The Essential Coaching Skills Podcast

Mark Andreas — son of Steve and Connie Ray Andreas, the NLP royalty family — talks about Core Transformation, a process his mother Connie developed when standard NLP wasn't working for her own deep issues. It goes beyond NLP techniques to reach what they call core states of being — love, oneness, wholeness, peace — by following negative emotions, habits and behaviors down to their deepest positive intention. 0:00 Introduction — Mark Andreas and Core Transformation 1:23 How Core Transformation was born 6:33 What Core Transformation actually is 7:04 Your worst emotions are the doorway 8:03 Mark's personal anger story 11:18 The insight that changes everything 18:03 How to learn Core Transformation 20:24 Live demo — the process in real time 29:46 Why this is the only method coaches need 33:09 You don't need the mind of Milton Erickson 33:39 The research — published APA journal 2026 35:38 2 sessions vs 40 sessions of CBT 42:23 Where to find Mark — andreasnlp.com ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership Stop trying to calm down when you are feeling anxious. It rarely works because you cannot force a shift with willpower alone. We are often told that the best way to handle distress is to just relax. But trying to force a calm state when your nervous system is activated usually leads to more frustration. Instead of fighting your thoughts, you can use your body to change your emotional state. This approach helps you shift your physical response to stress, which is often more immediate than cognitive reframing. By focusing on somatic regulation, you can find a way to relax in 60 seconds without relying on ineffective pep talks. If you find yourself stuck in a cycle of anxiety, try this physical shift and let me know how it changes your perspective in the comments. 0:00 Why 'Calm Down' Never Works 0:41 Origins of the 1-2-3 Technique 3:15 Understanding Your Nervous System 6:28 Step-by-Step Guide to the Technique 12:19 Taking a Mental Mini-Vacation ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/ BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Join 4k+ readers on the weekly newsletter https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com Most goal systems give you two choices: success or failure. Did the thing or didn't. Hit the goal or blew it. NLP Master Trainer Doug O'Brien has been developing something different for years — a four-level system he calls EASE that gives you four ways to win instead of one. EASE stands for: E — Easy: so small you can do it on your worst day A — Acceptable: not perfect but absolutely worthwhile S — Stretch: the original goal that challenges you E — Extraordinary: when everything comes together The real goal isn't the stretch level or the extraordinary level. The real goal is to stay in the game. Because consistency doesn't mean doing the same thing every day. It means keeping your relationship with the thing alive — even on the hard days when easy is the only win available. 0:00 Why we make change harder than it needs to be 1:00 The walking example — and where most goal systems fail 1:27 Introducing the EASE Method — four ways to succeed 1:45 E — The Easy level: what you can do on your worst day 2:04 A — The Acceptable level: perfectly respectable effort 2:28 S — The Stretch level: your original goal 2:50 E — The Extraordinary level: when everything clicks 3:40 The real goal — staying in the game 4:05 What consistency actually means 5:00 Your coaching assignment — pick one goal, set four levels 6:00 Why writing it down changes everything 7:15 Tomorrow — ask where am I on EASE, not did I succeed ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Bob Vetter is a cultural anthropologist who has spent the past five decades sitting with Native American elders, medicine people, and traditional healers, learning what they can teach us about healing, resilience, and living a meaningful life. Today he combines those insights with narrative medicine and transformational practices to help people become wiser healers, coaches, and mentors through his teaching, writing, and retreats. For more information visit his website www.bobvetter.com 0:00 What is sacred listening? 1:35 The sage ritual — and why it's just anchoring 5:20 The red bandana story — a dying healer transforms 19:00 Platika — the ancient heart-to-heart talk 27:00 Healing shrapnel — why stories heal the listener 32:00 The medicine man who slammed the door 44:30 How to use sacred listening as a coach today 53:00 Soul medicine — Bob's 12-week program ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Learn the origins of Havening Techniques with Dr. Steve Rudin. Discover how this approach supports mental well-being and emotional regulation. In this episode, Doug O'Brien hosts a conversation with Dr. Steve Rudin, one of the co-creators of the Havening Techniques.Dr. Rudin shares his unique perspective, drawing from his background as a surgical dentist to explain how these specific methods function in practice.This discussion is designed for anyone interested in psychological wellness, coaching frameworks, and practical tools for managing emotional states. The conversation highlights the development of these techniques and offers insights into why they are used by professionals today. Whether you are a practitioner or simply curious about the science behind stress relief methods, this episode provides a clear overview of the concepts Dr. Rudin developed. You will gain a better understanding of how these tools fit into modern coaching skills and therapeutic applications. Subscribe for weekly Essential Coaching Skills breakdowns, and comment below with your questions about the Havening Techniques. 0:00 Why behavior is an expression of biology — not the problem itself 4:45 Participation and relationship — the two foundations of human life 9:00 How your biology filters reality — the four people in the forest 14:30 Why telling yourself to stop something never works 18:00 The nail-biting story — tracing behavior to its biological root 23:00 Fear of heights, a childhood slide, and what changed everything 29:00 Presence — why nothing happens in a session without it 34:00 Curiosity, listening and reflection — the coaching tools that work biologically 43:00 Touch, breathing and movement — accessing the body to create change 52:00 Future planning — why buying a new car changes what you see on the road 57:00 Wonder and biologic safety — how all communication becomes effortless ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Have you ever noticed that your inner voice sounds completely certain — even when it's completely wrong? That inner voice telling you there's no hope, no way out, no point in trying — Owen Fitzpatrick calls it something more accurate: inner propaganda. Owen is a social psychologist, author, and keynote speaker who has spent decades studying how the inner voice forms beliefs, why those beliefs resist change, and what it actually takes to shift them. He has conducted field research in North Korea, Rwanda, and Afghanistan — studying the inner voice and belief in places where it gets weaponized. He has worked with Google, LinkedIn, and Pfizer. And his new book Inner Propaganda makes the case that the most dangerous inner voice isn't the one other people plant in you. It's the one you've been running on yourself. In this conversation with NLP Master Trainer Doug O'Brien, Owen breaks down exactly how your inner voice decides what feels true, why your inner voice is addicted to certainty, and what coaches, therapists, and practitioners need to understand before they ever try to change someone's beliefs. 0:00 Why your inner voice might be lying to you 4:45 How your inner voice forms beliefs — feel right, fit in, make sense 10:20 Why your inner voice can't be changed with logic 16:00 When your inner voice is just a membership fee to belong 22:30 Field research in North Korea, Rwanda and Afghanistan 29:00 How to retrain your inner voice and believe better Whether you're a coach, NLP practitioner, therapist, or someone whose inner voice has been holding them back — this episode will change how you understand the voice in your head. 🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES 🌐 Inner Propaganda book + free masterclass: https://innerpropaganda.com 🌐 Owen Fitzpatrick: https://owenfitzpatrick.com 📘 The User's Guide to Storytelling: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/users-guide-to-storytelling 🎓 Essential Coaching Skills Membership: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 🌐 Website: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com 📧 Newsletter: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter 🎙️ ABOUT DOUG O'BRIEN Doug O'Brien is an NLP Master Trainer, Ericksonian Hypnotherapist, and coach with over 35 years of experience. Certified by Tony Robbins and endorsed by Richard Bandler and Robert Dilts. He teaches coaches, therapists, and practitioners how to create lasting behavior change through NLP, Ericksonian hypnosis, storytelling, and nervous system-aligned coaching. 🎙️ ABOUT OWEN FITZPATRICK Owen Fitzpatrick is a social psychologist, author of nine books published in 21 languages, and one of the youngest NLP Master Trainers ever certified. He conducted field research in North Korea, Rwanda, and Afghanistan and has worked with Google, LinkedIn, and Pfizer. His new book Inner Propaganda is out August 4th, 2026. ---------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Can you actually talk to your enemies? Learn conflict resolution strategies from Larry Rosen, the founder of The Enemies Project. In this episode, we sit down with Larry Rosen to discuss his work mediating between people who view each other as political or personal enemies. After two decades of practice, he shares how to move from heated argument to genuine understanding. This conversation is for anyone who feels stuck in gridlock with family, friends, or colleagues and wants to learn how to keep the dialogue moving forward. We explore the practical side of how to mediate intense disagreements and navigate difficult conversations without escalating the tension. You will hear how Larry applies these techniques to bridge divides, helping people actually listen to one another rather than just waiting for their turn to speak. By examining the methodology behind The Enemies Project, you can apply these communication tools to your own life when faced with deep ideological conflict. FIND OUT MORE at https://www.enemiesproject.org/ Subscribe to this podcast for weekly breakdowns on navigating human connection, and let me know in the comments: what is the hardest conversation you have ever had to facilitate? ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

If you're a coach, NLP practitioner, or anyone who wants to access confidence, calm, or focus on demand — this short episode teaches you the Circle of Excellence, one of NLP's most practical and enduring tools for state control. JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter In this episode you'll learn: What the Circle of Excellence is and why it's been a core NLP tool since the beginning Why spatial anchoring works differently from a physical touch anchor — and when to use each The 4-step process to anchor any emotional state to a circle you can take anywhere How to choose the right color for the state you want How to test whether the anchor has set before you need it How to use it before presentations, coaching sessions, difficult conversations, or any situation where you want to show up at your best Why you can borrow confidence from one area of your life and bring it into another 0:00 Some days you're on — and some days you're not 0:39 What the Circle of Excellence is and why it works 1:50 How Doug used it on stage with his rock band in the 80s 3:36 Red circle for anger, blue circle for love — switching states mid-concert 4:36 Step 1: Choose the state you want 5:02 Step 2: Find a time you felt it before 5:54 Step 3: Pick a color and step in 6:47 Step 4: Test it — let the circle do the work 8:01 How to take your circle anywhere you go 8:47 Using it before presentations, coaching sessions, or any high-stakes moment ----------------------------------- BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership-aug2025 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/ --------------------- 🎙️ ABOUT DOUG O'BRIEN Doug O'Brien is an NLP Master Trainer, Ericksonian Hypnotherapist, and coach with over 35 years of experience. Certified by Tony Robbins and endorsed by Richard Bandler and Robert Dilts. He teaches coaches, therapists, and practitioners how to create lasting behavior change through NLP, Ericksonian hypnosis, storytelling, and nervous system-aligned coaching.

📩 JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter Your phone buzzes and your hand moves before your brain does.You hear a song from ten years ago and something hits you in the chest before you've even named the feeling.You walk into your childhood home and suddenly you're twelve again.None of that is random. None of it is weakness. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it learned to do — linking experiences together so fast you never see it coming. The technical term is anchoring. But what it means is this: you are being triggered, constantly, by things you didn't choose, wired in by experiences you may not even remember. 0:00 You're already being anchored — without realizing it 0:37 What NLP anchoring actually is 1:36 Music, smells, voices — triggers are everywhere3:03 Nobody can make you feel anything without your permission 4:03 Pavlov's dogs — and why you're no different 5:28 Your phone is doing it to you right now 6:24 Advertisers use this on you every day 7:22 How to create your own anchor — step by step 9:18 The exercise: anchor a feeling of confidence right now 11:01 Carol Burnett and why some of you just felt something 13:24 Smells, sounds, touch — every sense can carry an anchor 14:24 The insulin study: anchoring that worked inside the body ----------------------------------- 🔗BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH! JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE.https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership 🔗BECOME A MASTER AT STORYTELLING: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/users-guide-to-storytelling 🔗JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter 🔗NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coachingCONNECT ON 🔗LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/

Most coaches who struggle to get clients aren't bad at coaching. They're just running their practice as if being good at coaching is enough. It isn't. Michael Beale is a CEO coach, NLP trainer, and Marshall Goldsmith-certified coach who spent 30 years in corporate before building a coaching practice from scratch. He's put more systematic thought into what actually makes a coaching business work than almost anyone Doug has spoken with. 🎙️ ABOUT MICHAEL BEALE Director, Global Specialist in 1:1 NLP Training and Marshall Goldsmith Leadership Coaching. Business NLP Ltd 120 Porthcawl Green, Milton Keynes MK4 3AL, United Kingdom * * [email protected] +44 (0)1908 506563 Office +44 (0) 7944 388621 Mobile Michael's LinkedIn profile; https://www.linkedin.com/in/beale/ Michael's Zoom link is: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/7845595607?pwd=RHdzK3djUDZPQVhZbW5rZklxaWNBdz09 And his most important insight might be the one that surprises you most: the biggest factor in your coaching success isn't your skills. It's who you choose to work with. 0:00 Good coach ≠ good business 1:22 Michael's background 3:47 Corporate teaches you the wrong things 6:14 Starting a business is a hero's journey 9:11 The three things every coaching business needs 13:25 Marshall Goldsmith: choose the right clients 14:19 What a bad client really costs you 19:41 Michael's 4 client criteria 22:49 Why 3 taster sessions beats 1 25:00 Hunting, attraction, nurturing, paid 34:14 "Everyone" is a marketing disaster 43:57 The feedforward exercise ----------------------------------- 🎙️ ABOUT DOUG O'BRIEN Doug O'Brien is an NLP Master Trainer, Ericksonian Hypnotherapist, and coach with over 35 years of experience. Certified by Tony Robbins and endorsed by Richard Bandler and Robert Dilts. He teaches coaches, therapists, and practitioners how to create lasting behavior change through NLP, Ericksonian hypnosis, storytelling, and nervous system-aligned coaching. BECOME AN EXTRAORDINARY COACH!JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP NOW & Get My Six-Week Storytelling Course LIVE. https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/membership JOIN 3K+ READERS ON THE WEEKLY ESSENTIAL COACHING SKILLS NEWSLETTER: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/newsletters/the-essential-coaching-skills-newsletter NEED DOUG AS YOUR COACH? BOOK HERE: https://www.essentialcoachingskills.com/coaching CONNECT ON LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougobrien/