Three Amazing Days in Wembley - by Matthew Wingett

 

Rising up into the massive structure of Wembley Stadium on its shiny, high escalators, and looking down through the great glass frontage at the streets below, it is clear just what message the warmly welcoming team at NLP LIFE want to project to the delegates as they arrive. The expectation of an impressive occasion combined with an uplifting experience is tacitly set by the dazzling architecture of the famous sporting venue. Arriving early - well before the 9.30am kick-off of the Change Your Life in 3 Days experience - I take my chance to talk with other delegates as they stroll into the great hall with a relaxed air, or look around themselves with impressed eyes.  So, what brings the 400 or so people on this seminar weekend?  A straw poll of just what people are expecting from the course reveals a wide spread. From businessmen wanting to get a taster of NLP from the world's acknowledged leaders in the field, to others hoping to learn techniques to improve their personal lives - and yet others who are already NLP Practitioners and Master Practitioners who just want to learn more from seeing the "Dream Team" of Bandler, McKenna and Neill "doing their stuff" - there is a wide range of experience and knowledge in the audience.  

 

The room builds with a buzz of chat and expectation, until the music starts - announcing the arrival of Bandler, McKenna and Neill.  From the moment the three acclaimed experts in personal change appear on the stage in the Great Hall, you can tell that this is going to be no ordinary training seminar. Each of these men excels in his field, each has his own unique set of skills and experiences to bring to the event - and each complements the other to make a rich and varied learning environment, with something that will prove just right for everyone.  

 

Richard Bandler, with his brilliantly paced delivery, his precise language designed to teach and to entertain, and his subtle leading of the audience into realising new possibilities is a delight to behold. It's amusing to see the reaction of delegates who have never encountered Richard before, and maybe know him only as the man who created NLP.  Some sit utterly surprised by his storytelling, others are splitting their sides at his jokes and observations about those wanting to change, while others sit quietly smiling at his famous delivery style.  Everyone I can see is enrapt.  Speaking to one delegate, Rosie May, after the first session with Richard, she says:  "It's amazing. The time seemed to go by as if there was no time going by at all. Yet, here we are, three hours later.  Amazing!"

 

Paul's style is well known to those who have followed his television shows, and he soon has the audience laughing as he makes well-chosen points about the nature of life, happiness and change. In next to no time, delegates are being shown how to get rid of the negative thoughts that have plagued them for years and how to make light of situations that have bugged them.  Indeed, for one woman with a fear of flying, Paul plays the part of the envious one, especially when she tells him exactly what her problem is: "I am frightened of getting on our private plane..." His irony and humour at dealing with that fear is a joy to behold.  At another point, the delegates are entertained by Paul in a double act with Michael Neill, demonstrating with a box of glove puppets how to make personal change.  The point is well made, and hilarious.

 

Michael Neill is a powerful presence on stage.  The observations he makes and the demonstrations he gives are interlaced with moving personal stories.  Michael has the extraordinary ability to hold an audience in the palm of his hand as he talks, moving from pathos to humour to empowering stories of uplift in a breath.  There are times when Michael reveals his own personal story in a totally disarming way, which brings the audience entirely on his side.  It is this combination of personalities - each world class leaders in their fields - that makes this event so special, and so unique

 

On the first day, one delegate, Frank, expresses to me some doubts about the effectiveness of what he thinks he is going to experience.  "Call me cynical," he says, "But I really don't think that change can happen this quickly. I mean, in only three days."  I catch up with him on the second day, and I ask him how he is getting along. He looks at me with surprise in his eyes:  "It's strange, but I feel like so much rubbish is clearing out of my head.  I mean, like things are really shifting."  He looks so excited by what he is experiencing, and it is wonderful to see.

 

The head assistant at the CYL experience is Steve Crabb - a renowned expert in personal change who runs courses designed specifically for the Corporate side of the NLP LIFE. Indeed, he will be running a complete Business Practitioner of NLP course in June for those wishing to improve their experience of work, bolster their confidence and enhance their persuasion skills.

 

Hearing Frank's comments, Steve observes: "It's so good to see how many people get immediate changes - but you know, there are others here who don't yet know how much they are going to change. Often, it's only afterwards that people look back to realise that it was at this point that their lives turned around. Sometimes they don't even realise there has been a change, until friends tell them that they look different. At other times, they can't pinpoint what changed over these three days, but they know for sure that something shifted."

 

By the middle of the third day, it has become clear that the seminar has been designed to take the delegates on a journey:  

 

Day one was about getting rid of bad stuff from the past.  

 

Day two was about learning how to deal with the stuff you are still getting through.  In this respect, Paul's demonstration of how to beat anxiety and fear by getting a young woman over her fear of spiders was impressive. Within about 25 minutes, she had changed from being terrified of spiders, to being absolutely happy to hold a live tarantula in her hand.  The look on her face said it all: she had literally learned to handle her fears. Speaking with her afterwards, she told me that she felt generally more confident after the demonstration.  

 

Day three, it is now clear, is dedicated to getting what you want from life and training the mind to look for what it needs - as well as getting rid of what it doesn't.  

 

The day is topped with Richard Bandler's startling hypnotic demonstrations on subjects who have stress and motivation problems.  One subject - a woman who said that she didn't know how to get things done - walks from the stage with her "hands tingling" wanting to get on and do things. And when Richard works with the other subject, a woman with stress issues, there is an audible gasp from the audience as Richard drops her quickly into trance with a single movement of his hand.

 

The three days wind up with the trainers reminding the audience to take these NLP skills with them and use them in every day life.  The delegates have learned so much, and are deeply impressed.  One delegate I speak to decides there and then that she is going to attend NLP LIFE's Practitioner and Master Practitioner courses, on the back of the revelations she has witnessed on this seminar.

 

Others speak of how they feel lighter.  By the end of the third day, Frank is highly impressed.  "There are things that I have learned here that I will be able to take with me into everyday life.  Things have really shifted, and I really get that this works. Amazing."

 

Amazing? Yes, that's just about the right way to sum up these transformative and highly inspiring three days in Wembley!

 

 

Copyright Matthew Wingett, 2009