PPD Learning – one of the world's great Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Training Institutes
PPD Learning – one of the world's great Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Training Institutes
Article for Rapport July '07
By Judith Lowe
I've been kindly invited by Rapport to tell you about my NLP company, why I think we're so special and what I hope we are contributing to the evolution of NLP as a significant international field. I also want to offer some descriptions of present and future possibilities, as NLP continues to grow, here in the UK, and become more mainstream.
PPD Learning has a great, world-wide reputation – primarily for high standards, innovation and integrity. We've been around in London for nearly 20 years ( historically, as five successive companies) endorsed and encouraged by John Grinder – who co-signs our certificates.
We have hugely enjoyed training thousands of people in NLP, many of whom over the years, are now themselves NLP trainers.The 'Pace - PPD Learning' alumni form quite a core of the NLP community here in the UK and our influence reaches into far corners of the globe!
In a field in which it’s the quality and experience of the training team which matters the most, we have one of the most stunning line-ups of guest trainers/colleagues – including Robert Dilts, Judy DeLozier, Charles Faulkner and Joseph O' Connor – all world-class innovators in their own right.
We also have wonderful, long term friends and partnerships in many related aspects of NLP - conferences, journals, bookstores, other institutes, universities, associations and training bodies etc - and as 'senior' NLPers we of course also encourage newcomers, new ideas and love to make new friends along the way – truly, building a field.
However, its not just longevity in the market place and amazing teachers that build a training organisation. It has to be what I think is our very special ethos - an absolute dedication to our students, an ongoing development and evolution of the most integrated kind of leading-edge NLP and.. well, a real sense of flair, fun and community in our daily practice.
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NLP is about how we learn and the underlying principles of change and transformation in action in our lives.
People can forget that its not the techniques in themselves that 'work' in NLP – it’s the skills and attitudes of the coach/practitioner that will always make the difference. And skill takes time to acquire and deepen so that its 'in the muscle'. And working with integrity requires a more systemic approach to relationship, and to ourselves.
What matters to me is that the people who come to us for training, not only leave with the amazing, practical NLP 'toolbox' , but experience a deeper sense of expansion of their own capacity… and of their sense of 'being'. I want our students to 'get' how unique and extraordinary they are and to sense how they might uniquely grow and learn in their lives, becoming more integrated and alive.
Our programmes are a lot of fun too. I'm often asked 'Are all your groups like this? We all get on so well and feel like we've been friends for ages!'.
Learning NLP is a fundamentally social and interactive process. It’s important that people feel welcome and supported .. and this is always an explicit part of how we create our 'group dynamic' and
learning community.
I also like to provide excitement and challenge for people .. risks to take, new territory to explore, surprising adventures and discoveries along the way – a real hero's journey!
Creating different kinds of experiences to expand a person's sense of what's really possible for them, 'waking them up' to their potential, is a fantastic challenge for me and my teams. Lots of thrills along the way... and lots of laughter!
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I love teaching and have a fairly entertaining and engaging style. I particularly like to work interactively and spontaneously with a group - bringing out the best in all of us in the moment and creating something new and potent between us.
Our intensive 21 day Practitioner has a depth and a range which you would expect from a course that’s been evolving in a dynamic field for 20 years!
It incorporates not only the 'best' of Bandler and Grinder, Dilts and Delozier ('Classic' , 'New Code' and 'Systemic NLP') but also many other contributions and innovations from the 'larger mind' of NLP.
I think particularly here of Charles Faulkner, David Gordon, Chris Hall, the Andreases, Lara Ewing, Steve Gilligan, etc. – and of my own research, ideas, experiences and developments over twenty-ish years of training.
I'm also fascinated by many current developments in the 'embodied mind' research, cognitive linguistics, neuroscience, the ' multiple intelligences' model and the 'positive psychology' movement.
I passionately encourage those of you who are new to NLP Training, as trainers, to take a rich, multi-source approach to the overall goals and design of your courses. Look outward to the wider field of achievement and good practice rather than to one 'guru' or a kind of 'menu' of techniques.
Some programmes, even today, also utilise outdated and 'unecological' metaphors of 'control' and 'instant results' and hope to rush people through a kind of NLP-lite course in which they have no chance of acquiring depth of skill or understanding.
NLP is the result of deeply, generative collaborations and contributions over time and no one description is the 'real thing'. In fact the richness is created by multiple descriptions and possibilities –based on core principles and integrated behavioral, cognitive and somatic skills which can be incorporated into the training in lively and experiential ways.
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Meanwhile, our Masters programme is, in my view, positively a work of art! By this I mean it's a multi-level, multi-stranded, utterly enthralling and integrated learning journey.
Sally Vanson from the Performance Solution calls it ' A truly inspiring Meta-Master Training and beyond…'
Spread over six modules in six months and with four trainers (me, Robert Dilts, Judy DeLozier, and Charles Faulkner) I believe it stands alone as an extraordinary and uniquely enriching experience for personal and professional evolution and achievement.
Even our coaching team includes six or seven UK NLP trainers and at least another two with the new Msc/MA in NLP and we are joined by practitioners from many different trainings and parts of the world.
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Our 'Passion in Action' - Social Change with NLP is our very special, unique, groundbreaking, annual seminar – me with Judy Delozier – offered at 'not-for-profit' fees ( some bursaries too) for people who want to make a difference with their NLP … and there are lots of you out there!
Also we have some very interesting 'In House' Business products … and a fun PPDL Practice Group.. meeting monthly in central London to which all Rapport readers are warmly invited..
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I heartily welcome all the other training organisations in the field and support everyone who is out there using their NLP with wisdom and sensitivity. The more the merrier!
Our modern world is facing many challenges..ecological, social and political which are played out through our individual lives and conditions. There are many kinds of fundamentalism in which the 'map' is 'the territory – and we can find ourselves, with the best of intentions, caught up in those too.
Together, in our wider NLP community, we have the possibility to become an influential field that’s contributing to the expansion of human potential into a positive human future.
And my hope is that my company, PPD Learning can offer, at least, some of the leadership and inspiration for this larger, vital project.