Pegasus NLP & Outdoor Activities

Pegasus NLP training courses and workshops have included outdoor activities since the early 90's. Initially these generally involved physical versions of the normal learning activities which we held in the open air.

However since early 1999 we have included a new dimension - outdoor events that produced a new experience in and of themselves.So nowadays, in our NLP courses in Hampshire and Dorset we have lots of activity - both indoor and outdoor. Instead of sitting and absorbing information you are actively engaged in discovering NLP through discussions, explorations, and activities.

This begins with our six-day NLP Core Skills course (Part 1 of our NLP Practitioner Programme) in which you get to go for a blindfold walk in the countryside, hug a tree (yes, really, and it is not compulsory!), experiment with team-building activities, do the Low Ropes course and do the thrilling High Ropes course.

Why do we have outdoor activities on all our courses?

Not just because they are great fun...

Not just because they enable people to mentally, physically and emotionally stretch themselves by taking part in unfamiliar activities...

Not just because they are great team-development experiences - which we consider a very important part of our team-based learning approach...

But because they enable us to develop something that is at the very core of NLP - the 'how is it possible?' attitude. This is the attitude that started the NLP behavioural modelling approach back in the early seventies and produced the insights and techniques that we call NLP today.

It's also what makes the difference between those who know NLP, or are good at it and those who 'live it'.

We're not just modelling 'behaviour'

The NLP approach to 'modelling' is not simply about the behaviour a person uses but about the things that go on 'in the background' which account for that behaviour: notably mental strategies and attitude (beliefs, values, meta-programmes, and self image).

Before, during and after an indoor or outdoor activity we use modelling to enrich our experience and the learnings we get from the experience. And whether it's canoeing on the lake or climbing the High Ropes or trying out archery we aim to engage the modelling attitude continuously.

For example

What are my assumptions, preferences, prejudices about this activity that I am about to do?

How am I doing it - what skills and strategies am I using?

Am I mainly self-talking or is my attention on the outside?

Do I have clear objectives - and what are they?

How do I handle obstacles and setbacks?

plus dozens of other questions...

... including the critical one: how is the manner in which I go about this mirroring how I go about challenging or unfamiliar tasks in my everyday life?

In this modelling process we are using NLP to learn NLP whilst having a great time stretching ourselves and moving outside our Comfort Zone.

John Grinder & Modelling

Apart from John Grinder the small band of enthusiasts who started the NLP ball rolling back in the mid 70's were not especially interested in physical activity.

However it is interesting to note that those who spent time with and emulated Grinder went on to develop a more 'physical' form of NLP whereas the rest led more conventional lives.

According to the NLP folklore Grinder used to be the walk-the-talk NLP modeller and used NLP approach to model African musicians and dancers, free-form rock climbers, and even used it to learn to fly a jet by modelling ex-Red Arrows pilot David Gaster (in return he coached Gaster in NLP  - a nice win-win skills' swap).

Scout Cloud Lee, one of Grinder's early students, began doing some great things with adventure, play and the Ropes' courses on her Oklahoma ranch back in the early eighties - and it's still going strong.

When I read her accounts of these experiments it inspired me. Unfortunately there was no way of learning NLP in this hands-on manner in the UK at the time so I learned it the conventional way - sitting in training rooms and taking notes.

But the seed had been sown and years later I began running NLP trainings at an outdoor activity centre in the New Forest. By this stage I had attended or assisted in or presented conventional trainings for quite a number of years and had been impressed with the results achieved by participants.

However I was unprepared for the quite significant improvement in the results that people attained when they learned NLP training in a more activity-oriented manner.

They didn't just learn a few techniques - they also developed a significant shift in attitude towards themselves, towards others, and towards the potential that they could see NLP offering them for their future.

They didn't have to try to remember what they were learning - they learned by doing and experimenting, effortlessly.

They didn't just 'learn about' NLP - they were doing it.

They didn't have to remember to 'do NLP' - they reported discovering, after an interaction, that they'd been using it unconsciously.

I still don't know why this is so - but I have a few clues...

The fresh air, physical activity, and informal setting is good for body, mind, spirit, and for inter-personal relationships.

This form of learning NLP creates a wonderfully empowering team-bond between participants .

Moving your body about keeps it flexible which helps keep the mind flexible too. When outdoor activities are part of the programme you rarely get the energy lags that are common to hotel-based trainings.

It's a stretch for most of us, especially those who have not been as physically active as they used to be. A stretch that often resurrects an interest in keep the body healthy and flexible.

All activities can be used as metaphors. For example your approach to climbing a tree and walking along a high beam can be a metaphor for how you approach challenges in your daily life. If you have a hesitant stop-start approach to the tree do you also have a stop-start approach to beginning a relationship? Or a business venture?

It's fun - and we learn best when having a good time.

We learned how to stand, walk and speak our native language by experimenting and playing and in a hands-on manner - not by studying - so perhaps that's a better way to learn...

There is more information about NLP here

NLP FAQ

Why learn NLP

How to learn NLP

Where to learn NLP - and how to choose a training provider

NLP Core Skills - our course in the New Forest

What's special about Pegasus NLP Trainings

What people have said about our courses

How we integrate NLP with outdoor activities