I’ve created a meetup group where I will be exploring the combination of Medical Qi Gong and Hypnosis.

This group is for anyone who seeks to improve their Wholeness, Healing, Wisdom and Personal Growth.

I will be leading Group Meditations mixed with breathing and movement exercises derived from Medical Qi Gong. I will further enhance the experience using Ericksonian Hypnosis and NLP. (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)

Following the meditation, I will give a brief talk on a topic of interest, demonstrate a related technique or pattern, and then give the class some time to practice.

We will be exploring practices from Medical Qi Gong, Chinese Energy arts, Hypnosis and NLP.
These practices will help you to:

• Increase your personal presence.
• Become aware of your unconscious programming.
• Improve your ability to communicate with your symptoms, your body, your unconscious, and others. Clear emotional blockages
• Produce balance in your body, mind and spirit.
• Transform old dysfunctional patterns into new resourceful ones.

I am a Certified Health Practitioner and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). I have studied Chinese Martial Arts for 20 years and actively train in Wu Style Tai Chi, Sword, Sabre and Staff.

I learned the basics of Medical QiGong with a friend when she used it to help resolve her breast cancer 6 years ago. She has recovered completely, without chemotherapy and is still fine, with no symptoms, and attributes her healing to her Qi Gong practice. She continues to practice her Qi Gong daily.

While training in NLP I became aware of how similar the Hypnosis and NLP visualization techniques are to the Medical QiGong I was familiar with, so I have been exploring the blend of the two ever since.
I have also discovered that I have a talent doing group hypnosis, and firmly believe that it is time to share it with others who may need it.

Please feel free to RSVP for a class, the first session is always free!

It’s been a long and fascinating road on the way to becoming a “Certified Health Practitioner of NLP”. In addition to immersing myself in NLP audio and video trainings for several years, I’ve attended personally 9 NLP related trainings in the last 2 years….

It’s all now at a delicious turning point… I’ve pretty much studied all I need to study, I’ve got the highest certification now, so I’m at the point where I need to get off of my butt and start using what I’ve learned!

Am I any smarter? I hope so….. I can sense a shift in my awareness. I am more sensitive to the patterns of human growth, illnesses and relationships. I’ve got several huge tool boxes full of patterns and techniques which I can use to improve myself, the lives of others, or even community endeavors like businesses or churches. I didn’t know it before, but I now realize that my NLP fascination has set me solidly on the path to becoming a taoist wizard, healer and trainer.

I want to express my gratitude for the NLP Institute of California (NLPCA), and Tim and Kris Hallbom in particular. They are good people who have worked hard to spread knowledge of NLP, all while keeping open inquisitive minds. With their skills and magnetism, they could have chosen to be cult leaders, but instead they practice the balance and self awareness that they teach, and are fascinating role models and exemplars for all of us.

I want to thank all the guest trainers who have broadened my experience and provided me with new perspectives. Robert Dilts, Suzy Smith, Dee Kinder and Nick Leforce,

I am so grateful for the NLPCA community. There is a thriving community of students and volunteers which have collected around the NLPCA trainings. By training and practicing with other students I have become intimately familiar with many of their desires and obstructions. I have gained many deep friendships which have helped to feel valued, helped to ground me, and to propel me towards my dreams.

I also owe a debit to many people who have written books or recorded trainings about NLP. Some of them are not as saintly as the Hallboms, but they provided me much needed knowledge and motivation when I needed it. John Grinder, Richard Bandler, Adam Eason, Chris Howard, Stephen Brooks, Tony Robbins, Steve Andreas, Michael Hall, Michael Grinder, Tad James and many others…

I recommend NLP training for anyone. No matter what you do, or who you think you are, everything you do will benefit from the new perspectives provided in NLP training. Beware of “Quickie” trainings, you need to practice to get good. My recommendation? You’ll do well if you train at one of these three schools: NLP University, NLPCA, NLPCO

Do you need a little personal transformation first? I am available for Coaching, Hypnotherapy and NLP sessions, in person, or by phone.
If you are curious, call me at 510-409-3660 and we’ll schedule one.

I am also available for corporate coaching, I will provide another view of what’s going on in your company. I have 20 years of experience in leading cross-functional teams in the game industry, so I understand how to keep companies lean, agile and focused.

Stay tuned, I’ve got a Taoist Trance-Formations group program starting soon! You won’t want to miss it.

How I perceive the world is the result of what filters I have on experience in any given moment.

As I understand it, the world is manifest from consciousness and consciousness is sustained by belief, because of this, I’ve discovered a new, profound respect for the power of belief.

So if I am exploring a practice which requires belief, the one sure way to not get results is to not believe…

I am very interested in exploring a variety of belief systems and their related practices. As I discover more things which “work” I am becoming less dogmatic and more open, and ending up with a better understanding of how it all fits together.
Coming from an engineering background, I wanted to share my process with you:

1. Find someone you respect and trust who holds an interesting set of beliefs. You can use referrals from friends you respect to help expand your circle of acquaintances. Be especially aware of people who have gained prominence recently, “When the student is ready, the teacher will come”.

2. Discover a practice that they recommend, perhaps a retreat or a training or a ritual you can do every day.

3. Do an ecology check: For instance, if you adopt this practice, will it take too much money? ruin my body? harm my loved ones? or hurt the environment? If so, abandon this practice and return to step #1

4. Decide how long you will do the practice. See how it works before you become too committed.

5. Use an internal ritual to take all your existing beliefs, doubts and criticisms, and put them into a mental “safe deposit box” for future reference. Put the box away in a safe place. Release the contents from your mind.

5. Model and adopt the beliefs of your friend as close as you can. Have faith in what you are doing.

6. Practice the new practice for the time you specified

7. Examine the new set of beliefs and pick the ones which seemed to be most useful.

8. restore your original beliefs from the “safe deposit box” then integrate the new useful beliefs into your system.

9. Observe how your perceptions have changed, then go back to step #1

I recently took another look at meetup, and I’m pretty impressed by how much the application has matured and noticed that its user base seems to have grown very quickly in the last year or so.

Of interest to me, I found two Bay Area NLP practice groups; the East Bay NLP Meetup Group and the San Francisco Bay Area Hypnosis and NLP Practice Group. In addition I found a Universal Healing Tao group. Just last night I attended the taoist group and was very impressed.

We did Mantak Chia’s “inner smile” Qi Gong set, and it was very pleasant being in this room with about 12 other people while spending the time to resonate with each of my five elements and their associated organs. I’ve discovered that doing any type of Qi exercise in groups can be very beneficial, because in addition to getting your own mind and body to harmonize, you’ve also got the other participants resonating with your energy, thus amplifying your strength, and improving the overall power and serenity of the result.
Attending this meetup were several students and instructors of Chi Nei Tsang, an abdominal massage system based on Taoist principles and taught by Mantak Chia.

Check out these other Mantak Chia Resources.

Oakland has a couple of great Taoist attractions: The West coast Chi Nei Tsang institute is located here. In addition, Dr. Alex Feng runs the Zhi Dao Guan – The Taoist Center which hosts a free Taoist Meditation class on the last Friday of every month.

If you live in the bay area, I highly recommend expanding your social circle by getting involved in any of the organizations mentioned above.

I recently graduated from the NLP and Coaching Institute of California with a Master Practitioner in NLP certification.

One thing I like to do occasionally for inspiration is to review journal entries from the past, just to see what has evolved and what has stayed the same.

2 years ago I really wanted to become an NLP practitioner, so I followed a process where I created a “well formed outcome” and “set my intent” to do that. At the time I was just “playing” with an NLP process I was exploring, but something had “clicked” and here I am, having accomplished my desire.

Like any large goal, I broke this into steps.

Here’s what I did:
1. Learned Self Hypnosis, did many guided meditations on improving my self image and self confidence.
2. Since I’ve had a long commute (1 hr each way) I also immersed myself in NLP and hypnosis audio trainings from many different instructors.
3. I attended a Tad James 3 day Hypnosis Certification Course.
4. I graduated from the British Hypnosis Research online course in Ericksonian Hypnosis, this took over a year of participation in community forums, studying reference materials, and passing exams. I am indebted to Stephen Brooks for setting this course up, and for making it free!
5. After a year or more of concentrated study of NLP, I felt I needed a lot more practical experience, so I spent the money to attend an NLP Certification training where I could work on real people I was picky about where to take my training and finally settled on the NLP and Coaching Institute of California, the training was a total of 27 days spread over 9 months.

So the real question is; Where do I go from here? I’ll discuss that soon in a future blog entry

It has been a long while since I posted. I found myself drawn away from my blog by a myriad array of self-development practices.

For almost 2 years I have wanted to take NLP practitioner training. I had studied many, many audio tapes and books, but I really wanted the experience of practicing with willing partners.

So last October I started an NLP Practitioner Training with nlpca.com, Tim Hallbom was my primary instructor. After 6 months of one 3 day weekend every month, I finally have my NLP practitioner certificate.

Some of the benefits I got from the program include:

1. I have an effective model of subjective experience. With a willing, open minded subject I can now catalyze major shifts in peoples perceptions, habits and illnesses. I didn’t really expect to be able to improve my powers of keen observation and subtle suggestion as effectively as I did.

2. I am much more aware of subtle modes of communication. This has changed my tai-chi, I now feel my Qi more strongly and directly. Best of all, my push hands is more sensitive, rooted, powerful and subtle.

3. I understand what motivates me in major areas of my life, and how to change them.

4. I now have a personal vision of building transformational communities online.

5. I have built really strong bonds with my class mates, I care about them in a ways which were totally unexpected for me.

5. I feel like my life has shifted in a fundamental way. My opportunities are limitless, my motivation is renewed, I feel centered and happy for most of every day.

Next Steps? I will be continuing with my Master Practitioner Training, 3 more months where we will focus on re-imprinting, language patterns and other advanced topics.

I’ve been having a great time listening to some NLP related podcasts.

Check out Renee Stephens “Inside Out Weight Loss” for some tasty NLP morsels.

Or improve your coaching skill with “Coaching the Life Coach” by Robert Harrison.

Finally, i recommend the “Radical Change Group” a trio of enthusiastic seekers who seem to be well versed in using NLP in a variety of situations.

British Hypnosis Research is a well respected organization led by the famed British Hypnotist, Stephen Brooks. BHR has hosted an online course in “indirect hypnosis, Ericksonian hypnosis and NLP” for several years. They have recently made admission free for anyone seriously interested in studying these topics.

I’ve been enrolled for a couple of weeks now, and it is fascinating! I am building relationships with a cadre of like minded students from around the world. If you are seriously interested in learning about hypnosis you need to check this out!

To find out more, go to British Hypnosis Research

(This was originally a speech I gave at toastmasters)  
A book I greatly admire; the Tao-te-ching states

30 spokes share the wheel’s hub,

but it is the center hole that makes it useful

Shape clay into a vessel;

It is the space within that makes it useful

Cut the doors and windows for a room;

It is the holes which make it useful.

Emptyness leads to an untroubled mind, and an untroubled mind leads to serenity.

A serene speaker is a good speaker.

In this speech I will discuss the basis of serenity, and give you a little guided meditation to help improve your serenity before your next speech.

Many people have the impression that being a toastmaster is all about talking, talking and more talking.  But without appropriate emptiness, focus, authenticity, and relaxation any speech will fall flat.

Keep your mind empty, and refuse to fill it with expectations or worries. If you are not in tune to your audience, you will be unable to gain the critical ‘rapport’ which attracts them to you. If you are empty of worry, you can remain focused, you can avoid distraction, you will be wholly present in the here and now.The pauses you use will be appropriate and dramatic.

You need to empty your mind of everything but your speech.  This is called focus.  

• Being prepared will improve your focus.  Nothing calms the mind like having practiced your presentation enough! 
• Being relaxed will also improve your focus.  If you are relaxed, you can be in the moment, observing your audience, and sensing your effect upon them. You will be able to go with the flow when an unexpected event happens. 

Some people believe that they can’t be themselves while speaking.  They think they need to hide behind a special ‘presentation’ personality, an “evil twin” where they grit their teeth and painfully force themselves speak. These speakers are not authentic. 

Don’t try to be anyone other than yourself.  When you speak as your true self, your feelings are automatically communicated in your vocal variety, word emphasis, and choice of phrases.

Speeches improve when they are about emotional topics, and show the speaker “opening up”.  Just before your presentation, you can mentally prepare yourself with a little relaxation exercise.

I have prepared a short guided meditation which can assist you in doing this before your next speech.

Please follow me in this exercise:

Take a deep breath… Now let it out nice and slow…

Take another breath, and as you breath out slowly, let go of all your concerns now.

Just empty your mind and relax…You may want to close your eyes, because you want to get truly relaxed…You have nothing to do now but to relax… 

Think of a time in your life when you were very calm and focused. Perhaps there was a time when everything went just right…
Re-live this calm and focused time now, in your imagination…

What do you see? …

What can you smell? …

How do you feel? …

Can you make what you see brighter and larger? Double the size, if it makes you feel better…Play some calming music in your mind, notice how much better you feel…You are becoming more and more… Calm and focused and happy…As you get comfortable with this feeling, say to yourself the word “Serenity“, now…Now clear your mind, think of the color white…The color white could be an interesting color.

Bring back the memory of when you were calm and focused…

What do you see? …

What can you smell? …

How do you feel? …

Can you make what you see brighter? Make your feelings stronger, make your memory brighter and larger…

Double the feelings you are having… Notice how much better you feel…Now say to yourself the word “Serenity“…

You may open your eyes, and return to the present…

So here is how you use this.  Just before you give your next speech, Close your eyes for a moment, take a couple of deep breaths…let your breath out slowly, then say to yourself, “Serenity“.  This will help you recall the Calm and focused state you just practiced.

Once you have found the emptiness within you, you will be ready to give the best speech of your life!

Last weekend I spent 3 days getting brainwashed by one of the best NLP trainers out there.

Christopher Howard gives free “Breakthrough to Success” Trainings, and I was fortunate to attend and see him work his magic.

Christopher Howard has learned the “true tradition” of NLP, and has kept it fresh with a lot of the recent innovations in the field. His reputation was why I chose to go, and as I expected, there was a bit of upselling going on. But it was well worth it, because the training I got was very powerful and Life changing!

I had some mental roadblocks removed, and I now feel like I am going full throttle down the highway of life, watching sparks fly off the guardrail as I adjust my course!

Highly recommended, sign up for your own “Breakthrough to Success” if you get a chance!

(Author Note: Chris Howard has quit giving the Breakthrough to Success weekends in the United States, and although I really found the session valuable, I later discovered that his affiliate support was disorganized and disappointing. )