Communicate
Outside of the Box

Listen deeply. Connect from the heart.

You moved here together. You find yourself in a new city, discovering a new culture, maybe developing a new version of who you each are. Most days it’s exciting and things flow with ease. Then a tense day at work, an empty fridge or a cranky child lead to snapping at your partner. That is not what you envisioned this adventure to be.

Recurring situations may lead to overwhelm, exhaustion and a quiet drifting apart.

Do you feel a pull to act before you grow further apart?

Join Sylvie Hörning-Thalmann (CNVC certified trainer since 2012) in Basel on this six-month journey. (September 2026 to March 2027)

Together we will discover new trails on the path toward connection.

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Sylvie Hörning
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Connect before correct · Marshall Rosenberg Stress increases

The invitation

Overwhelm can lead to stress. Small differences become conflicts. Words come out sharper than intended. As a result you might slowly drift apart without noticing. This is the opportunity to catch the moment and take action to restore the relationship.

Taking action is signing up for this six-month journey. It offers you a space to pause, to slow down, to find your footing, and see each other as well as the big picture. The principles and consciousness of Nonviolent Communication are like a map to discover new trails on the path toward connection.

Why six months? Because the brain needs time and repetition to build new skills. New neuronal pathways form through practice, through setbacks and breakthroughs, through learning in a caring and supportive environment.

By the end of the six months you will have:

I invite you to join me on a journey over six months (from September 2026 to March 2027) to find your way back to simplicity, ease and flow.

The journey

We begin with a taster weekend, a gentle entry point to experience the work before committing to the journey over six months woven into your life. Everything is paced to give you time between sessions to practice.

Heart to heart communication · illustration by Sylvie Hörning
1 Taster
3 Retreat Blocks
3 Practice Circles
1 Private Coaching Session Each

Taster: Fri 11 Sept 26  18:00–20:00  /  Sat 12 Sept 26  10:00–17:00

Block 1: Fri 4 Dec 26  18:00–20:00  /  Sat 5 Dec 26  10:00–17:00

Block 2: Fri 22 Jan 27  18:00–20:00  /  Sat 23 Jan 27  10:00–17:00

Block 3: Sat 13 March 27  10:00–17:00

Practice Circles: Thu 22 Oct 26  /  Thu 7 Jan 27  /  Thu 25 Feb 27

All evening sessions: 18:00–20:00

Taster

A Step Outside of the Box

Fri 11 Sept. 26
18:00–20:00
Sat 12 Sept. 26
10:00–17:00

This offer is a time out you gift yourselves to slow down, listen deeply, and find out if Nonviolent Communication may be the map that shows you a way toward each other.

Dyad close up 2 Dyads in big group
  • First introduction to NVC principles
  • Connection exercises for couples
  • Space to ask questions and feel the group
  • Open to all, no prior experience needed
  • Complete as it is, and an open invitation to the six-month journey ahead.

Practice Circle

Thu 22 Oct. 26
18:00–20:00

Your first reunion with the group. A space to practice with your real life situations, to answer questions, and to celebrate having chosen to be on this journey together.

Practice Circle Oct 26 Practice Circle Jan 27

Block One

Opening the Space

Fri 4 Dec. 26
18:00–20:00
Sat 5 Dec. 26
10:00–17:00

Together you take a step further into the foundations of Nonviolent Communication. You listen deeply to what truly matters, in yourself and in the other. You find words that carry your truth in a way that can be heard. Through role play and other exercises, the situations where you feel stuck begin to loosen.

Holding space in workshop Block One
  • NVC consciousness, principles, and first tools
  • Deep empathic listening practices
  • Noticing unconscious communication patterns
  • Dyad meditation and somatic awareness

Practice Circle

Thu 7 Jan. 27
18:00–20:00

You've had time to bring Block One home. Some things shifted. Others didn't budge. We come back together to practice with all of it: the progress, the stuck places, the surprises.

Standing Dyad 2 Magic field Julieta and Manolo

Block Two

Going Deeper

Fri 22 Jan. 27
18:00–20:00
Sat 23 Jan. 27
10:00–17:00

You return, and the work goes deeper. Block Two takes you to the heart of Nonviolent Communication. You work with what keeps returning, the small flare-ups, the conversations that have felt impossible, the needs that haven't been heard yet. You also celebrate what has already shifted.

Block Two Workshop couples Bali
  • Working with conflict and recurring tension
  • Cross-cultural family dynamics
  • Building on existing strengths
  • Creative and embodied integration

Individual Coaching

Private Sessions

90 minutes each
online or in person

A private space woven into the six months, tailored to your schedule and to what matters most to you right now. You bring the recurring conversations, the patterns you can see but haven't been able to shift. Sylvie brings her full presence, her life experience as an expatriate and twenty years of NVC practice to accompany you, with care and without judgment.

Individual Coaching Dyad close up 4

Practice Circle

Thu 25 Feb. 27
18:00–20:00

Like any new language, NVC needs repetition to become fluent. Each practice session literally rewires the brain. The pathway gets faster, more instinctive, more yours.

Feb Practice Circle Group exercise

Final Block

Integration and Commitment

Sat 13 March 2027
10:00–17:00

Six months of learning, practicing, and slowly integrating the principles and consciousness of Nonviolent Communication. This final gathering is your time to land, to look back at how far you've come, and to celebrate. You name your next small step and leave with something that is now genuinely yours: a new way of hearing each other, and a community of peers who understand this particular kind of courage.

Final Block Practice school Bali
  • Personal communication intention
  • Celebration of what shifted
  • Forward practices for daily life
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The setting

A space on the banks of the Rhine

We gather at Rheinsprung 1 in Basel, in the historic rooms of IMPACT on the second floor of a building on the banks of the Rhine.

Rheinsprung 1, Basel
Taster: 11–12 September 2026
Block 1: 4–5 December 2026
Block 2: 22–23 January 2027
Block 3: 13 March 2027
Practice Circles: 22 October 2026 · 7 January 2027 · 25 February 2027

The Rhine Barge on the Rhine

Your investment

You gift yourself a map for the path to a communication that reunites empathy and honesty.

The taster opened the door. The six-month journey woven into your daily life is where you walk through it. It unfolds across four retreat blocks, three practice circles, and one private coaching session each.

Taster

Gliding scale per participant

CHF 480.– to 550.–

Choose within the range in a way that honours both your needs and mine. Counted toward the "Communicate outside of the box" six-month journey if you decide to join.

Gliding scale per couple

CHF 880.– to 1'000.–

Choose within the range in a way that honours both your needs and mine. Counted toward the "Communicate outside of the box" six-month journey if you decide to join.

Journey over six months

Gliding scale per participant

CHF 2'300.– to 2'600.–

Choose within the range in a way that honours both your needs and mine. Includes the taster, all retreat blocks, practice circles, and one private coaching session.

Gliding scale per couple

CHF 4'500.– to 5'100.–

Choose within the range in a way that honours both your needs and mine. Includes the taster, all retreat blocks, practice circles, and one private coaching session per person.

Twint  ·  PayPal  ·  Wise  ·  Bank Transfer

Payment details
Bank Transfer
Sylvie Hörning, Callimani
Im Zehntenfrei 15, 4102 Binningen, Switzerland
Bank: J. Safra Sarasin Ltd, Elisabethenstrasse 62, 4002 Basel
BIC: SARACHBB  ·  IBAN: CH81 0875 0064 2679 0400 00

Swiss QR payment slip
PayPal
buero-hoerning@bluewin.ch
Wise
+41 76 325 6258  ·  sylvie.hoerning@callimani.ch
Twint
+41 76 325 6258

Group size: 8–10 participants

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Sylvie Hörning

With you on this journey

Sylvie Hörning-Thalmann

lic.iur, CNVC Certified Trainer
All illustrations her own

I know this territory from the inside. I have lived abroad as a child, as a grown woman discovering a new city with my husband, and as a mother carrying the responsibility for all to adapt to a new environment.

I grew up in Mexico as the child of a binational couple. At thirteen, my father was relocated to Switzerland. I adapted, learned a new language, found my footing again. I remember what it felt like to lose all my landmarks at once.

Later, my husband and I chose to move to New York. I lived the expat spouse experience firsthand. There was a move to Basel and then another to São Paulo. By then three small children trotted along. All five of us learned a new language, discovered a new culture and were held together by the warmth of being genuinely welcomed.

When we eventually returned to Switzerland, our then six-year-old daughter put words to something I had never quite been able to name: "Larissa's father died. She is carrying a big stone in her backpack. I am leaving my home and my friends and my school behind. My backpack is just as heavy as Larissa's. The difference is mine is filled with many little stones."

Drawing on my life experience and the principles of NVC, I support you in listening deeply, in recognising situations that repeat in cycles, and in disentangling them. New, creative pathways open up once you have truly heard each other.

I have been studying and teaching Nonviolent Communication since 2006, became a CNVC Certified Trainer in 2012, and served as a CNVC Assessor from 2020–2024. I built this program for the families living the life I know so well.

Usha, Sylvie's LabradorUsha, my Labrador, is a social dog, and she is often by my side, a quiet, present companion during this work. If you have allergies, or you feel uncomfortable around dogs please let me know.

sylvie.hoerning@callimani.ch

Workshop decoration

Is this you?

  • You're an international couple raising children somewhere that isn't quite home yet
  • Tensions and misunderstandings have become more frequent than you'd like, and you're ready for something to shift
  • You're doing this without your village — no family around the corner, no old friends who know your whole story
  • You've heard of Nonviolent Communication, or felt drawn to it, and want to see what it actually feels like in practice
  • You want to feel truly heard, not fixed, not advised, just genuinely listened to
  • You're ready to give real time and care to the relationship that holds everything else together

A gentle next step

There is room for you here

You don't need to have it all figured out.
You just need to feel the pull.

If you have questions, I invite you to contact me: sylvie.hoerning@callimani.ch

Reserve your place Book a discovery call