Alan Rafael Seid

My name is Alan Rafael Seid, sometimes affectionately called Rafa by my friends. I have clients and subscribers on every continent except Antarctica, who know me as an engaging speaker, presenter, facilitator, and coach.

I grew up in Mexico City, Mexico, and attended school in the US, with a self-designed college degree in Whole Systems Sustainability.

In 1987 I discovered the Big Why that gave rise to the work I do today. That year I committed myself to finding, learning, integrating, and teaching Best Practices for living in harmony within ourselves, with each other, and with the planet.

From 1998 to 2005, I had a 7-year self-directed sabbatical in which I did not have to do anything for money. During this time I was a “seminar junkie” — taking every class, workshop, and retreat I could find in personal development and ecological living — rapidly and deeply expanding my toolbox.

During that time I acquired my certificate in Permaculture Design, became a Certified Trainer in Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and was given permission by one of my mentors, Jon Young, to teach the 8-Shields Model to others.

It was also during this time that I did a search for my “dream property” which I purchased in 2002. I live there, in the Foothills of Washington State’s North Cascades, in a small intentional community.

I’ve worked with individuals, couples, and families, as well as with clients in the academic, nonprofit, government, and business sectors. My former clients include Antioch University Seattle, University of Washington Business School (Foster School of Business), and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

You can see the remarkable testimonials my clients have given me over the years, here.

In 2015 my wife and I separated in an amicable transformation of the roles “husband” and “wife” to “friends and co-parents.” She and my children moved to the property next door. I want to write a book with her titled How we got divorced and kept our family together. My children are 19, 15, and 12.

Besides the above title, I have almost a dozen books in my head, two of which are in rough draft. One of those I sent to a publisher and received a contract which I wouldn’t sign because they wanted to own all my intellectual property in perpetuity. The other book in rough draft is titled My Great-Grandfather Escaped Prison Dressed as a Woman which is a true story about my Ukrainian great-grandfather who refused to join the Russo-Japanese War.

Just pre-pandemic, I taught in Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, the United States. Before, during, and since, I have conducted online courses with participants worldwide. I recently taught an advanced NVC course for trainers, in Spanish, with participants from 14 countries.

In 2019 I was invited to speak in New York at the United Nations conference “Unlocking your Emotions to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals” alongside Emotional Intelligence author Daniel Goleman. You can see my talk here.

Some of my earlier learning background:

completed 2 courses with Outward Bound covering wilderness skills, group skills, personal development, overcoming fears mindset work (1989, 1991)
studied sustainable development in Costa Rica with the School for Field Studies (1992)
alternative energy (solar, wind, wood) living in college (1990-’93)
worked with high school students doing environmental education and action, leadership development, and international cross-cultural exchange (included being staff at one of the early Power of Hope workshops) (1994-95)
Member of YES! Magazine’s, editorial board when it first differentiated itself from In Context (1996-’97)

Began implementing Joe Dominguez’s financial integrity (FI) work in 1992, began teaching it in 1994 (Joe and family took me under their wing, and I had the tremendous privilege of being quite close to Joe and seeing him as a mentor for the last three years of his life.) It was this work that facilitated my 7-year self-directed sabbatical, 1998-2005.

I served as President of the Board of New Road Map Foundation — the organization founded by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin to spread the Financial Integrity work — 2006-2009.

Other trainings that have shaped me include:

10-day International Intensive Training in Nonviolent Communication followed by 10 days working with Marshall Rosenberg as his Spanish interpreter in Colombia, South America (1999)
4-week Permaculture Design Course at the Bullock Brothers’ (Orcas Island, WA, USA) (1999)
4-Day NVC & Social Change Conference (2000)
Dynamic Facilitation with Jim Rough in Pt Townsend, WA (2000)
Landmark Forum (2001)
6-day Integral Ecology and Sustainability Seminar produced by Integral Institute (2004)
Coyote Mentoring (3-day), Art of Mentoring (6-day), Mind of Mentoring (5-day) with Jon Young through Wilderness Awareness School (2000, 2005)
innumerable other evening, day-long, or weekend workshops, events, festivals with Wilderness Awareness School, Marshall Rosenberg or people trained by him, and others, on NVC, Healthy Money, and ecological mindsets and technologies
Vipassana Meditation – Have sat thirteen 10-day courses and served four, 1997-2022

A few other notables:

Delivered the keynote at Network For a New Culture’s (NFNC) Summer Camp (2004)
Spoke at Bioneers satellite conference at Whidbey Institute (2010)
Interviewed twice by Peak Moment TV (2006, 2011)
A few significant facilitation experiences with Transition Whatcom (our local transition group)
Have taught thousands of workshops on Financial Integrity, Nonviolent Communication, Permaculture, The Integral Framework, 8-Shields Model, and Lifestyle Design over the last 20 years.

Through Kalapa — the school I co-founded to teach Best Practices for Positive Change Agents — I am part of a team that throws an annual Winter Solstice party: Kalapa Experience Weekend. This event attempts to find the intersection of ceremony, conference, retreat, and celebration and is inspired by the saying, “If you want to change the culture, learn to throw a better party.”