Living Compassion (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a community of independent certified teachers and practitioners who continue and carry forward the body of work developed by Robert Gonzales (1949–2021). We collectively maintain the website living-compassion.org and its associated digital offerings. There is no single incorporated entity behind this site: we are an informal collective of practitioners united by our commitment to this work.

These Terms of Use and Privacy Policy govern your access to and use of our website, courses, books, free videos, newsletter, and all related services. By using our website or engaging with our offerings, you agree to these terms. If you have questions, please contact us at info@living-compassion.org.

Part One — Terms of Use

1. Who We Are

Living Compassion is a community of independent certified teachers and practitioners who continue the work of Robert Gonzales (1949–2021). This website is hosted and administered by Michael de Wilde, who acts as the responsible individual for the site’s operation, data administration, and legal correspondence on behalf of the network. Individual teachers within the network are each independently responsible for the courses, retreats, and events they personally offer.

For correspondence and legal notices:

Because we operate as a distributed international network, we do not designate a single national court system as the venue for contract disputes. Disputes are resolved as described in Section 10. Where you are located in the European Economic Area, EU consumer protection law and the GDPR apply to your use of this site regardless of our distributed structure.

2. Acceptance of Terms

By visiting living-compassion.org, subscribing to our newsletter, purchasing or accessing any course, book, or video content, or otherwise engaging with our digital or in-person offerings, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use.

We reserve the right to update these terms at any time. Continued use of the site after changes constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. The date of the most recent revision is shown at the top of this document.

3. Use of the Website

3.1 Permitted Use

You may use this website for personal, non-commercial purposes — to learn about Living Compassion, access freely offered content, register for courses and events, and purchase books or other materials.

3.2 Prohibited Use

You agree not to:

• Use the site in any way that violates applicable laws or regulations
• Reproduce, distribute, or commercially exploit any content from this site without written permission
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the site or its systems
• Use automated tools, scrapers, or bots to extract content or data, or to train artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning models
• Post or transmit any harmful, offensive, or misleading content
• Misrepresent yourself or your affiliation with Living Compassion or its teachers

4. Intellectual Property

All content on this website — including text, audio, video, images, course materials, book excerpts, and the Living Compassion name and methodology — is the intellectual property of the Living Compassion teachers’ network or its licensors, and is protected by copyright and other applicable laws.

Robert Gonzales’ teachings and writings are shared with reverence for his legacy. Unauthorised reproduction, adaptation, or distribution of his work is not permitted. Teachers who are certified within the Living Compassion community may share the work within the scope of their certification agreement.

Nothing on this site grants you any licence to use our intellectual property without prior written consent.

5. Courses, Retreats & Purchases

5.1 Course Access

When you purchase access to an online course, you receive a personal, non-transferable licence to access and use that content for your own learning. You may not share login credentials, distribute course materials, or reproduce course content in any form.

5.2 In-Person Retreats & Individual Teacher Events

Retreats and in-person workshops are offered exclusively by individual certified Living Compassion teachers acting in their own capacity. Each teacher is solely and independently responsible for their own events, including registration terms, cancellation policies, pricing, safety, and any obligations arising from those events.

Living Compassion and its other teachers bear no responsibility whatsoever for the acts, omissions, representations, or obligations of any individual teacher in relation to their own events. No teacher has the authority to legally bind any other teacher or the network as a whole to any financial commitment or legal obligation. Participants in individual teacher events should direct all queries, complaints, and legal notices to that specific teacher directly.

5.3 Refunds & EU Right of Withdrawal

Refund eligibility for digital courses and retreats is set out at the point of purchase or in the event registration.

For Physical Goods (Books): If you are a consumer located in the European Union or European Economic Area, you have a legal right to withdraw from your purchase of physical goods within 14 days of receiving the item, without giving any reason. To exercise this right, you must notify us at info@living-compassion.org within the 14-day window. You are responsible for the cost of returning the book to our fulfilment location in its original, undamaged condition.

We are committed to resolving all concerns with care and compassion, consistent with the values of our work.

5.4 Shipping, International Delivery & Customs

Physical books are shipped from the United States. When ordering physical items for delivery outside of the United States — including to the EU or EEA — you are considered the importer of record for your destination country. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for paying any local sales taxes, import VAT, customs duties, or carrier handling fees levied by your destination country upon arrival of the shipment. We have no control over these charges and cannot predict their amount in advance.

6. User Conduct in Courses and Communities

Participation in Living Compassion courses and retreat spaces — whether online or in person — calls for a spirit of mutual respect, vulnerability, and care. We ask that participants:

• Engage with honesty and openness
• Respect the confidentiality of other participants’ sharing
• Refrain from recording sessions without explicit consent from the facilitator
• Treat all participants and teachers with dignity

We reserve the right to remove participants from programmes where their behaviour is harmful to others or incompatible with the spirit of the work.

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

Living Compassion offerings are educational and experiential in nature. They are not a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric, or medical care. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or serious psychological distress, we encourage you to seek qualified professional support.

By participating in our courses or retreats, you acknowledge that you are responsible for your own well-being and explicitly assume any risks associated with deep emotional or experiential work.

We make every effort to ensure that information on this site is accurate and up to date, but we make no warranty that the site will be error-free, uninterrupted, or free of technical issues.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Living Compassion teachers’ network, its individual teachers, and contributors shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of this site or participation in our programmes.

8.1 Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Living Compassion and its individual teachers and contributors from any claims, losses, damages, costs, or legal fees arising from: (a) your breach of these Terms of Use; (b) your violation of any applicable law or third-party rights; or (c) your misuse of any content, course materials, or intellectual property made available through this site.

9. Third-Party Links

This site may contain links to external websites operated by third parties, including individual teachers’ personal websites and event platforms. We are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any third-party sites. Links do not constitute endorsement.

10. Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

Because Living Compassion operates as a distributed international network with no single country of incorporation or administration, we do not designate a single national legal system as the governing law for these terms.

10.1 EU Residents

If you are located in a European Union member state or the European Economic Area, your use of this site is subject to EU law, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable EU consumer protection legislation. Nothing in these terms limits your rights under EU law, including your right to bring a complaint before your national supervisory authority.

10.2 Dispute Resolution — Non-EU Users

For users outside the European Economic Area, disputes arising from these Terms of Use that cannot be resolved through good-faith dialogue will be handled as follows:

• Small claims (disputes under €2,500 or equivalent): Either party may bring a claim in the small claims court of the country where the specific teacher providing the course or service is located.
• Larger claims: The parties agree to attempt mediation before any formal legal proceedings. If mediation fails, disputes shall be submitted to binding arbitration under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. The language of arbitration shall be English.

Nothing in this clause prevents either party from seeking urgent injunctive relief from a court of competent jurisdiction to protect intellectual property or prevent imminent harm.

10.3 Good-Faith Resolution First

Before initiating any formal arbitration, we ask that you contact us at info@living-compassion.org and allow 30 days for us to attempt a good-faith resolution. This reflects our commitment to the values of compassion and dialogue that are at the heart of this work.

Part Two — Privacy Policy

We care deeply about the privacy and dignity of every person who comes into contact with Living Compassion. This policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information. It applies to all visitors to living-compassion.org and all who engage with our digital and in-person offerings.

This Privacy Policy is designed to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for users in the European Economic Area, the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020, and other applicable data protection laws.

11. Data Controller

For the purposes of the GDPR and applicable data protection laws, Michael de Wilde acts as the primary data controller for personal data processed through this website, as the individual responsible for its hosting and administration.

Where other teachers in the Living Compassion network have access to or jointly process data collected through this site, they act as Joint Data Controllers under Article 26 of the GDPR. We have established a central point of contact for all data protection matters:

Where individual teachers collect personal data independently through their own events or platforms, they act as separate, independent data controllers and are solely responsible for their own data practices.

12. Data We Collect

• Information you provide: Name, email, contact details, and payment information (processed securely by our payment provider) when you register for courses, events, or newsletters.
• Information collected automatically: IP address, device and browser type, pages visited, and cookie data (see Section 16).

We collect only the minimum data necessary to operate our services effectively.

13. How We Use Your Data

• To process purchases and provide access to courses, books, and digital content
• To send the Living Compassion newsletter (only if you have subscribed)
• To communicate with you about your registrations, enquiries, or orders
• To maintain records of course participation and certification
• To improve the quality and functionality of our website and offerings
• To comply with legal obligations

We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling. We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

14. Why We Process Your Data

Under data protection laws (including GDPR), we only process your data when we have a valid reason:

• To fulfil our agreement: To process your purchases and event registrations.
• With your consent: To send you our newsletter — which you can opt out of at any time.
• Legitimate interests & legal obligations: To improve our services and meet financial, tax, or regulatory requirements.

15. Data Sharing

We share personal data with third parties only where necessary:

• Payment processors for secure transaction processing — they act as independent data controllers under their own policies
• Email service providers for newsletter and transactional communications
• Online course platforms that host our video and course content
• Event registration platforms for in-person retreats
• Legal or regulatory authorities where required by law

All third-party processors we work with are required to handle data in compliance with GDPR and applicable data protection law.

16. Cookies

This website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to support site functionality and analyse usage. We use:

• Essential cookies: required for the website to function (e.g. shopping cart, login sessions)
• Analytics cookies: to understand how visitors use the site. These are anonymised where possible.
• Preference cookies: to remember your settings or language preferences

You may manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may affect site functionality. Where required by law, we will request your consent before setting non-essential cookies.

17. Data Retention

• Newsletter subscriber data: retained until you unsubscribe
• Purchase and transaction records: retained for 7 years to meet legal and financial requirements
• Course participation and certification records: retained for as long as your user account remains active, or up to 5 years after inactivity, to ensure you maintain access to your certificates and course history
• General correspondence: retained for 2 years

After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

18. Your Rights

Under GDPR and applicable data protection law, you have the right to: access the data we hold about you; correct inaccurate data; request deletion of your data (subject to legal obligations); restrict or object to processing; receive your data in a portable format; and withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@living-compassion.org. We will respond within 30 days. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection supervisory authority.

19. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure, including secure HTTPS transmission and use of reputable third-party processors. No method of internet transmission is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

20. International Transfers

This website is administered from New Zealand, which the European Commission has recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection under GDPR (adequacy decision). This means that personal data transferred from EU/EEA residents to this site does not require additional legal safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses — the transfer is lawful by default.

Where we use third-party service providers based in countries without an adequacy decision (for example, certain US-based payment processors or email platforms), we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including contractual protections with those processors.

20A. Additional Rights for California Residents (CCPA)

If you are a resident of California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants you the following additional rights:

• Right to know: You may request disclosure of the categories and specific pieces of personal data we have collected about you, and how it is used and shared.
• Right to delete: You may request deletion of personal data we have collected from you, subject to certain exceptions.
• Right to opt out of sale: We do not sell your personal data to third parties. You therefore have no need to opt out, but this right exists and we honour it.
• Right to non-discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@living-compassion.org. We will respond within 45 days as required by California law.

21. Children’s Privacy

Our website and services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us immediately at info@living-compassion.org.

22. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email to newsletter subscribers or via a notice on our website. The date of the most recent update is shown at the top of this document.

Contact Us

For any questions about these Terms of Use or this Privacy Policy, to exercise your data rights, or to raise a concern: