Nature of our Reactions

Responding to our own reactivity is an inside job. Robert reveals how our reactions are often a secondary reaction to a triggering stimulus, and that accepting responsibility for our reactions can lead to less blame and more inner peace.

Unconditional Self-Acceptance: A Simple Daily Practice

Here's a daily self-acceptance practice you can bring into your life whenever you are experiencing pain, tension, contraction, lack of fulfillment, or unmet needs or values. Giving your often undesired experiences space can be a path to greater inner connection and peace.

Practicing Unconditional Self-Acceptance When I Want Change

In moments where we would like to see change, personal growth or spiritual transformation, rather than immediately acting to make a change, Robert suggests we practice unconditional self-acceptance through a spacious presence to our inner experience. Robert asks us to give our attention and spacious awareness to our own judgments, inner contractions, and other experiences we often regard as undesirable.

Exploring Your Connection To Life And To Your Life Purpose

Here are some questions to support you in exploring your connection to life, your life purpose. Here we briefly touch upon what blocks you, your gratitude, strengths, passions, and what you’re committed to.

Integrating Our Relationship To Gratitude And Mourning

Integrating a full living involves grief/mourning and gratitude. Here we'll more deeply integrate inner and outer dimensions of gratitude and grief. In any experience there's the outer aspect, an event that occurs in life. And there's the inner response to the outer event. When we judge the outer positively or negatively we're in tension or resistance to our experience. Here we'll explore a more integrated mode of experiencing.