Metaphor was one of the skills that originally attracted me to NLP, but after reading books and attending seminars I still didn't understand how to generate it. The best thing about the Metaphor Machine is that it lays the process out in clear and easy to understand steps so that you can truly understand how to generate effective metaphorical contexts. I found the second part of actually utilizing the metaphorical context to generate the desired effect to be less concrete, but Jonathan gives numerous examples and then a really wild demonstration that shows where you might take it as you practice... Great Product.

So, an 'irresistible voice,' hey? Sounds good, and so will your voice, if you listen to, and more importantly, do the exercises on this set. Over the course of the CD's Jonathan Altfeld takes the listener through a series of precise, progressive exercises, focusing on various aspects of the human voice from how to use your mouth, tone, rhythm, using tonality, and how to use breathing effectively when speaking. Simple exercises, powerful results. It's a great set, and I found that by using the CD's and practising with the exercises, I was able to generate a voice that not only sounded nice, it felt nice as well. Not only do I sound more melodious, more rhythmic, and that people seem to want to listen to me more, but I'm more aware of a different internal state. By focusing on developing my voice, I have become aware of a more persuasive state, where there's less mental chatter and more eloquent, persuasive verbal delivery. By concentrating on developing the physiology of an irresistible voice, you can also develop a state of powerful persuasion, which is a very big bonus!

The training was fantastic. The focus of the seminar is, of course, on improving the quality of one's voice. Jonathan kicked off the process by spending some time explaining to the group the basic concepts of how the human vocal mechanism works and what are the components that make up a pleasing voice. We then engaged in an extremely effective session in which Jonathan gave personal attention to each of the attendees to identify their unique strengths and weaknesses. I was frankly amazed at the ease, rapidity, and precision with which Jonathan was able to zero in on each person's challenges and potentials. In my own case, he was able to identify three specific areas on which I needed to focus in order to gain the most improvement. To be blunt, he was absolutely right on all three. We then spent time practicing various drills aimed at acquiring and/or strengthening various vocal skills. The drills themselves were generally quite fun and productive. During the drills on all three days, Jonathan would circulate among the various breakout groups and provide individualized feedback. His style of providing the feedback was invariably frank, yet always respectful and sensitive to the participants' feelings. At the end of the three days, my own three problem areas were, I believe, far less problematic thanks to Jonathan's expert guidance. The bottom line: If improving your vocal quality is something that interests you, I would unreservedly recommend Jonathan's seminar.

I've always known, as most all of you here have, that the most influential and powerful communicators relay messages on deep levels and that the power of metaphor is of paramount importance. Jonathan's treatment of the subject on the Metaphor Machine CD-set is really quite impressive. The distinctions he makes between 'isomorphic' and 'homomorphic' metaphors is really critical to development of skills in this area. Of course the 'homomorphic' metaphor structure is the one for the serious student, and Jonathan does a tremendous job of 'unpacking,' as he likes to say, the structure of an effective metaphor and laying out the formula for easy re-creation. In sum, this set is one that provides extreme traction and momentum in developing this critical skill set.