ANLP International CIC
The Association for NLP
Empowering NLP Professionals
Connirae Andreas is an explorer of how we can heal and evolve in ways that bring benefit to ourselves, our families and our communities. Her new Wholeness Work is the result of her personal journey seeking deeper and more impactful methods of transformation. An NLP Trainer from the field’s “early days”, Connirae has had a significant impact on the field through creating books and trainer materials, plus new developments (including Core Transformation, Aligning Perceptual Positions, and many co-developments with her late husband Steve Andreas.
In Connirae's words:
My journey learning, teaching, and developing NLP began in 1977 when my husband and I attended an impromptu presentation at a conference. Aspects of this new field seemed like magic to us then. Yet other aspects seemed “familiar” because everything we were learning fit with experience and could be tested. We both immersed ourselves immediately in learning and absorbing everything we could about this new field. As part of our early journey, we: sponsored the first NLP Practitioner Training outside of Santa Cruz, (beginning in 1979) were part of the first small group to be certified as NLP Trainers Along with learning, we looked for ways that we could contribute. At that time the only NLP books were academic in nature (such as The Structure of Magic), so we created the classic NLP books, Frogs in Princes, Trance-formations, Reframing, and Using Your Brain for a CHANGE, based on seminar transcripts of the NLP developers. These books brought NLP to life, and helped to bring NLP into mainstream awareness. At that time there were no NLP Trainer materials, with the result that the quality of training was quite variable. We wrote comprehensive and detailed Trainer Manuals for Practitioner, Master Practitioner, and Trainer Training, initially just for our own trainer team. Eventually we made these available for wider use, with the hope that they would be a resource and help to improve training quality and consistency. Through the book, Change Your Mind—and Keep the Change, we made available a series of new developments in the area of Advanced Submodalities. We were particularly excited to share our discovery of Personal Timelines–how it’s possible to map out and change the structure of personal timelines—and our modeling of grief recovery. Our book, Heart of the Mind, provides a readable “case oriented” introduction and handbook of key NLP methods. Other Contributions: Advanced Language Patterns (available in audio program). I enjoyed language patterns, especially the “smoke coming out of the ears” response that sometimes happened, and added several key patterns to the known list. Some of my “conversational change” demonstrations are included on this series. Positive Parenting audio/video programs. Core Transformation & Wholeness Work These two methods I consider my most significant contributions. They both shift our mode of being in the world, in addition to helping us heal our personal issues and evolve as people. Both methods are the result of my personal life journey. In 1979, I had the opportunity to visit Dr. Milton Erickson. During that visit, I experienced a personal transformation which was for me quite profound. I experienced a sudden sense of wellbeing that I couldn’t account for, and a simultaneous sense that a major life issue was resolved. The only problem was that this state didn’t last. This left me searching for how I could get it back. Years later (in 1989), I developed Core Transformation, which is a systematic way of using our limitations as the doorway to access states of Peace, Oneness, and Presence. I have been pleased that this method offers a dependable access to what I experienced temporarily during that visit with Dr. Erickson. Tamara Andreas co-authored with me the book, Core Transformation, as well as the Core Transformation Trainer Manual. The Wholeness Work came after going through a major life crises, where I knew I needed to find something that would go to a still deeper level. In my exploring, I was inspired by a specific spiritual teaching, and wondered if it might be possible to do what Eastern spiritual teachers call “dissolving the ego” in a specific, precise, and dependable way. Wholeness Work begins with a method for what we might call “dissolving the ego,” in such a way that life issues also dissolve. From there, the Wholeness Work has become a comprehensive way of working that can meet a wide range of human challenges. I think that the principles learned through Wholeness Work provide a way of understanding all change, that can make us more effective and precise in our other NLP work as well. The signature of both Core Transformation and the Wholeness Work are their gentleness and inclusiveness. These methods show us how we don’t need to get rid of anything in ourselves, to be Whole, to experience wellbeing, creativity, and wisdom.
My journey learning, teaching, and developing NLP began in 1977 when my husband and I attended an impromptu presentation at a conference. Aspects of this new field seemed like magic to us then. Yet other aspects seemed “familiar” because everything we were learning fit with experience and could be tested.
We both immersed ourselves immediately in learning and absorbing everything we could about this new field. As part of our early journey, we:
Along with learning, we looked for ways that we could contribute. At that time the only NLP books were academic in nature (such as The Structure of Magic), so we created the classic NLP books, Frogs in Princes, Trance-formations, Reframing, and Using Your Brain for a CHANGE, based on seminar transcripts of the NLP developers. These books brought NLP to life, and helped to bring NLP into mainstream awareness.
At that time there were no NLP Trainer materials, with the result that the quality of training was quite variable. We wrote comprehensive and detailed Trainer Manuals for Practitioner, Master Practitioner, and Trainer Training, initially just for our own trainer team. Eventually we made these available for wider use, with the hope that they would be a resource and help to improve training quality and consistency.
Through the book, Change Your Mind—and Keep the Change, we made available a series of new developments in the area of Advanced Submodalities. We were particularly excited to share our discovery of Personal Timelines–how it’s possible to map out and change the structure of personal timelines—and our modeling of grief recovery.
Our book, Heart of the Mind, provides a readable “case oriented” introduction and handbook of key NLP methods.
Other Contributions:
Core Transformation & Wholeness Work
These two methods I consider my most significant contributions. They both shift our mode of being in the world, in addition to helping us heal our personal issues and evolve as people. Both methods are the result of my personal life journey.
In 1979, I had the opportunity to visit Dr. Milton Erickson. During that visit, I experienced a personal transformation which was for me quite profound. I experienced a sudden sense of wellbeing that I couldn’t account for, and a simultaneous sense that a major life issue was resolved. The only problem was that this state didn’t last. This left me searching for how I could get it back.
Years later (in 1989), I developed Core Transformation, which is a systematic way of using our limitations as the doorway to access states of Peace, Oneness, and Presence. I have been pleased that this method offers a dependable access to what I experienced temporarily during that visit with Dr. Erickson. Tamara Andreas co-authored with me the book, Core Transformation, as well as the Core Transformation Trainer Manual.
The Wholeness Work came after going through a major life crises, where I knew I needed to find something that would go to a still deeper level. In my exploring, I was inspired by a specific spiritual teaching, and wondered if it might be possible to do what Eastern spiritual teachers call “dissolving the ego” in a specific, precise, and dependable way. Wholeness Work begins with a method for what we might call “dissolving the ego,” in such a way that life issues also dissolve. From there, the Wholeness Work has become a comprehensive way of working that can meet a wide range of human challenges. I think that the principles learned through Wholeness Work provide a way of understanding all change, that can make us more effective and precise in our other NLP work as well.
The signature of both Core Transformation and the Wholeness Work are their gentleness and inclusiveness. These methods show us how we don’t need to get rid of anything in ourselves, to be Whole, to experience wellbeing, creativity, and wisdom.
