Ready for a personal breakthrough?
When I first trained in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), there was a key element of my Master Practitioner training and that was delivering (and receiving) a personal breakthrough session. The transformations that I have delivered through this process have proved to be the most memorable of all my work. Why? Let me explain.
Throughout this I’ll use three real client examples to bring the topic to life. All names have been changed to protect client privacy.
Why do I love doing breakthrough sessions?
Of all the services that I offer, breakthrough sessions are by far my favourite.
There are three main reasons that I love doing breakthrough sessions:
I absolutely love witnessing someone transform in front of me once the shackles of old and outdated limiting beliefs and negative emotions are erased for good. Sometimes these changes are physical, sometimes emotional. Always pretty significant, and clear the path to achieving amazing things or improved health (or both).
I love that it challenges me to use all of my training and skills across the fields of:
NLP
Time Line Therapy
Hypnosis
I love the ‘Ah-ha’ moment when we both realise what the lynch pin is. It’s normally pretty simple and often by the point of realising what it is, we have already started to dismantle it and create a new future.
Client example 1
Annette came to me because of her worsening eyesight. She had previously had very good vision but now needed glasses to see clearly. Whilst that is something that can impact many of us and can be part of the natural ageing process, Annette was a little different.
Annette had a natural talent as a psychic. The challenge was that she didn’t want to actually be a psychic (she was not a happy medium!), and so, without realising she was impacting her own eyesight in an attempt to not see her visions.
Once we dealt with that single issue, her eyesight improved. A couple of weeks after our session I received a letter from Annette saying that she no longer wears glasses as her eyesight was restored to its previous good state.
What is involved in a breakthrough session?
This is a very high level summary of what to expect.
The session starts long before the breakthrough day. It starts with a conversation about the challenges that the person is experiencing that lead them to what to make a change in their life. From there I give a seemingly simple questionnaire with just a few questions which ask the client to explain why they feel that now is the right time. This is not a tick box questionnaire but a chance to put down on paper everything that is bothering them, whether it feels relevant or not.
From there I’ll usually set an ordeal, this bit isn’t designed to be easy, it is designed to start the process. What that ordeal is does depend on the reason for the breakthrough and can vary immensely.
When we meet, either in person or online (and for these I tend to break the session into two half days) we delve even deeper. I’ll spend about 2.5 hours asking questions with the sole aim of unearthing the lynch pin, the one issue that if we resolve it will cause all the other issues to also disappear.
Once we have the lynch pin we set to removing it and with it all the negative emotions and limiting beliefs that have been holding the client back.
Once that’s done, we’re free to then plan for a positive future and set some positive goals.
We can all afford to give up one day for the potential of a completely life-changing experience!
Client example 2
George had been diagnosed with IBS. That is a condition that impacts many people and can seriously impact how you go about life. Being able to eat what you want and when is something that may of us take for granted.
The challenge with George was not a physical one though. His IBS symptoms stemmed from a simple yet limiting belief “I am crap”. This belief was quite literally manifesting itself.
George had received some previous NLP intervention which did make an improvement in that the need to dash to the toilet for bowel movements had been resolved, but the underlying limiting belief was not dealt with. If you even said the phrase “I am crap” to George he would still have to dash to the bathroom, except now it was to be sick instead.
Once we uncovered the lynch pin limiting belief and did the work to remove it and all other connected limiting beliefs and negative emotions, George was freed of his IBS for good.
Who is a breakthrough session for?
There is a pretty simple way of deciding whether a breakthrough session or another type of intervention is best and that is to understand whether it is a binary issue or more complex.
What’s a binary issue?
A binary issue is an isolated issue. Examples could be a phobia. When an isolated issue is without any linked limiting beliefs or negative emotions, it’s pretty simple to resolve with a single short NLP or hypnosis session.
Some of the binary issues that I’ve successfully supported clients with included:
Fear of swimming in the dark
Fear of dislocation following knee surgery (to resolve a history of knee dislocations)
Menstrual migraines
Fear of falling off their horse
Seasickness
How do you know if something is binary or more complex
Sometimes it can, at first glance, appear that an issue is binary in that they talk about the one single issue. Sometimes, after an initial consultation it becomes clear that it is more complex when there are other, similar, but not the same issues. Whilst we could address each of these presenting issues one at a time, there could be an endless supply of point issues and therefore, you could need many sessions in order to gain relief.
Another way to tell is where someone is at their whits end and come to you with a string of seemingly unrelated issues and they’ve come to the conclusion that enough is enough and they just can’t continue this way.
Client example 3
Sam approached me initially for some coaching to support a decision required in their business. Sam was already extremely successful. In a sporting context, Sam was one of a handful of people who had successfully completed one of the toughest multi-discipline events available. Anyone looking at Sam would assume that they had everything all figured out.
During our initial discussion it became clear that the issue was more complex and we discussed the merits of a breakthrough session.
During that breakthrough session many limiting beliefs, all pretty varied, came up. In the end it all came down to a single lynch pin limiting belief that had been held since childhood ‘I am responsible for other people’s happiness’. Whilst most of us care deeply about other people’s happiness and do what we can to help, we don’t believe that we are actually responsible for it. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own responses and, therefore, our own happiness.
Once we removed this powerful limiting belief, all the other supporting limiting beliefs also fell away. The struggle around decisions vanished, procrastination stopped and all this was replaced with clarity.
What does it feel like?
Now this I can tell you from first hand experience. During the preparations of launching my own business I decided to invest in me.
The decision to walk away from an enjoyable, successful and well paid corporate career, was not an easy one. The fears I was carrying around this were manifesting themselves in a multitude of ways from emotional to physical.
My initial contact with the person who supported me talked about issues in all areas of my life that were seemingly unrelated but escalating. One of the things that you learn to do with a session like this is to say the first thing that comes to mind. This is often the subconscious mind speaking, rather than the conscious mind. It is the subconscious mind that we need to work with. Sometimes, what we say can take us by surprise, but is generally exactly the right answer.
I’m going to diverge for a minute. When thinking about interventions that ask you to say the first thing thing that comes to mind, I am reminded of an NLP session that I received in the preparation for my second attempt at the English Channel. Until that point, I seemed to be building a pattern of failure and it was clear that the attempt would be unsuccessful if I didn’t tackle it. So, I approached someone I trusted for an NLP session. What came up were three issues:
I’m a crap swimmer, therefore I can’t do this. This is a label that I put on myself based on the fact that I don’t come from a swimming background as a child. Thing is I had moved on in my abilities as a swimmer, but I hadn’t updated my identity around my open water abilities. Whilst I may count my results from the bottom up, rather than the top down, when it comes to pool races, my consistent pace was more suited to ultra long distances. I was comparing myself against the wrong comparator group when it came to this label. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t going to be going after any speed records, but I did have what it took.
Every time I succeed at something I want to then do something bigger or more difficult. I couldn’t comprehend something bigger than this so if I failed I wouldn’t have to. The answer was simple ‘Decide that I don’t need to do something bigger!’. Simple.
I’d seen some people who’d become arrogant once they’d been successful in the channel. I didn’t want to be arrogant and so if I wasn’t successful, I wouldn’t have to face that. The answer was also simple, choose not to be arrogant!
We dealt with these issues and I went on to successfully swim the channel a few weeks later.
Back to the breakthrough session again, one of the questions was how would I know that it had been successful? My response was that all the negative self talk would be replaced by quiet.
Through the initial detailed discussion, many issues came up. Things from my past that I had previously forgotten came up. We documented my values around money and fun, identified my lynch pin limiting belief ‘I’m not good enough’ and broke for lunch. After lunch we set to work. First we released negative emotions like fear, anger, sadness, guilt, hurt etc. We dealt with the lynch pin limiting belief.
Then we re-elicited my values. What was interesting was how they had shifted. Previously they had been focused more towards getting away from something, now they were more positive and aimed at going towards something exciting rather than away from something negative.
We set some audacious goals for the future and then revisited the criteria for how I’d know. This is where it got interesting and how I knew that things had shifted. The negative self talk had stopped.
The next day it was even better, the quiet was replaced by internal singing (and actual singing when no one was listening!). I was happier and calmer in myself.
I am excited about what the future has in store.
What about you?
Do you have aspects of your life that are just not as you would like them to be?
Do you have a list of seemingly unrelated things that are going wrong?
Have you got to the point where you know that something needs to change and you just don’t know how?
Are you ready to make a big breakthrough in your career, your studies, your sporting life or your health?
Get in touch now, and we can discuss if a breakthrough session could be the answer for you? After all, what do you have to lose other than one day and all your limiting beliefs and negative emotions?
