“THE CORE TRANSFORMATION STORY:
How the process came to be“, 

by Connirae Andreas, developer

“It was a week-long visit to Milton Erickson in 1979, that is probably responsible for beginning my quest to find the Core Transformation process. During the last year of his life, Dr. Erickson had the policy of only accepting mental health professionals as “visitors.” As we understood it, this was because he wanted to devote his remaining time to helping the next generation of counselors and therapists. One small group would come in for a week at a time, spending each morning in a small circle in Dr. Erickson’s home office, listening to him tell stories about his clients. A therapist friend of mine signed up for a week and invited me to join her small group of friends and colleagues in Phoenix AZ.

When I went, I was dealing with a very difficult personal issue. My friend encouraged me to ask Dr. Erickson for a private session, since he had helped her with a similar issue within the past year. I felt more than a bit intimidated by the “famous Dr. Erickson”, but on the first day we were there, when I said “hello” and introduced myself, I got my courage up and asked him if he would work with me privately. He said “Yes,” smiling and nodding his head, but then…  Read More Here…“

 

DATES & INFLUENCE:  People Sometimes Ask me about the Dates when Core Transformation was developed, and about its impact on the field of NLP.  Here are the key dates, plus a bit about impact:

Development of the Methods:
Connirae Andreas developed both Core Transformation (CT) and Aligning Perceptual Positions (APP) in the summer of 1989, and tested both processes with individual clients in the summer and fall of that year.  The people Connirae tested the processes with, included people with no NLP background, as well as some who had NLP training.

The introduction to the book, Core Transformation, has more detailed information about how this method came to her.  You’ll also find more information about the what led Connirae to think of each method, in her audio seminars.  “The Aligned Self” is a complete 4-day training (available as an audio download), including Core Transformation, APP, and Eye Movement Integration.  Two additional complete seminars taught by Connirae are available as part of the Core Transformation Trainer Material’s Packet.  The story of how these methods were developed can be interesting as examples of how innovation happens in the field.

Teaching:
Connirae first taught these processes publicly in a Post Master Practitioner NLP Training in March 1990.  This training was attended by a large group of NLP Master Practitioners and Trainers from both the US and other countries.  Because of strong positive response, she continued teaching APP and CT in both Master Practitioner and Post Master trainings throughout North America from 1990 on, with one European training in London in early May, 1992.  She presented Aligning Perceptual Positions at a Rocky Mountain Regional NLP Conference in 1990, and at a National NLP Conference (NANLP, in Chicago—either 1990 or 1991.)

Tamara Andreas (co-author of the book, Core Transformation, and the trainer on the DVD Workshop, “Core Transformation–the full 3-day Workshop”)  has taught these processes widely in Europe, North America, and Australia, primarily teaching the personal transformation format she developed for people with no background required.  She currently teaches in Boulder, Colorado, plus teaches an intensive Core Transformation series in Japan each year. Tamara has taught over 80 seminars with this material, to international audiences.  In addition to developing the personal transformation training format, she deserves credit for writing the first draft of both the book, and of the Trainer Manual.  It is because of her impetus to begin, carry out the groundwork, and work with Connirae on completion of both these projects, that these resources are now available.

Written Form:
These processes were available as “workshop handouts” beginning in early 1990.  Connirae and Tamara first published an article on Aligning Perceptual Positions in February of 1991 in Anchor Point Magazine (the primary NLP publication at that time).  Tamara and Connirae wrote the Core Transformation book between 1991-1993, drawing upon their work from 1989 through 1993.  It was available in January, 1994.

Other Distribution of the Processes:
In 1990, a video of Aligning Perceptual Positions was made (from Connirae’s demonstration at the 1990 Regional NLP Conference).  Parental Timeline Reimprinting on video was also released in 1990.  In 1992, a full audio seminar in which Connirae taught Aligning Perceptual Positions, Core Transformation, and Parental Timeline Reimprinting, was released as “The Aligned Self seminar” through NLP Comprehensive.  Also in 1992, a video demonstration of Core Transformation (“A demonstration with Diane”), was released through NLP Comprehensive.  “Spirituality in NLP”, an audio introduction to Core Transformation including a demo of the Core State exercise, was released in 1993.

Effects on Other NLP Methods:
When significant new methods are developed, if they make a shift in our understanding/paradigm, they generally influence how other methods are done and taught.  Both Core Transformation and Aligning Perceptual Positions have had this kind of impact.

Core Transformation Examples:  Some NLP trainers have adjusted the wording in standard 6-step reframing to be more like the wording in Core Transformation.  Also, Trainers and Practitioners have reported that after learning CT, they now go to “deeper” or “higher level” outcomes when teaching Parts Integration or 6-step reframing.  (Before CT, the teaching was usually to go only to the first level of outcome that makes a resolution possible.  CT makes real the advantages of going to a deeper level.)

From the Aligning Perceptual Positions Model, the effects have in some ways been more pervasive though less obvious.
After APP became available, while not many people seemed to understand the full process in its depth–that seemed to take a fair amount of training–some of the “mini-alignment” pieces spread widely pretty quickly.  They are just so easy to understand, and so “obvious” once you’ve heard of them.  For example, Since APP, noticing whether you are seeing others as higher or lower than oneself, and the relationship to judgement & intimidation, is considered obvious and commonplace.  NLP’ers often do this kind of “submodalities adjustment” without even thinking of doing the whole alignment process.  However, before I taught APP as a model, I don’t remember ever hearing an NLP Trainer mention that.  Height had been talked about in terms of the “real world”.  So Coaches might be encouraged not to hover over participants, but rather to get down to eye level.  However, as far as I know, this had never been systematically applied to inner experience.  Now we take it for granted and it seems like we would have always known it because of the obvious language metaphors like “looking up to someone” “looking down on someone”, etc.

When I (Connirae) demonstrated APP at the National NLP Conference in Chicago, the woman I worked with helped put into words how the APP model changed her way of thinking about other NLP methods.  In Observer position, she had been seeing the scene, with her Self way off to the left side, while she (as Observer) was looking straight at the Other person.  She said, “That’s interesting. I’ve always thought of myself as being ‘periperal’ to the situation.  I’ve said that many times.  I didn’t think my behavior could make any difference.” Once she made the shift to alignment, she “knew she could have an impact.” She also realized aloud that she had done every single NLP technique involving dissociation in this same way—seeing herself “as peripheral.” She made the connection that she hadn’t really gotten the benefit from the other NLP processes because of this.  Many people have told me that after learning APP, they do other NLP processes that include dissociation (such as the fast phobia cure), differently and more precisely. Practitioners now are more alert to things like whether the image is directly in front, or off to one side.  The metaphors in language are obvious—It’s the kind of thing that once someone mentions it, it seems like you must have always known this—how could we ever have missed it?

There are other methods, such as logical level alignment, which emerged after Core Transformation and Aligning Perceptual Positions, that appear to have drawn upon the signature process that first appeared in Core Transformation, of going to a spiritual core, then reversing the sequence.

Core Transformation Book description, endorsements, and to Order

Core Transformation–the full 3-Day Workshop on DVD

CT Trainer Materials Packet Description

CT Complete Resources List Page 

Video Demonstrations by Connirae Andreas of Core Transformation (basic), Core Transformation (complex demo), Aligning Perceptual Positions, and Parental Timeline Reimprinting are all available from Real People Press.

©2009 Connirae Andreas