You & Me, Me & You: Exploring Self & Connection Through Buddhist Wisdom & Nonviolent Communication
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You and Me, Me and You:
Exploring Self and Connection Through Buddhist Wisdom and Nonviolent Communication with Rachel Turiel and Alison Cohen
Sunday August 23 from 10:45 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Join us to explore a compelling paradox at the intersection of Buddhist teaching and Nonviolent Communication (NVC): that paying close, curious attention to our inner emotional landscape, and learning to identify and trust our present-moment experience aligns in liberating ways with the Buddha's teaching on anatta, sometimes translated as non-self or not-self. Though we may be culturally conditioned to believe we have a fixed, static identity that needs protection and defense, "a close, delicate mindfulness," as teacher Rob Burbea offers, reveals otherwise.
Looking inward, we'll practice caring for what's here with skill and wisdom while recognizing its fleeting, ever-changing nature. Orienting outward, we'll practice hearing what is alive in someone else without shutting down or withdrawing, taking responsibility for our impact without collapsing into shame, and meeting challenging moments in conversations as opportunities for awakening. When we loosen our grip on who we think we are, there is simply more room: for ourselves, for each other, and for love.
The day will weave together teachings from Buddhism and NVC, guided meditations, reflection, writing, and small group discussion, with time for questions and responses. No prior experience with meditation or Nonviolent Communication is needed. All are warmly welcome.
COST: The Dharma Center operates on the gift economy and the cost of the daylong is on a two-part sliding scale. The fee that you offer through the registration system ($50, $70, $89, or $108 or scholarship options of $25 or $0) supports our non-profit, which pays the costs of the building, utilities, website, administration, etc. In keeping with our 2,600-year-old tradition, the teachers of the class are not compensated but rather share the teachings freely. In turn, you are invited into the practice of dana, or generosity, a gift economy system that has been alive since the time of the Buddha. You are invited to make a donation to support the teachers in continuing their valuable work. Donations in any amount whatsoever are gratefully received, and the practice of generosity is always elective.
DATE: Sunday, August 23 from 10:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
LOCATION: Durango Dharma Center, 1800 East Third Avenue, Suite 109 in Durango
QUESTIONS: If you have questions, please reach out to Emily at [email protected] or leave a message at 970-426-8983.
ABOUT RACHEL TURIEL: Rachel Turiel’s mission is to inspire and support both personal and community growth by offering tools of communication and group collaboration. She has facilitated trainings and mediations at many schools, organizations and businesses locally and nationally. In 2019 she won the Durango Women’s Resource Center Extraordinary Woman Award: Champion of Peace and Nonviolence. Nonviolent Communication, for her, is both practical and spiritual, containing seeds to change ourselves and the world. She has been published in The New York Times, is raising two teenagers, one dog, four chickens, and runs on coffee, reads novels as a survival strategy, and does it all with a flip phone.
ABOUT ALISON COHEN: Alison (or Ali) Cohen, she/her, has been devoted to Buddhist practice, mainly in the Theravāda tradition, since her first Insight Meditation retreat as a young adult. Partway through the week, held by a supportive community and the land, guided by dedicated teachers, she realized there was another way to be in the world, grounded in the heart-centered, embodied experience of buddha, dharma and sangha. Her teaching emphasizes strengthening our capacity for compassionate, honest, uplifting connection—with our inner landscapes, with one another and with the wisdom of the dharma as it meets our 21st-century lives. She views inner transformation and commitment to a more just, joyous world as inseparable. Though several teachers have influenced her development, most recently she has felt especially inspired by dharma teacher Rob Burbea's body of work.
Alison is the founder and guiding teacher of Two Wings Mindfulness, offering courses, retreats, and one-on-one guidance. She has served as a mentor in the Power of Awareness and the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, and has taught in Tara Brach's Year of Courageous Loving and Choosing to Love courses, as well as in Buddhist, Bu-Jewish, and multi-tradition spaces. A former public school teacher and mindfulness program director, she has trained with Mindful Schools, the UMass Center for Mindfulness (MBSR), the International Institute for Restorative Practices, and the NY Center for Nonviolent Communication, and continues to gratefully benefit from the guidance of beloved teachers.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION: https://www.durangodharmacenter.org/events/#!event/register/2026/8/23/working-with-difficult-emotions-a-k-a-being-human-a-daylong-retreat-with-kate-siber-and-rachel-turiel
Exploring Self and Connection Through Buddhist Wisdom and Nonviolent Communication with Rachel Turiel and Alison Cohen
Sunday August 23 from 10:45 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Join us to explore a compelling paradox at the intersection of Buddhist teaching and Nonviolent Communication (NVC): that paying close, curious attention to our inner emotional landscape, and learning to identify and trust our present-moment experience aligns in liberating ways with the Buddha's teaching on anatta, sometimes translated as non-self or not-self. Though we may be culturally conditioned to believe we have a fixed, static identity that needs protection and defense, "a close, delicate mindfulness," as teacher Rob Burbea offers, reveals otherwise.
Looking inward, we'll practice caring for what's here with skill and wisdom while recognizing its fleeting, ever-changing nature. Orienting outward, we'll practice hearing what is alive in someone else without shutting down or withdrawing, taking responsibility for our impact without collapsing into shame, and meeting challenging moments in conversations as opportunities for awakening. When we loosen our grip on who we think we are, there is simply more room: for ourselves, for each other, and for love.
The day will weave together teachings from Buddhism and NVC, guided meditations, reflection, writing, and small group discussion, with time for questions and responses. No prior experience with meditation or Nonviolent Communication is needed. All are warmly welcome.
COST: The Dharma Center operates on the gift economy and the cost of the daylong is on a two-part sliding scale. The fee that you offer through the registration system ($50, $70, $89, or $108 or scholarship options of $25 or $0) supports our non-profit, which pays the costs of the building, utilities, website, administration, etc. In keeping with our 2,600-year-old tradition, the teachers of the class are not compensated but rather share the teachings freely. In turn, you are invited into the practice of dana, or generosity, a gift economy system that has been alive since the time of the Buddha. You are invited to make a donation to support the teachers in continuing their valuable work. Donations in any amount whatsoever are gratefully received, and the practice of generosity is always elective.
DATE: Sunday, August 23 from 10:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
LOCATION: Durango Dharma Center, 1800 East Third Avenue, Suite 109 in Durango
QUESTIONS: If you have questions, please reach out to Emily at [email protected] or leave a message at 970-426-8983.
ABOUT RACHEL TURIEL: Rachel Turiel’s mission is to inspire and support both personal and community growth by offering tools of communication and group collaboration. She has facilitated trainings and mediations at many schools, organizations and businesses locally and nationally. In 2019 she won the Durango Women’s Resource Center Extraordinary Woman Award: Champion of Peace and Nonviolence. Nonviolent Communication, for her, is both practical and spiritual, containing seeds to change ourselves and the world. She has been published in The New York Times, is raising two teenagers, one dog, four chickens, and runs on coffee, reads novels as a survival strategy, and does it all with a flip phone.
ABOUT ALISON COHEN: Alison (or Ali) Cohen, she/her, has been devoted to Buddhist practice, mainly in the Theravāda tradition, since her first Insight Meditation retreat as a young adult. Partway through the week, held by a supportive community and the land, guided by dedicated teachers, she realized there was another way to be in the world, grounded in the heart-centered, embodied experience of buddha, dharma and sangha. Her teaching emphasizes strengthening our capacity for compassionate, honest, uplifting connection—with our inner landscapes, with one another and with the wisdom of the dharma as it meets our 21st-century lives. She views inner transformation and commitment to a more just, joyous world as inseparable. Though several teachers have influenced her development, most recently she has felt especially inspired by dharma teacher Rob Burbea's body of work.
Alison is the founder and guiding teacher of Two Wings Mindfulness, offering courses, retreats, and one-on-one guidance. She has served as a mentor in the Power of Awareness and the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, and has taught in Tara Brach's Year of Courageous Loving and Choosing to Love courses, as well as in Buddhist, Bu-Jewish, and multi-tradition spaces. A former public school teacher and mindfulness program director, she has trained with Mindful Schools, the UMass Center for Mindfulness (MBSR), the International Institute for Restorative Practices, and the NY Center for Nonviolent Communication, and continues to gratefully benefit from the guidance of beloved teachers.
DETAILS & REGISTRATION: https://www.durangodharmacenter.org/events/#!event/register/2026/8/23/working-with-difficult-emotions-a-k-a-being-human-a-daylong-retreat-with-kate-siber-and-rachel-turiel
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Where is it happening?
1800 E 3rd Ave, Ste 109, Durango, CO, United States, Colorado 81301
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherDurango Dharma Center
