Many Civil Rights protesters took non-violent training in order to be able to stay still and not show reactions when things were happening to them.
Non-violent protests became very popular with the rise of Martin Luther King Jr. He was for non-violent protesting and as you may know, wanted equality for black people and wanted blacks and whites to live together peacefully in society. On the contrary, Malcolm X believed the opposite of Martin Luther King Jr. and believed that non-violent protesting and activism did not work.
Many black people during this time would participate in sit-ins. This is where people sat at segregated lunch counters and waited to be served. Sit-ins are known to be very effective and are one of the most effective non-violent protests. These sit-ins did cause a lot of people to need non-violent training beforehand though, as it is hard not to react when you are being mocked or even attacked.
Non-violent training consisted of people blowing smoke in people's faces, pouring things on their heads, mocking them, and even slapping them around. Many black, and even white people in some cases, did non-violent training in order to prepare themselves for what was to come during these sit-ins or other protests.