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Meet My Friend Steve

Written by NikiAnne Feinberg on . Posted in Conscious Relating, Culture Restoration, Earthaven Education, In-Person Events, People Care, Social Justice, Spirit and Culture.

Have you ever met one of those people that lives for the good of the whole? Someone that does everything with the collective in mind?

It’s actually very rare. And I can only think of a couple of people in my life that fit this description.

And for sure, that’s my friend Steve Torma.For his entire life, he’s been a peace, justice, and ecology educator and activist. He seeks to integrate personal and social transformation in his own life, in the communities in which he lives, and in the larger society.

We are so lucky to have him in our village. In fact, this month he’s celebrating his 25th anniversary of coming to Earthaven!

We have him to thank for spreading Nonviolent Communication (NVC) through our community and weaving it throughout our formal and informal systems. It’s hard to convey how completely NVC has improved our communication and our lives.

Steve received a small grant a few years back to spread the message of NVC and with it he started a conference based on the practice of NVC. This is our fourth year of offering Compassion Camp at Earthaven Ecovillage. It’s happening July 15-18 this year and you can find out more here.
Steve Torma speaking about Compassion Camp
I’m grateful for all the creative, dedicated, passionate, and innovative folks in the world healing their communities.
NikiAnne Feinberg

NikiAnne (she/her) was born and raised on a horse and cattle ranch on the ancestral lands of the Salinan people in the Central Coast of California. She currently lives at Earthaven Ecovillage on unceded lands of the Catawba and Cherokee (Tsalagi) people. Her ancestors come from Eastern and Western Europe — France, Germany, and English Isles as well as Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia, from Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Throughout the last two decades, NikiAnne has been immersed in community and in service to a wide range of educational endeavors focused on nature connection, personal empowerment, and community resilience. NikiAnne considers herself the grease and glue – that which helps things run smoothly or holds things together. Before co-founding SOIL in 2012, she worked and traveled through much of Asia, the Americas, and Europe, which made her formal education at George Washington University in International Affairs come alive in ways that can only happen through personal experience and relationships. Collectively, these experiences have undeniably shaped her cooperative cultural values and commitment to supporting leaders to think, feel, act and design from a foundation rooted in interrelationship. No matter what she’s teaching, NikiAnne is always on the same mission: to raise awareness of our whole selves – gifts, passions, blind spots, shadows – and help those whole selves find and fill niches in their communities. This is how the web of life is woven, and the fabric of culture repaired. She’s especially eager to support those in transition – between vocations, stages of life, and stories of world and self. Within this context, she is particularly passionate about community grief tending and death care midwifery.

compassion camp, Non Violent Communication, Steve Torma

NikiAnne Feinberg

NikiAnne (she/her) was born and raised on a horse and cattle ranch on the ancestral lands of the Salinan people in the Central Coast of California. She currently lives at Earthaven Ecovillage on unceded lands of the Catawba and Cherokee (Tsalagi) people. Her ancestors come from Eastern and Western Europe — France, Germany, and English Isles as well as Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia, from Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Throughout the last two decades, NikiAnne has been immersed in community and in service to a wide range of educational endeavors focused on nature connection, personal empowerment, and community resilience. NikiAnne considers herself the grease and glue – that which helps things run smoothly or holds things together. Before co-founding SOIL in 2012, she worked and traveled through much of Asia, the Americas, and Europe, which made her formal education at George Washington University in International Affairs come alive in ways that can only happen through personal experience and relationships. Collectively, these experiences have undeniably shaped her cooperative cultural values and commitment to supporting leaders to think, feel, act and design from a foundation rooted in interrelationship. No matter what she’s teaching, NikiAnne is always on the same mission: to raise awareness of our whole selves – gifts, passions, blind spots, shadows – and help those whole selves find and fill niches in their communities. This is how the web of life is woven, and the fabric of culture repaired. She’s especially eager to support those in transition – between vocations, stages of life, and stories of world and self. Within this context, she is particularly passionate about community grief tending and death care midwifery.

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