Rage against the Machine - a Lesson from NLP Training

Tommy and I had trained together from the first Practitioner Training with Paul McKenna, and on through the Masters' and Trainers' with McKenna, Richard Bandler and John LaValle, learning tricks of stage magic and the different magic of Milton Ericksson. We rediscovered each other years after first meeting on a shiatsu course. I had gone ahead with a shiatsu career while Tommy opted for part-time. Now we were both determined to complete an inspiring but difficult training, a particular challenge for me being the making of a video of my teaching as I had never before even held a camcorder in my hand.

One of the earliest conditions I offered colleagues at Practitioner training was 'Technophobia', the panic attack that set in when presented with any kind of problem with technology, from kettle to computer, lightbulb to lap-top. I would break out in sweat, my heart would hammer, my breath go into shallow bellows-mode and my mood swing from fear to rage. By the time I got to Trainer-training I had learned to take a step back, reassure my inner self that everything would be (probably) be OK (eventually) and the machinery was just being machinery and it really wasn't personal.

Tommy had none of these issues. He worked in IT and told stories of help-desk questions ("the computer says it doesn't recognise the printer even though its right in front of the screen") and had his own video camera.

We went our ways after the Trainer course, I to a winter beach holiday where en-route I bought the latest, state-of-the-art, mini-disc camcorder "that works with everything" enthused the duty-free salesperson. Except mac, I discovered when I got home, proudly noticing as I wrestled (kinesthetically) with wires, helplines (auditory) and knowledge-bases (visual) that instead of stamping on it I kept cool, calm and contemptuous. (Metal cut Wood, in shiatsu terms, and Earth controlled Water.) I even managed a wry smile reading the small print - operating system windows - at home instead of at the airport. My son benefitted: the camera proved valuable in his acting/directing studies.

A trip to Amazon led me to a second-hand Sony, underwritten by a customer's comment that a Belkin cable between it and a mac required no software. I was in business. I set up the tripod - bought with the first camera - and filmed myself teaching NLP to my first group of accommodating students. That video got me my Trainer Licence and since then I've made many more, about NLP, Shiatsu, Tai Chi and Chi Kung. People have even told me they've joined courses through being impressed by my Youtube collection.

I came across Tommy again at another event a year or so later. He was still in his IT job and "hadn't got round to doing the video yet," although still determined to change career to NLP.

There's another lesson in here somewhere, but maybe for another day.

Kris Deva North

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