Author: Michael Hall

THE ULTIMATE META-STATE TRANCE
If there is any hypnotic trance state that is the ultimate one for a Neuro-Semanticist, it is the genius state. But no, the use of the word genius does not mean it is a hypnotic state for increasing your I.Q., that’s not the purpose of this particular trance. Instead this is the induction into a state of being all there. It is a state of absolute focus on one thing. Normally, when you experience it, you are in a powerful state of concentration and absorption. And when you are there people may think that you have really tranced out or they may think that you really have fabulous powers of focus and will power. The genius state is a state wherein you are in “flow” and even better, you can turn the flow state on and off at will.

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META-STATE TRANCES
While “hypnosis” is not real (Meta Reflection #14), not real externally, not an objective thing, it is subjectively compelling and can be transformative. Well, it can also be destructive and neurotizing. It all depends on what suggestions you are giving yourself in the process. In other words, the content of what you are programming into yourself with your images, sounds, words, language, ideas, frames, and meanings determines the quality (or lack thereof) of the state you are inducing.

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WORLD-CLASS TRAINERS
AND PRESENTERS
Want to be a Part of it?

Once upon a time many, many years ago, Richard Bandler invited me to attend his training of trainers program and to write the “notes” on that program. So I did. And the title of the book that resulted is, Becoming More Ferocious as a Trainer (1990). And given Mr. B’s focus and style, being ferocious makes perfect sense(!). Years passed and so did the ninety-million-dollar lawsuit against the field of NLP and the beginning of Neuro-Semantics. A few more years and suddenly there were enough Neuro-Semanticists around the world clamoring for their own Training of Trainers program. And that’s where this story begins.

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WHY DO I TEASE THE FOUNDERS SO MUCH?
Yes, I tease them. Yes, I provoke them. And yes, I do it intentionally. After the last post on Grinder, several asked about why I do this, what are my motives, what I’m seeking to do in it, whether it is divisive, and of course, all of that deserves an answer. So here goes.

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WANT TO JOIN THE REVOLUTION?
The revolution began with a belief. It began with a new perspective. It began with a question. And the person asking the question was Abraham Maslow. “What about the healthy side ?” It was in his book, Abnormal Psychology, and this question was posed from time to time as he and his co-author, psychiatrist Bela Mittelmann, wrote an encyclopedia of human pathologies.[1] Maslow essentially asked:

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DON’T LISTEN TO JOHN GRINDER!
To keep up with the field of NLP I read a 2008 book this past week on a flight home. The title? Provocative Hypnosis. Sounds like it would be a book about hypnosis, but it wasn’t really. The subtitle actually reveals more about the content, The No Holds Barred Interventions of a Contrarian Change Artist. So what is the book about? Therapeutic interventions in the style of Bandler with the theoretical assumptions of Grinder! I have to give it to Norway NLP trainer, JØrgen Rasmussen, for how he imitates the “in-your-face,” “I’m not here to be your friend” Bandler-like style, although I wouldn’t recommend that style.

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THE VISION OF ACTUALIZING EXCELLENCE
The byline for Neuro-Semantics is Actualizing Excellence. The leadership team came up with those two words in January, two words that summarize our vision and our mission. And for us it provides a very succinct code that’s full of meaning— and I’m speaking about meaning that generates a lot of energy, passion, and vitality for us. To discover that all you have to do is speak to a Neuro-Semanticist!

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APG IN EGYPT
This past week I have had a pretty unique experience as I delivered APG in Cairo Egypt. Unique because it was my first training in an Arab country and unique because of the sponsors of the training— three men of vision who see the need for bringing some high-quality NLP to Egypt. Two of the men that I spent time with in Egypt are now in the process of becoming Neuro-Semantic Trainers and the third is planning to do the same. Mohammad Tarek of Lucid Trainings and Mustafa El-Masy of Applied NLP Academy along with Mohammed Addul-Kawy of Alexandria.

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DR. PAUL EKMAN AND META-STATES
I recently found a great description of meta-states. I was reading Emotions Revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life (2003/ 2007) by Paul Ekman. In the following quotation, Dr. Ekman describes a meta-state, he describes the structure of the observing meta-state that facilitates what Daniel Goleman and many others have popularize as emotional intelligence.

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