Stone Age NLP

Receive your NLP Practitioner certification in Africa for less than you’d pay to most other reputable NLP Trainers in London!

Openmind Training is offering limited places to individuals for a unique Practitioner training in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana in July/August 200. Why Africa you may ask? We will combine the study of NLP with two exceptional experiences designed to embed the methodology in a highly unusual and effective way. First, we will spend a significant time with the Kalahari San or Bushmen as they are also known, the oldest surviving culture on Earth. Second, we will be based in and around the Okavango Delta, one of Africa’s most spectacular wildlife sanctuaries. Here then is why we have chosen this most unusual location:

The Bushmen, or San people as they are also known, have occupied Southern Africa for at least 70,000 years. They are hunter-gatherers by traditional with a profound knowledge of their desert terrain. These diminutive people have been called the “harmless people” in tribute to their fascinating egalitarian culture characterised by sharing, gift giving and an almost complete lack of power structures and greed. They are also some of the World’s most skilled trackers with a sensory acuity bordering on mystical.

The Okavango is primal Africa born of a freak natural phenomenon, the Okavango Delta. The substantial

Okavango River rises out of the highlands of Angola and enters the Kalahari Desert, the Earth largest uninterrupted expanse of sand, in search of the ocean. Instead it becomes lost, fanning out into a water wonderland over 300 miles wide and 400 miles long. Within this oasis resides in abundance, all of Africa’s famous wildlife. The wilderness, the solitude and the heartbeat of the cradle of humankind are a journey into our sensory experience like no other.

This opportunity is truly unique and exceptional. Here are selected highlights that emphasise this:

Anchoring – in this amazing environment you will learn to anchor positive states like peace, calmness, anticipation, freedom and excitement and collapse negative anchors like fear, frustration, anxiety and stress.
Rapport building – both among fellow participants as we travel through the wilderness and also in and among the San. Witness their amazing egalitarian culture characterised by gift giving, sharing, equality among men, women and children and profound community nurturing.
The NLP Communication Model and the Meta Model – exploring the fundamental differences between the world view of hunter gatherers, our most successful survival strategy and that of the western world through in-depth discussion and practical application of questioning skills.
Timeline – experienced in the cradle of humankind, where we will learn this prince among NLP patterns in a profoundly different context, travelling back through generations to the dawn of humankind.
Beliefs and Values – explored deeply though a vision quest in the Desert from late afternoon into the early night where you can reflect on your values and beliefs in light of your experience of your most ancient past.
Phobia cure – well a bit obvious then? You will be in safe and caring hands as we explore any fears that you might have and use the magic of NLP to remove them.

Sensory Acuity – by witnessing the incredible tracking and plant gathering skills of the San. Their skill in using VAKOG defies description within the Western scientific paradigm and we will walk with them in the desert to experience this.
Metaphor – and story telling are the backbone of the San existence clearly demonstrating the phenomenal resilience of metaphor in keeping a vast store of knowledge and oral tradition alive over tens of thousands of years. Become liberated from the written word!
Milton Model – and trance, the original trance dance to achieve states of ecstasy among the San around a campfire in the desert where we will experience their methods for healing and soothing relationships.

Throughout the experience we will nurture you and ensure that this is a journey you will never forget. The programme includes loads of leisure time soaking up the spirit of Africa. We include river cruises, sundowners, game viewing, social evenings or just time out to relax. We will also pursue a variety of team building activities to ensure that the journey is characterised by the same intense level of group rapport that separates all our trainings from the rest. What is more you will be in the care of an African game ranging team with nearly three decades of experience and a quite exemplary set of endorsements from previous participants on similar journeys.

Greg’s and Anne’s love for Africa and the San people makes the Stone Age Practitioner course one of a kind. Greg is a natural teacher; his in depth understanding of NLP was apparent from the foundation course but his exceptional story telling skills really came into their own against the backdrop of the Kalahari. I really enjoyed sitting around the campfire under the stars, especially as it gave me the opportunity to discuss what I had learned and this helped to cement the knowledge. The bonus is that Greg has a profound knowledge of many subjects as well as NLP and I found myself learning about everything from wildlife, to astronomy!

You can’t place a value on Greg’s and Anne’s years of experience of the great outdoors. We were expertly looked after from start to finish; Anne’s culinary skills are second to none, anyone who can whip up such a range of food over an open fire deserves a medal - I honestly don’t remember eating the same thing twice!

The Stone Age NLP course was an amazing experience; I would highly recommend it to anyone. You learn so much about yourself and others that you can’t help but bond, I now happily count Greg, Anne and all of my fellow Stone Age NLP-ers as friends :o) I will definitely be returning for the Stone Age Master Practitioner course next year.

Greg Laws has nearly three decades of experience on three continents in training, coaching, communications and public speaking. He was a game ranger for 12 years with one of Africa's foremost wildlife parks agencies, Natal Parks Board, and was an international authority on conservation among indigenous African communities with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Among his projects were significant milestones in securing land rights for the Kalahari San. Greg, along with his wife Anne, are the founders and directors of Openmind Training UK, offering outstanding courses in NLP and Hypnotherapy. He is an INLPTA accredited Master Practitioner of NLP and an accredited trainer under the founder of INLPTA, Dr Wyatt Woodsmall. He has worked with some of South Africa’s top corporations and has a long term contract with Jaguar Land Rover in the UK. His work in the environment sector included projects with cabinet ministers in Nelson Mandela’s government, school children, remote rural villagers and within some of South Africa’s most notorious townships. He has appeared on television and radio on numerous occasions and is a part-time professional writer, published in a number of prestigious wildlife and travel magazines, both in South Africa and in the UK.

Anne Laws has decades of experience of life in the African bush. She is fluent in Zulu and has a deep

empathy since childhood with African people. She is a highly experienced chef including catering for large groups in the desert where she produces amazing food to suit all tastes. Anne is a qualified first aider and has extensive knowledge, resources and the no-nonsense approach required to look after your health in Africa. She is deeply spiritual and leads our vision quests in the desert. Anne is also an accomplished professional photographer and will ensure that our journey is recorded in perpetuity through her stunning photography. Above all though is the overarching reality that Anne is passionate about Africa and Botswana in particular and adds the essential x factor to our journeys into the desert.

Arrival: Depart London (or elsewhere) on Friday 25 July 2008 to arrive in Johannesburg by 07h00 on Saturday 26 July 2008 and then connect directly to Maun, Botswana arriving in Maun at lunchtime on 6 August 2007

Departure: Depart Maun for Johannesburg on Friday 8 August 2008 arriving 17h00 in time to fly overnight to London (or elsewhere) returning early morning on Saturday 9 August 2008

You will need to have completed a minimum of a foundation course in NLP to participate on the Stone Age NLP Practitioner. This requirement stems from the hours required for INLPTA accreditation. We offer a 4-Day Foundation course which would normally cost £370. Those who have done other NLP trainings simply need to ensure that they have 30 hours of classroom training to qualify.

Apart from your flight to South Africa (not included) everything else is included. There are no hidden costs other than alcoholic drinks and bottled water if you prefer these and minimal spending money for gifts etc.

The price does not include the flight to Johannesburg. This currently costs under £500 on discount websites through reliable carriers.

Even if you started from scratch with us you would pay approximately £2,300 for World class NLP Practitioner certification on a journey that will change your perspective on life for ever.