What a fantastic way to start the new year – engaged in the perfect training that will finally help you to accomplish your goals and change your life!

To register now:  go to johnoverdurf.com, or call Diane Ulicsni at 503.740-6614

John Overdurf is internationally known as the finest Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Trainer in the U.S. and Europe.

This is an once-in-a-lifetime training in human excellence that you will certainly want to attend. Why? NLP is truly the Art and Science of Communication. Do you think your profession or relationship would benefit from excellent communication?

NLP is about you learning the methods and techniques for helping yourself and others to achieve outstanding and amazing results in any field. NLP helps you to understand, deeply, each individual’s unique non-verbal and verbal experience of life, which helps you to develop a deeper rapport and connectedness.

It offers ways and means for uncovering your own personal genius. NLP is a practical skill that I think should be taught very early on in school. Kids would have a much easier time learning and being in charge of their emotional states.

93% of communication is known to be unconscious or non-verbal. Do you think it would be useful if you knew if someone was in agreement or disagreement from non-verbal cues? (You bet!)

HNLP is the study of how mind creates reality through language and behavior. The NLP training helps us create the results we truly want in life, while creating value for others in the process.

About HNLP, John Overdurf, and John’s Master NLP Training

The NLP training is for the busy professional who wants the newest streamlined coaching practitioner training developed and taught by a recognized leader in the NLP and coaching fields. If you are new to NLP or you are already an NLP Practitioner or Master Practitioner you’ll benefit from the strong emphasis on how to conversationally coach the unconscious mind.

Neuroscience has long known that our unconscious functioning precedes conscious awareness by a 1/2 second. This means that most if not all coaching issues like motivation and procrastination, indecision, conflicting priorities, burnout and overwhelm, and performance anxiety are a result of automatic (unconscious) reactions and patterns which occur before conscious awareness. Amazingly, though, most coaching programs available today rely heavily on conscious processing through questioning, analysis, and tasking. It’s like trying to steer a train by asking someone in the last car to change the direction of the entire train. It simply won’t work.

The January 2012 training will teach you how to work with unconscious processes that are at the root of most coaching issues, yet do it in a natural, conversational way that makes this approach adaptable to any context.

Through his 30 years of experience in the fields of therapy, training, and coaching John is able to simplify complex concepts into practical step-by-step processes with tremendous scope in the “real world.” The result is a training where you’ll acquire cutting edge conversational skills effective for business, coaching, and therapy while shifting your paradigm of change and what is possible in your life. John’s teaching emphasizes the balance of skill development while also transforming from the inside out to create congruent competence. Skills alone make a technician with no humanity or heart. Transformation alone is inspirational, but sometimes lacks the “how to” details. Because John teaches to both the conscious and unconscious mind you’ll have a direct experience of skill development and personal transformation – and to the extent you are open and ready for it, increase your congruence and belief in yourself to be a positive presence in life.

More NLP Training Session Details

After you register for this training you will be able to download the Advanced Coaching Practitioner Experience which is an entire Practitioner Training program. Listening to the material in advance will assist you in developing a familiarity with the information and the skills to maximize your learning during the training. By the time you take the class, this familiarity will enable to have more “hands on” and question and answer time during class. Following the training you’ll have this material as your own follow-up program to further integrate your learnings.

Training session topics include:

• Coaching and how it differs from therapy and consulting
• NLP/HNLP and the coaching field
• Optimal coaching states
• HNLP coaching overview
• HNLP conversational change model
• Conversational elicitation of strategies and outcomes
• Determining unconscious congruence and motivation
• Utilization of naturally occurring states to create powerful change
• Integrating transformative, non-linear, hypnotic language patterns into your coaching work
• Conversational approaches to installing and testing remedial and generative strategies
• Beyond goals – why goals don’t work and what does
• Common coaching issues and how to deal with them
• Turn-key office protocols and client forms
• Sensory acuity—how do develop extraordinary skill in reading other’s unconscious processing through eye-accessing, voice qualities, and physiology
• New advanced HNLP processes to develop rapid natural states of rapport
• Linguistic skills applied specifically to coaching
• How to ask the right questions at the right time to create a change in the listener’s perception as well as language patterns to create facilitate unconscious receptivity in the listener
• Anchoring – processes to create significant and instantaneous shifts in emotional states in ourselves and others
• Sub-modalities – techniques for changing and revising the coding system the brain uses to create meaning
• Alignment and parts integration – techniques to create core change

The training will be highly experiential with plenty of group inductions, demonstrations, exercises, and discussions in a fun, easy-going, and stimulating environment.

Upon successful completion of the seven day training, participants are eligible for NLP Practitioner Certification, HNLP Practitioner Certification, and HNLP Coaching Certification.

Location

Fairfield Marriott Inn

6100 South West Meadows Road · Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035 USA

Hours

Day 1 through 6: 1pm- 7:00pm*

Day 7: 1pm- 6:00pm*

*Ending time may vary slightly due to course content

Training Course Tuition

$2995.00 – includes seven Day Training and Practitioner Training Downloads

$500.00 deposit to enroll and receive Practitioner MP3s

Balance of $2495.00 due two weeks prior to the beginning of the training

Cancellation Policy: Non- Refundable deposit can be applied to any other johnoverdurf.com training. You keep the MP3s. The remaining balance is fully refundable with written notification received seven business days prior to the first day of the training.

Certifications

Optional NLP/HNLP Certification

This is a streamlined training. Only the NLP information directly relevant to coaching will be presented. If you are not already an NLP practitioner, you must have listened to all the information on the Practitioner MP3 at least once prior to the training or before receiving certification.

Successful completion of training and completion of written review:

$100.00 Certification fee.

Optional HNLP Coaching Certification:

Successful completion of training and successful completion of HNLP Coaching Practicum/Evaluation:

$100.00 Certification fee.

NEWSFLASH: NLP has now been fully approved as educational credit toward a Master’s Degree in Applied Coaching with Derby University in the UK!

We know that the best intentions seem to be hijacked by our old, familiar patterns. Why? Your brain makes pathways according to what you are paying attention to. If you are stressed and paying attention to what is stressing you out, your new choices can default to years of old patterns.

The great news is…you can change! Truly! (Remember: All we are is change.)

My advice to you as the holidays move faster than light speed – pay attention to your soul, your heart, the true inner you. Take time for yourself, even if it’s only 10 minutes in the morning and/or 10 minutes before bedtime. Breathe. Slow down. Think of anything you can be grateful for. Family. Friends. Health. A sunburst. There’s a gem to focus on each and every day, no matter how small. And, focusing on the positive will help retrain your brain to make patterns that benefit you in the long run.

And, as for many of us, if the holidays are really stressing you out, causing you to overeat, not sleep or exercise well like you know you should, plan on joining me in January for “De-stress and Lose Weight” classes. Time spent in these classes will be focused on you and only you – and on changing unhealthy patterns that typically crank into high gear for many of us over during the holidays. You can get back on track. You can retrain your brain. You can make healthy choices that stick.

Happy holidays to you and yours!
With many loving blessings, Diane

It is possible to make significant improvements in a short period of time, but for improving or changing to last, well, repeatedness is the answer.

In my previous blogs, I have presented some interesting information about neuroscience and how spect scans are able to gauge or track that what you pay attention to creates muscle or a significant pathway in your brain. This superhighway of what you are paying attention to is critical conditioning. For example, if you are paying attention to “what if I panic?”, you can develop strong neurons for panicking. If you are focused on “what if I am totally confident?”, then you can develop strong neurons for confidence.

John Overdurf calls this scenario the Cycles of Observation. These Cycles of Observation can alone determine our reality through:
* the quantum zeno effect which, as you know, is how the duration and frequency of observation effects the rate of change in both objective and subjective terms.
* the relative detail, patterns, and/or progression that can be observed. Notice, for example how frequently you observe something or place your attention on something; how much time that observation/attention lasts;
where this attention starts and finishes (and/or does it?); what you pay attention to between observations; what meaning you make of it all; how you keep that meaning constant.

Whew! That’s A LOT of observing going on! But, it’s really important to pay attention to where your mind is, where the focus spends most of its time, and what patterns you might be creating that could be redirected towards something more positive.

Why not consider paying attention to something positive and repeat that multiple times?

Most of my clients aren’t seeing me because they are paying attention to something positive repeatedly – they are seeing me to resolve whatever pattern or story they are stuck in, the tape that stops them from creating and maintaining healthy patterns to create a healthy life and life choices.

In individual client sessions, I ask many questions on the first visit as many people have said there is no greater knowledge than knowledge of oneself.
What’s curious is that many people are oblivious to themselves and it’s others who know only certain aspects of their personalities. Remaining stuck in a state of darkness about ourselves keeps us stuck and prevents progress. Change is only possible where there is an element of awareness or consciousness present.

Defenses that are ingrained habits have to be resolved or worked through so we can picture and be ourselves as we really are. Only then is it possible to transform. This is when we are no longer ruled by circumstances but we become rulers of our circumstances.

This is where our lives truly change and become enriched.

For more information, see the announcement on the home page of my site.

John also presents critical concepts about awareness, the power of our minds, and making change in his Trance of a Lifetime Training, 2010. Be sure to spend some time on his site to learn more about his trainings and materials.

Hope to see many of you at the upcoming training!

In other words, according to the quantum zeno effect, paying attention to any specific neural connection keeps the associated circuitry open, dynamic, and alive. If you’re feeling severe anger for more than 90 seconds, then it is your own mind that is causing that emotion to last longer – not the emotion itself. In order for a state to persist, it has to be re-engaged or the nervous system has to be reminded to keep firing the same circuitry over and over again. This is done through making pictures or providing self talk or external stimulations from our environment. The stronger the feeling, the greater the number of circuits simultaneously fired.

I’ve blogged about the quantum zeno effect earlier this spring (and will keep doing so as this interesting and important topic is worth repeating). Remember that rapid, frequently repeated observations stabilize a system and slow the rate of change or decay. Fewer, less frequent observations destabilize a system and increase the rate of change or decay (anti zeno effect). The more you think about something, the longer you choose to not let go of a negative emotion or thought, the more hard-wired it will be in your system. Who wants that to happen?

How does this relate to being in the zone? Well, to get to that higher state (or relaxation, primarily) you need to be aware of what your mind is really focused on. Different information hangs out at different brain wave frequencies.

Gamma (my personal favorite!) 25-70 Hz:
Gamma waves are correlated with synchrony of far-reaching neural networks which creates integrative and more highly ordered cognitive and affective functions. They are instrumental in neural synchrony of processes like attention, working, memory, learning, and conscious perception. Gamma brain waves are evident during AHA! moments which are truly therapeutic moments lasting 200-300 milliseconds but that offer enlightenment for longer periods of time.

Beta 13-24 Hz:
Beta waves are correlated with a focusing of attention and perception coupled with active expression. These waves are evident during simple problem solving, arithmetic activities, and reality testing which each require making finer distinctions and communication through language. Because attention is focused, beta waves can also be correlated with many unwanted states that can hinder performance.

Alpha 8-12 Hz:
Alpha waves are correlated with states of relaxed alertness or more common flow states.They are evident during creative activities which can involve expression or reflection. In alpha, there is a widening of perception and relaxing of boundaries which allows for greater recognition of patterns, themes, and large frames of organization which can extend beyond language.

Theta 4-z Hz:
Theta waves are correlated with deeper states of reflection, contemplation, and sleep. They are evident during mystical experiences like out of body experiences, lucid dreaming, and deeper states of mediation. There is a further increase in the widening of perception and relaxing of boundaries which allows recognition of much longer cycles and larger patterns which are usually beyond language.

Delta 1-3 Hz:
Delta waves are correlated with only sleep for most people. They are evident during stages two and four sleep (physical restoration) where there is usually no conscious activity. In cases where consciousness is active, there is a further increase of experience of wholeness and boundlessness.

Have you guessed where the brain wave activity is when you’re in the zone? Can you guess where the brain wave activity is when change is most probable, possible?

The zone is a state of focused awareness or energized focus. A person is fully immersed in a feeling of focus or a single-minded immersion in performing or learning. It’s accessed through alpha or high alpha wave states. Athletes get into an expanded alpha or focused alpha state quickly. Monks get there during meditation.

But, how do you get there?

Try this basic practice. (I have my clients do this most every time they come in for a visit.)
* Take a nice deep breath in through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Make the exhale last twice as long as the inhale.
* Look straight up for a few seconds. Try to see the top of your own head.
* Return your eyes to normal (look straight ahead). Now, soften your gaze and try to access your peripheral vision.
* Soften your thoughts.
* Now, do what you have to do…You are in the zone.

You can practice this any time you can be still for a few moments – not, however, while driving, running, moving. Just sit still for a moment during your day and practice this. Then, get out there and perform optimally.

His story goes like this: In the middle of winter, the boiler in the elementary school would not work. Everything possible was tried in order to fix it so the kids would be warm while in class. Finally in desperation, the ‘fix it’ man was called to come in a look at the problem. After he was told about all the efforts that were made to fix the boiler, he walked to his toolbox, took out his hammer and walked back to the boiler. Then, without any warning, he took his hammer and tapped gently on a valve. Instantly the boiler started back up again and continued to run smoothly without hesitation. The ‘fix it’ man packed up and went home.

The school received a bill a week later from the ‘fix it’ man for $1000. They were of course taken aback, and referred the matter to the superintendent, who then phoned the ‘fix it’ man and asked for an itemized statement. How could he possibly have charged $1000 when all he did was tap his hammer once on a valve? When the itemized bill arrived, it noted very clearly that he charged $1.00 for the hammer tap and $999 for knowing exactly where to tap.

This is a perfectly simple example illustrating that it’s important to know what to change, where to change, and how to change.

Many of the folks I work with have tried to create changes in their lives by changing jobs, relationships, cars, locations, style, and many more elements of our seemingly complicated lives. It is fantastic to have knowledge that you need a change, but it is completely different to have the awareness that directs exactly what or how to change. (And, remember that John Overdurf reminds us that all we are is change. We are changing all the time. Evolution is good. Then, of course, there is the fear of change. But that’s a different story.)

The best way to change your mind is by changing your negative thought patterns. We can see with scans that whatever our mind pays attention to actually creates a super highway of neurons and dendrites to support those thoughts, positive or negative. The mind doesn’t discriminate here.

Stop and assess for a minute. Are you paying attention to anxiety? Fear? Why not change your mind and add a positive force to your life?

Your mind uses thoughts to create the way in which you interact with reality. Your thoughts can be used to build or destroy. They are powerful.

People from all areas of life who are ready to acknowledge that life involves problems and are willing and ready to get busy to do the hard work collaborate with me to help create solutions and permanent positive change. Working together, my clients learn to recognize their thoughts or pictures they are making as a powerful force for change and how to use them to create the future they desire. The kids I work with are especially quick to get this technique and use it to their advantage.

Acknowledge the storm
Your mind can be like a wild, out of control storm. It will do what it has rehearsed or has always done which is often not what you intend. If you are spending a lot of your energy just trying to control the storm, how much does that energy really benefit you overall? How can you change the comforting pattern of doing (or thinking) the same thing over and over again? (Hint: you can’t.)

The mind—our monkey mind, as one trainer calls it—jumps all over the place. One thought leads to another and soon we’ve forgotten our original goal. The question is, how do we tame the mind? One way is to develop possibility thinking. I know, I know. Many of us have gone to every workshop or Tony Robbins training, or read every book or watched the Secret many times, and still we think we haven’t been able to control our thinking.

All the information learned from these sources is helpful, however, if you haven’t gotten your life under control or in a place that is suitable or comfortable to you, it may be that you have had a lot of negative circumstances or situations in life that haven’t been resolved. If you have taken one or two seminars or trainings in positive thinking and 30 years of anxiety or depression or trauma, what do you think is going to win? What is your brain paying attention to—the superhighway of negativity or the one-day of positive training?

In working with individuals or in teams via my workshops, I always discover that folks wouldn’t even be seeking me out if they were able to consciously change their thinking or behaviors. And also with advances in neuroscience, we know we have to change the negative superhighway that is actually now observed and recorded in the brain.

There are many factors that prevent people from achieving their full potential. Fear is the biggest deterrent I see. It comes in many shapes, forms, and sizes. Fear paralyzes and destroys. It can creep into the deepest core of human potential and freeze creativity. Then it can generalize and get rooted in and through thoughts and action.

It is my life’s purpose to help as many people as I can to embrace change. The current wisdom truly is all we are is changing. By embracing personal growth and making life a true adventure offers an awakening of your full and total potential. Getting unstuck from anything negative and moving towards and bright exciting future by shaking old beliefs loose to develop your unique self is empowering.

Ask yourself , how would your life improve if you could focus on what you want? What is your higher purpose? The only limits I see are if you are committed to staying stuck in your old thoughts and beliefs and thus patterns. There are many ways to change. You can start by realizing you are far more than you think you are and may have been led to believe.

Ready to move forward?

Some of us dive right into the inner work we know we can truly benefit from while others are more hesitant to dig up (and through) the past. Counseling, self help guides, even creative endeavors and exercise can assist us along our personal paths. And, this process of uncovering and healing all takes time.

Sometimes you can get stuck traveling down this path to healing, and a healthy, helpful boost is what you need. When you feel stuck, which is natural and common, your mind can be compared to a computer that uses software programs. These software programs are filled with your emotions and beliefs that combine together to make up what you think and feel. And, sometimes this software can get stuck in a loop and stop working the way we desire.

It seems that trauma and negative emotions can combine with a certain thought or feeling and create a locked neural pathway in your brain, trapping the negativity in your brain and body. This is how many define post traumatic stress, which seems daunting to deal with, but if you make time to approach your issues with the appropriate tools, you can and will heal.

Take a moment out of every day to assess where you are, where you’ve been, and where you hope to be. With an open mind and heart (and the right tools) you can make big changes that help you heal.

My clients ask me all the time what does plastic or plasticity mean when referring to the brain. Is my brain plastic? No. Of course not.

Plasticity or neuroplasticity is the lifelong ability of the brain to reorganize neural pathways based on new experience. So, as we learn and acquire new knowledge and skill, there is actual change in the brain that represents the new knowledge. This ability of the brain to change with learning is what neuroplasticity refers to.

Now, embrace this fascinating concept. In the past it was believed that as we aged, our brain’s networks became fixed. In the past couple of decades, however, an enormous amount of research has revealed that the brain never stops changing or adjusting.

You might say “all we are is changing.” What a concept! – one that brings us back to how important it is to truly be aware of what you are paying attention to or focusing on as much as possible. If you are fixated on anger or fear, your brain will stay in that mode.

Neurons that fire together, wire together. Neurons that fire apart, wire apart. So if you are stuck on fearful thoughts, guess what are you actually wiring together in your brain. If you are constantly thinking fearfully, your brain will most likely be stuck in that negative space.

Now, consider this. The longest time a strong urge or emotion can coast biochemically is a mere 90 seconds. For such emotions to last longer in your brain and body, you’ve got to keep fueling that fire with constant, negative internal chatter.

Your nervous system has to be reminded to keep firing the same circuitry over and over again. In order for emotions and thoughts to persist, your system has to be re-engaged either through internal stimulation (conjuring up images and pictures in your mind, engaging in self talk) or external stimulation that serve as triggers and anchors from the environment around us (seeing a particular person or place). And, the stronger the feeling you have, the greater the number of circuits are simultaneously activated.

This can be good news to the degree that you are focused on creating good feelings with strong, positive thought patterns. So, don’t focus on the negative: when you think positively, you positively change your brain for the better.

I didn’t understand the “watched pot never boils” theory until the recent studies about the brain’s neuroplasticity emerged. We can now see neurons in the brain, how they move and act, and how the brain changes and grows. It’s very exciting, to say the least.

But what does this have to do with managing stress to create a healthy, balanced life? When I work with people plagued by anxiety or depression— or any negative state of mind, for that matter—I know that these individuals have developed a super highway, if you will, of neurons that have been the focus of attention time and time again. That attention creates bigger neurons, stronger routes, and resilient links. It becomes familiar and easy to focus on.

Huh?

If you are anxious or having a panic attack, your brain creates huge “trees” of neurons that grow with the attention you give them. That is, the more you pay attention to the negative, the more negative brain cells you are growing.

When I engage in trainings and individual coaching sessions, I am always listening to what people are truly focused on in an attempt to determine where their attention is. Most of us don’t have this awareness, at least initially, so it’s important and helpful to be present and listen to what’s really going on. What we are paying attention to (and feeding) is critical. What you pay attention to gets bigger, stronger, faster in your brain.

To shift this negative balance, paying attention the the positive shouldn’t be a challenge, but for many, it is. Because those neural pathways become deep rooted in our brains, it is even more difficult to change and influence away from the pattern. Paying attention to happy or positive thoughts (something spiritual, maybe situated in nature, a past positive experience or emotion) can make significant changes for the better in your brain. Your brain grows cells in the prefrontal cortex area which can support the positive.

Try this simple exercise to reinforce the positive and change your brain. Ask yourself: What actions would I take that would cause me to be happy happy (or, motivated, cheerful, calm, grateful)?

Focusing on such positive thoughts is good brain food. What you pay attention to gets bigger and stronger. Why not make it positive rather than staying rooted in the negative? Remember that the unconscious mind loves repetition. Continually focusing on what you want out of life will help you get there, positively! Go on—change your brain.