Hi to all you keen NLPers,
How many of you are changing your attitudes and behaviours daily at the moment? Maybe even hourly? Maybe even every choice you make in the now?
Change can be scary. With change comes the unknown… the uncertain. And we often fear what we don’t know. But when you embrace uncertainty and accept it as it is, the universe opens up to you - a universe of infinite possibilities. Perhaps right now you find yourself at a crossroads or are challenged by a particular situation at work, at home, or in a relationship. You have your version of how things are supposed to work out. Maybe it’s not the ideal outcome. It’s simply one you’ve allowed yourself to get comfortable with. Maybe you’ve even become resigned to it. You feel that everything seems to be pointing in a certain direction and there’s nothing you can do anyway.
But change comes in each moment. You are not the same person you were when you began to read this. Those few sentences above are now part of your make-up. Every interaction, conversation, meal, thought, and activity you engage in today will shift your physiology and your emotional state. We’re often not aware of these subtle shifts because they happen so incrementally. Yet by tomorrow, you will be changed - even if only a bit.
NLP transformation is a magnificent process that takes you from one state of existence into the next. The person you will be tomorrow will transform again into the person of the next day and the next. Now you are able to see not just the static aspects of yourself but the ever growing, ever re-birthing, ever-evolving aspect of you. And there’s a bonus…each time you transform…you open yourself to an abundance of possibilities…
We’re still looking for comments and feedback on our new website - www.braintrainacademy.co.uk - so please take a look and let us have your thoughts.
Love and Light,
Dawn & Thom
What’s new at Brain Train Academy?
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NLP Business Practitioner Certification - 2 Days
25th-26th Aug 08, 9.30am - 6pm, Edinburgh
NLP Taster Night & Practice Group - FREE
28th Aug, 7pm, Edinburgh
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30th-31st Aug, 9.30am - 6pm, Edinburgh
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Wknd 1- 13th-14th Sep, Wknd 2-26th-28th Sep, Wknd 3- 11th-12th Oct, 9.30am-6pm, Edinburgh
Article of the month
The Healer: An NLP approach to pain control, accelerated healing, removal of life long colour blindness, and improved eye sight By Thom Shillaw
The more experience that I gain within this field, the more I understand that hypnosis is simply a ritual - a set of routines, often elaborate, that allow connection with another intelligence that lives within (and beyond) the body. Today, I have little need for formal hypnotic inductions. I simply connect. That is a result of my attention to modelling - the lifeblood of the field of NLP.
That means that people can stay present for the most part. Remain conscious and aware. Milton Erickson used to say that extensive psychotherapy can be done in a light trance, it can be done in a medium trance and it can be done in a deep trance. That sly old bird probably analogically marked those three repetitions of the word trance too! When people visit you, chances are that they are already in a state of trance. You simply have to acknowledge that. Your work will become much easier then.
Speak to that other part of them directly. Whether you refer to it as the unconscious, the soul, or what ever other label you use to describe that other intelligence, it’s there when you are awake. It keeps you breathing and it keeps your heart beating. Remember that. Treat it with respect. Too much NLP is based on sneaking suggestions into the unconscious. I have found better results by talking to it directly. Its language is not typically the language of words, but a felt sense. Set up Yes / No signals either by using sensations of its own choice, or, the hypnotist’s famous ideomotor finger twitches. Be prepared to wait a little too. Patience is a virtue in this game.
Often results are rapid and profound. Remember that you facilitate the experience that the client is having. Be congruent. I want to demonstrate rapid and profound healing. I will highlight three episodes of profound healing within the same client. The first two took approximately 15 minutes each, with the third being an afterthought. This client is not an exception either - more like the rule. The client is a 48 year old woman that I have known and established a good level of rapport with.
Episode 1 - Pain control
One day she slipped a disc in her neck, and the pain was so debilitating that she was forced to take sick from work. I caught her as she was attempting to post something through my letterbox and invited her in for a cuppa.
I asked her what specifically was wrong and she lamented over the diagnostic that had been handed to her by a physiotherapist. Apparently the disc had burst and was putting pressure on spinal nerves, resulting in tremendous pain down her right arm and a constant tingling in her right hand. Shifting state, I asked her unconscious if it was willing to communicate and got a ‘yes’ response. I asked if the diagnostic was true and it said ‘no.’ Then, I asked if the disc had indeed burst and got another ‘no.’ The client was conscious and present during this process.
I proceeded to ask if there was a positive intent behind the slip and it said ‘no.’ I asked if the disc required physical manipulation to return to its place and it said ‘yes.’ She happened to be booked into visit a physiotherapist for potential traction, and her unconscious acknowledged that it was a good idea. Ensuring that the unconscious was satisfied with the arrangements that the client had made to sort this problem out, I continued…
I requested that the unconscious remove all pain, with the exception that if she made any movement that contradicted her healing then it would alert her - using another method. Her left hand itched profusely! The pain went immediately! I then used time distortion to cut the healing time in half. She left my place with an agreement to be healed in four weeks.
Later that day she called me to say that she was pain free. Earlier in the day she told me that she had been a little over enthusiastic with her movements, and the itching in her left had begun. She had worked out that as long as she listened to that signal and adjusted her body accordingly then no pain would ensue. If she ignored the itchy hand then the pain would gradually creep back. Exactly four weeks later she was back at work and had experienced virtually no pain at all. The entire extent of my work lasted no more than fifteen minutes!
Episode 2 - Removal of lifelong colour blindness
The same woman attended a recent ‘Introduction to NLP’, run at our Brain Train Academy offices in Edinburgh. My hearing is turned up during trainings and from across the room I picked up on a conversation that she was having, commenting to another delegate that she was colour blind. A plan was hatched…
Later that afternoon, I began to teach the lesser included structures of the Milton Model and casually delivered an embedded question, wondering whether she would like to be a demo subject. I proceeded to use mild hypnotic language to question her unconscious about her colour blindness. Quickly, I established an agreement for the full colour vision to be restored and let her process our agreement. Again, within less than 15-minutes the same woman pointed at one of our Society of NLP posters and asked what the colour of a particular icon was. ‘Green,’ I replied. She pointed to another. ‘Red,’ I said. She was gob-smacked.
Later that evening I received a text stating that she had wanted to purchase everything in Tesco’s due to the colours looking so wonderful! Her vision remains full colour. Those thinking that this woman might be an exceptional case, note that I ‘cured’ another life-long case of colour blindness that weekend (blues returned, with a 9-week agreement for full colour to return across the spectrum). Furthermore, I facilitated the removal of hip pain post operation and set up agreements in someone else for pain-free birthing - amongst other things. Each took no more than 15-minutes and were witnessed by 25 spectators.
Episode 3 - Improvement of eye-sight
As an after thought, I asked that same woman if we could do something about her eye-sight. She had difficulty reading without glasses. I requested that her unconscious improve her vision to the degree that it could read without the aid of spectacles before the end of the weekend. It agreed…
On Sunday afternoon, I asked her to read a sheet of A4 writing and she could, with a slightly puzzled look on her face! I proceeded to ask the unconscious if it were willing to give her back 20-20 vision, and it said ‘no.’ Fair enough. I asked if it was able to allow her to read without requiring glasses and it responded with ‘yes!’ We have a three month agreement for this - probably the time it takes to make the necessary adjustments at a physiological level.
Time and time again, I observe rapid and remarkable results with pain control and accelerated healing. This case is not isolated. I have clients with cuts, that specialists told would scar, disappearing. I have agreements with that other intelligence within cancer victims for complete remission in shorter spaces of time and the list goes on… I seem to have become an unlikely healer. It is my wish that you become an unlikely healer too. Shift your state and connect with your client. Learning is state dependent. Breath at the same rate as them and then show them where to go. Speak with the unconscious as you would another person. It has things to say. Establish agreed signals and then listen. Most of all, start with yourself - be congruent.
Success of the month
When I went to see Doug & Jane I was feeling very tense and was suffering from ongoing pain in my jaw. Within a few days of my treatment, my jaw pain was much reduced and I felt to have a renewed energy. I found myself completing tasks that I had been putting off for a long time.
Now, three weeks later, my jaw pain has completely disappeared.
I found their treatment to be a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable experience and will certainly be making another visit for them to sort out a few more issues.
Doug and Jane Saunders, Castle Douglas
Metaphor of the month
A wise sea captain caught in a tropical storm knows that if he holds his vessel on the periphery it will get hurled from one side to the other. If he can reach the eye of the storm, he will enter a place of stillness. The storm will then subside and the ship can continue its journey. Similarly, when everything around is changing in a very intense way, the best place to seek shelter and refuge is not on the outside, but deep within the self, where you can get in touch with your own inner being, find strength and stability, then come out and do whatever it is you need to.
This month’s practice group: Thursday 28th August 2008
BrainTrain Academy, 21-23 Hill Street (Situated in the heart of the city centre between George St & Queen St), Edinburgh, EH2 3JP
- Location Map: click here
- Nearest Car Parks: click here
- Map & Directions from Edinburgh Waverly Station: click here
Book of the month
Time for a change - Richard Bandler
DVD of the month
Ericksonian Hypnosis, An NLP Perspective - Richard Bandler
YouTube of the month
You may know that Randy Pausch died recently on 25/07/08.
His ‘last lecture’ on 18th Sep 2007, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, was delivered one month after he was told he had three months to live. This inspiring lecture is worth a look.It is about an hour long, so give yourself time to watch and enjoy it.