Sandhi Institute

Jeyanthy Siva is an international trainer in Communication, healing and empowerment. In the late 90's, along with other trainers from Berkeley, CA (USA), she co-founded the Diversity Project to bring Nonviolent Communication to people of color who have traditionally been blocked in their abiltiy to access equal opportunity (in education and jobs as well as political and societal power). In 2002, she moved back to her native country of Sri Lanka where she taught NVC in many different parts of the Island.

She has trained counselors, teachers, human rights officers, University students, lecturers and NGO workers (local and international) as well as professionals (doctors/ psychiatrists and academics) and people working in the coporate sector on the principles and applications of Nonviolent communication. She has conducted 2 hour introductory presentations on NVC and 1 to 3 full day trainings as well as 6 day in-depth residential training programs in Sri Lanka as well as USA. She has also conducted lectures and presentations (including key note address').

Recently, Jeyanthy has also been incorporating the teachings of Joanna Macy (Work that Reconnects) which is founded on Ecology and Systems theory as well as Buddhist scholarship.

Jeyanthy's vision and greatest hope is to contribute to healing, reconciliation and peaceful coexistence of all the different communities of Lanka and by extension the world by sharing the skills for people to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence, to stay connected with each other even when there is a disagreement and to gain access to resources needed to sustain life powerfully and peacefully.

Jeyanthy studied Nonviolent Communication with Miki Kashtan, Marshall Rosenberg and others from the International Center for Nonviolent Communication which headquarters in the USA and has trainers all over the world. She has been studying with and mentored by Joanna Macy since 2002. She also trained and served as a community mediator with the Conciliation Forums of Oakland, a community mediation center in Oakland, California (USA).

Outside of Sri Lanka, she has conducted NVC workshops and presentations in California, New York, Singapore, India, Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Switzerland. Her academic background is in South Asian Studies (MA program) at the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and Philosophy and Psychology (BA) at Rutgers University, NJ (USA).