Recently, on social media, an NLP Practitioner asked a question about a client who reported having a phobia, and with whom he used the NLP Fast Phobia Cure, which may have partly worked, but it came back a few days later?
The enormous value of IMPROV... to NLP'ers.
I've been thinking quite a bit lately about the value NLP'ers can gain from doing a bit of study of Improvisation (Improv / Comedy).
Whether it be in social settings (flirting, out with students at night), or in coaching, or during a training, a lot of my repeat students have commented that one of the things they keep coming back to model on an ongoing basis is a combination of my banter skills and also my ability to jump rapidly to widely variant perspectives that still have usefulness or relevance to the current situation -- sometimes therapeutic value, sometimes social value.
I've made an informal study of Improv for years, and one of the core tenets of Improv is to "accept fully the truth of what's presented to you, no matter how bizarre." And yet I find so many NLP'ers, while pacing someone else, often fall shy of this depth of pacing required either for rapport or for Improv purposes.
I'll often hear some NLPers respond to others opinions with comments like "I can understand that perspective, and I'm wondering if you've considered this other perspective?"
Now oddly, that's also similar to another good technique arising from NLP which my good friend Doug O'Brien calls the "Agreement frame," where people learn behaviorally to replace "but" with "and." I.e. "I agree with you that X, AND have you considered Y?" *But*.... the "Agreement frame" is an influence process, not a total agreement process.
For the purposes of banter, flirting, or of stepping inside someone else's reality and making it more desireable (or even undesireable, as in some therapeutic scenarios) from the inside out... you really have to step inside it, and speak & act as if you truly are inside it.
Improv... is just that -- it's the art of total acceptance (and rapid use) of every new piece of information emerging. But then to really excel at what we're doing, to take the lead, we then also have to blow our next contribution out of proportion, too... and add something else newer back into the mix that uses the previously emerging new piece of information.
I've even gone to the point of modifying & customizing some traditional Improv exercises for NLP purposes in a couple of courses I run; I think it's that valuable a skillset to include in our study.
Inbox Insights
- Knowledge Engineering (& Belief Craft) have evolved, into GeniusMapping™
- As of September 2020, we're in the process of moving from Tampa, Florida, to the Youngstown Ohio area. Currently, during the Coronavirus era, we're mostly focusing on Zoom-based Coaching, and aligning resources to run online courses.
- How "Civil Engineering" totally reframes the word "Stress," redefines the phrase "Stress Management," and leads us to embrace Stress!
- Many NLP Practitioners are more sloppy with their thinking patterns, than they'd like to admit, or... would even notice.
- Watch NLP Co-Founder Richard Bandler use NLP to eliminate Michael Strahan's phobic response to snakes -- in minutes (with Kelly Ripa bringing over a BIG snake at the end to test Michael's response). Spoiler alert: It worked ridiculously well.
- No matter what skill you want to learn, no matter what fears or concerns or hesitation you may have, there are and will always be a wide range of approaches, to learning that skill. It's important to keep that in mind when making learning choices.
- Many more famous people have been trained in Ericksonian (indirect) Hypnosis and NLP than you might guess. There are certainly far more who have strong interests here than have publically admitted so.
- On January 1, 2015, Jonathan Altfeld and 20 other co-authors released a digital book entitled "Creating Business Growth."
- What are the Four Stages of Learning?
- Andy PrestonSales Trainer, Outstanding Results, Manchester & LondonAttended Course : Speaking Ingeniously
As someone who already has public speaking and training experience, I had been looking for a course that would help me further develop my skills for a long time. Most courses either only cater for the absolute beginner, or focus on the less important aspects of speaking - where to hold your hands, how to use Powerpoint for example. Jonathan Altfeld's Speaking Ingeniously course however is different. Right from day 1, I realised I was in for something special. The massive growth both myself and other attendees experienced in our speaking skills would be hard to believe if we didn't have the DVD evidence! Jonathan's ability to train a mixed ability group is unrivaled, and on this course there were already-confident public speakers like myself, right down to people who had never spoken in public before, and even one who had a fear of public speaking! The way Jonathan trains means that everyone, regardless of their current skill level, gets massive benefits from his courses. He has mastered the hard-to-master art of training different skill levels at one time, without anyone feeling he's going too fast or too slow and it's the most effortless learning I've experienced (and among the most powerful). Who would I recommend this course to? Anyone that wants to improve their speaking skills - whether they want to speak in public or just improve their position at work (and believe me, you'll be able to negotiate more money after this course!). In my opinion, this is THE best course on speaking skills, and having researched lots of courses before I chose this one, I can guarantee you won't find the majority of this material (or have this sort of experience) anywhere else. If you want a 10 out of 10 experience, I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Altfeld and this course over any other.
http://www.outstanding-results.co.uk/2006 - John SchertzerVice President, Securities, & NLP Master Practitioner, New York, NYAttended Course : Linguistic Wizardry
"Right after coming back from his training in Boston, I was cooking! A few weeks after the training I did what many people said was my best poetry performance ever -- actually had people calling be up, asking me to email poems to them, and to put them on my mailing list (but I don't have a mailing list) -- and since then I've been a very useful to my friends, family and clients, helping them deal with emotional and mental obstacles, and make creative breakthroughs and achieve their goals. Jonathan sets a great example, and blasts through beliefs that are holding you back from being your best. But I'll let YOU find out how."
2005 - Staci BackauskasAuthor, Tampa, FLHired Coaching : Personal Coaching
Jonathan's coaching stripped the emotion from what I was experiencing, allowing for the clarity that enabled me to make healthy choices. The positive steps that followed those choices have supported my intention to create peace in my life and afforded me the privilege of living my life as who I am, not who I told myself I was.
2007 
Elmer H. "Pete" YoungCriminal Defense Attorney, Augusta, GAAttended Course : NLP Practitioner TrainingI am waaay late in fulfilling my earlier intention of thanking Jonathan for the exciting and enlightening experience of his Practitioner course in February, 2012.
I have since attended another and both have literally changed the way I approach, my clients, my trials and indeed, my life! I would tell every lawyer I know to engage Jonathan to improve their skills, but only if they didn't practice in my jurisdictions! These skills have enhanced my life, for sure! Thanks, Jonathan!http://www.GeorgiaDefense.com2012- Jerleen NearhoodCarrollton, TXAttended Course : Persuasion Summit
High level training of persuasion with a class attendance of well-informed students that made the experience awesome. The trainer combination was unsurpassed with the best in the field of persuasion and communication.
2001 - Artur VardanyanLos Angeles, CAAttended Course : Linguistic Wizardry
Jonathan is an example of what he teaches. Many trainers can talk about NLP but few can actually live it, and Jonathan is one of them. My experience in the LW course has been a fantastic one. I enjoyed all of his lectures and the exercises we took part it. Some of the things I'm focusing on are direct and indirect language patterns and the use of captivating headlines for metaphors, which Jonathan did a great job of integrating for us and making it easy to learn. The exercises were fun but also challenging. The Village Council exercise, in particular, was a very good NLP oriented exercise. This course is about taking what you've learned and doing it out in the real world, obsessively. Overall, I found that in just 3 short days, there was a lot of GOLD that I came away with.
2008 - Richard CampoProject Manager, London, UKAttended Course : Belief Craft MP3 Set
"KE is pure Dynamite and when used with [SoM], the combination is explosive! The tools compliment each other so well, you'll find you can not only smash a nut with a hammer but also finely craft and cut and piece back together an issue or problem with the finesse of a skilled craftsman."
2005 - Aaron SpurlingNLP Master Practitioner, Indianapolis, INAttended Course : NLP Master Practitioner
One of the things people interested in NLP often wonder about is where they can get high quality training. I did my Master Practitioner training with Jonathan Altfeld and Doug O'Brien, and in my opinion they are two of the very best trainers out there today. Both Jonathan and Doug have vast knowledge and experience in NLP, and they are both gifted teachers. Furthermore, Jonathan's unique Knowledge Engineering" approach to modeling, together with Doug's mastery of "Sleight of Mouth" and Ericksonian hypnosis, make for an incredibly powerful combination that is not being taught literally anywhere else. I recommend that anyone who wants to take their NLP skills to truly world class levels should sign up for Jonathan and Doug's training immediately!
2008 - Michael LovasConsultant, Author, Speaker, About People, Spokane, WAAttended Course : Speaking Ingeniously
"With considerable experience giving keynotes, I thought I was very good on stage. The new skills & confidence that Jonathan has guided into my mind make my previous level of professionalism pale and insignificant by comparison. This class is the best preparation for public speaking that I have ever seen, heard of, or experienced."
http://www.aboutpeople.com/2002 - Alex KravchenkoIT Consultant, New York, NYAttended Course : Speaking Ingeniously
Consider taking Jonathan Altfeld’s "Speaking Ingeniously" course. To start with, Jonathan is a very powerful public speaker himself, so even if there was nothing else to recommend about this course, just the ability to model someone who’s able to deliver an amazing impromptu presentation on just about any topic I can think of is well worth the price of the workshop. What’s even better, Jonathan, in addition to being a great communicator, is also a very skillful and dedicated teacher who’s quite able and willing to deploy his considerable NLP skills to make his students better public speakers. Add to this a powerful "Speaking Ingeniously" model of delivering both prepared and off-the-cuff presentations and you get a hell of a training! Before the course I had some idea about spatial and tonal anchoring, as well as state-chaining in the context of public speaking. After the course, I have experience of moving people through various states while creating anchors. I also became much better at generating attention grabbing headlines. Bottom line – Jonathan delivers what he advertises and then some! I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their public speaking skills.
2007