John Kinyon, MS
Mediator,
Certified Trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC),
Co-creator/founder, Mediate Your Life International Training
John Kinyon has devoted his life and career to furthering human connection and cooperation around the world through Nonviolent Communication (NVC). His work is at the intersection of communication, conflict, and consciousness. John is a mediator, certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC), and co-creator of Mediate Your Life (MYL) training, based in NVC. For over 20 years he has mediated conflicts and developed and delivered the NVC/MYL training throughout the U.S. and in counties around the world in Europe, Asia, and Australia. His approach provides conversation “maps” for navigating conflicts and challenges, inner and outer, in all aspects of life.
John offers online and in person trainings, courses, and programs internationally, and facilitates international online forums that focus on healing social-political and personal divides, and building empathic community. He works with individuals and organizations as a mediator and trainer, and is an author and speaker.
John’s mentor was Nonviolent Communication (NVC) founder Marshall Rosenberg, a global peacemaker whose work has deeply touched the lives of hundreds of thousands or more in over 70 countries around the world. John is a leader in the global NVC community and worked closely with Marshall Rosenberg for over a decade. John is a co-founder of the Bay Area NVC organization (BayNVC) and has been a certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) since 2000.
Videos and Interviews with John
John's Story with NVC and Mediate Your Life
John’s roots in this work began with being deeply influenced and inspired by humanistic psychology pioneer Carl Rogers, as well as by Mahatma Gandhi and his work with "nonviolence" in social-political change. In 1998, John met the founder of the international work of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), Marshall Rosenberg, and went on to study closely with him for over a decade. In 2002, following a harrowing adventure together working with Afghan tribal elders in a refugee camp on the Pakistan border, John and close colleague Ike Lasater began co-developing a body of work and training program based in NVC that came to be called Mediate Your Life (MYL).
Biography
John received his undergraduate degree from the University of San Francisco, where he studied psychology and philosophy (and played for USF’s nationally ranked soccer team). He went on to graduate training in clinical psychology at Penn State University. During his doctoral studies, he worked with individuals and groups in the campus Psychological Clinic and as a researcher at the Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute. After graduate school, John helped launch and develop a small commercial business before discovering Nonviolent Communication (NVC). John has been studying and practicing mindfulness, meditation, consciousness and spirituality traditions for over 30 years. He lives with his wife and children in the San Francisco Bay Area.
John is Co-Author of the Following Books:
- Choosing Peace: New Ways to Communicate to Reduce Stress, Create Connection, and Resolve Conflict
- From Conflict to Connection: Transforming Difficult Conversations into Peaceful Resolutions
- When Your Mind Sabotages Your Dreams: Turning Your Critical Internal Voices Into Collaborative Allies