Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Beyond Human Anthony Robbin's Products?

Are there any opinions on Anthony Robbin's products? Which ones do you highly recommend?

While I got my introduction to NLP through Anthony Robbins, I don't care to recommend anything by him.

He is good at motivating people, but a lot of what he says is empty rhetoric. For instance, a pattern of his is to raise a bunch of emotional energy through talking about something of concern and getting the listener to imagine a great solution. He then talks about a technique that does not necessarily have anything to do with resolving the kind of problem he addresses.

He takes a lot of good ideas from people who are good at thinking, but he is not such a good thinker himself. He's a good motivator and a good marketer, that's all.

I'd recommend looking into material and seminars by the people who taught him. John Grinder and Richard Bandler still do seminars, and there is a whole load of material available on NLP.

And if you want to read about the people who inspired Bandler and Grinder, then look at Gregory Bateson, Virginia Satir, and Milton Erickson.

The places I've been to for NLP seminars have been NLP Comprehensive and NLP University. NLP Comp. is more hands on and professional. NLP U. is more academic. Both have something unique to offer. I'd suggest NLP Comprehensive to a first timer.

Babayada, what products do you recommend by John Grinder and Richard Bandler? I'm not really into attending seminars and prefer products I can work with from the comfort of my home.

What sort of products do you want?

There are books, seminars on CD/tape, hypnosis tapes....

Richard Bandler has a truck load availabe at purenlp.com.

John Grinder has a number of books co-authored with Bandler available through amazon.com. Seminars and what not in audio are availabe at http://www.metamodels.com/maps/psychology,nlptapes.html#G&A

[This message has been edited by babayada (edited July 22, 2004).]

NYC_Dweller,

Fellow New Yawker here. For hands on NLP skills that you can use in the real world and not just in a therapeutic setting, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND Tom Vizzini's Essential Skills videos. For more info, check out: www.essential-skills.com

Hope this helps,

Web

Not to leave us totally putting down on TR - I found that his Personal Power series was very helpful (and motivating) and it probably gives you most of what can be gained from his products, if you had to only have one.

You could get a cheaper copy of the set through eBay, especially if you like working with audiotapes. But there are also deals on the CD version there.

It is also possible to find this set at some public libraries.

I have the audio sets "Unlimited Power" and "Personal Power" as well as the books "Unlimited Power" and "Awaken the Giant Within." Tony's best products he has are the "Unlimited Power" book and 6-tape audio set. "Personal Power" is full of fluff IMO.

I'll second the Essential-Skills products and training by Tom and Kim. They are the best I've seen in teaching how to anchor other people in non-therapy situations.

Another good source is Ross Jeffries. Even if you have no interest at all in seduction his material for personal change and communications if far ahead of what Tony teaches.

For learning therapy from what I've heard NLP Comprehensive is one of the best sources. They also have a book and audio series in the introductory/general success catagory, "NLP: The New Technology of Achievement."

Re: essential skills

I'd also recommend getting on the nlp newsgroups and reading the kinds of immature, self-adulating, and castigating posts Tom Vizzini makes before shelling out any money for his products.

Out of curiosity I bought a set of essential skills CDs. Disappointment galore. My advice: don't waste your money.

The generalization that NLP Comprehensive and other places only teach you how to use NLP in a therapeutic context is inaccurate. Even when the skills are taught within the context of therapy, anyone with half a brain can generalize them easily into other contexts. However, NLP Comprehensive teaches NLP techniques with regard to many contexts, and they do it extremely well. I have been to quite a few educational facilities, the education at NLP Comp was the best educational experience I've had in my life.

At the risk of being snotty, I have to say that the essential skills crew and Ross Jeffries are slimy and sleazy. Of the two I prefer Jeffries. He can actually teach some good stuff, even though it is oversimplified and cheesy at times.

If you guys want the non-therapeutic, fun approach why not go to Bandler for it? I mean, these other guys are just cheap imitations when you get down to it.

You put any of them next to Bandler and, well, what you have is a nuclear bomb among some firecrackers. The choice is pretty clear.

[This message has been edited by babayada (edited July 22, 2004).]

I do not care for Anothy Robbins products. I have tried them and they seem to be alot of hype. His products were my first experience with self-help and NLP, so it was fun and exciting at first, but looking back, I spent alot of money on his tape sets and got very little out of them. It does seem that there are people who are helped with his products, so they are not useless.

I was also turned off when I found out about Robbins' divorce. He was always big on relationships in his tape sets and when I heard what happenned, it was a complete turn off.

I also like Bandler's Personal Enhancement Series. The wealth tape did little for me, but the tapes are very entertaining and I feel better after listening to them. If you want to learn more about NLP, you could also visit: www.nlpanchorpoint.com

If that was in response to what I said about NLP Comprehensive then you misunderstood my point. From what I've seen they are probably the best around for learning therapy and I plan to train with them someday. Sure, they teach other applications but IMO if you want to do therapy you should seriously consider training with them. As I said, for general success "NLP: The New Technology of Achievement" is a good book or audio set. IMO while nowhere near as exciting as "Ulimited Power" I learned a far more from it and found it much more useful.

Personally I don't care about how Tom or Ross act on alt.psychology.nlp. I don't read that forum and from what I heard at least for Ross creating contraversy is part of his marketing. I have some their products and they are good for what they are designed for. I'll also add Kenrick Cleveland to the list. These are good sources to learn NLP for persuasion and other applications for non-therapists. Therapists would require additional training IMO. IMO NLP Comprehensive is in a different market and is not really in competition with Tony, Tom, or Ross.