ROBERT GONZALES'S work of Living Compassion emerged from more than 30 years of teaching Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and a lifetime of inquiry into the intersection between spirituality and human communication. His influences included Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, Stephen R. Schwartz, and other spiritual teachers. Gonzales received a PhD in clinical psychology in 1989 and practiced for many years. He began teaching NVC in 1986.