Gavin started by checking out our understanding of “Time Lines”.
Using his cartooning skills (gained from a previous session, did you miss that one? Shame it was great!) he illustrated how humans sort time spatially. Having set the context he then gave us the content.
Following the Introduction we were going to do a ‘Baseline’ exercise, taken from the art of “Improvisation”. Then we would split into smaller groups to experiment with our “Time Line”. This would take us past the ‘break’ and into a ‘Test’ exercise to calibrate any changes we had made using our “Time Lines”, and on to the close.
Before the ‘Baseline’ exercise Gavin led us in an  exploration of our own “Time Line” by explaining the two main formats that are acknowledged through NLP as the most common basic directions for sorting time.
“In Time” when our line comes from behind us in our past to in front of us in our future. The present being directly in our head or slightly in front of us.
“Through Time” when our line goes from side to side. One side is the past the other is the future. The present is once more somewhere in front!
We took a straw poll to discover who was “In Time” and who was “Through Time” and who  was neither or both of these, and Gavin reassured us that “In a group of this size that’s about what I’d expect”!! (Trainer speke). The discussion grew as we compared our own inimitable (correct) version of “In” or “Through” with nuances of angle, direction and degree of involvement or connection with “Now”. Gavin ‘shared’ the received wisdom of a timeline for “a normally sorted right handed person”. Not many presuppositions in there then! We also discussed the ability to change a “Time Line” to suit context. With examples from the group about how they had changed theirs to be more useful and a comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of each main system of time sorting. Gavin admitted that as an “In” time person he used to have problems with time keeping and wondered if others had also found this.
This realisation prompted him to move us on to the ‘Baseline’ exercise, a sort of limbering up and loosening game. In groups of four or five we played ‘Firing Line’.  A word association game with a difference. The ‘firing line’ fired words at the ‘victim’ (taking it in turns) and the ‘victim’ responded with the first word that came into their head. Very quickly we discovered it was easier being shot at than shooting. The words didn’t have to make any sense and the fact that there were several people ‘firing’ meant there was no particular relevance to any of the words. This was quite a ‘freeing’ experience. We re-gathered and shared our insights.
After the Hors d’Oeuvres, time now for the main course. Gavin set an open frame for the “Time Line” exercise. The objective to ‘find a time when’ we felt creative, innovative and spontaneous. To revisit that time and fully enjoy all the modalities. Then to anchor these to a pre-decided anchor and  return to now with this ‘updated’ and anchored resource. Then walking into our future and firing the anchor to see / hear/ feel and taste ourselves being more creative and spontaneous. In threes we took it in turns to be ‘explorer’ ‘facilitator’ and ‘observer’. We started this before the break and incorporated the break into our own schedules. The frame Gavin gave us was purposely loose so we were free to improvise and ‘go with the flow’ of the explorer’s needs and desires, and even to accommodate their particular “Time Line”.
There was plenty of time to explore for all of us. Then time to ‘test’ the effectiveness of what we had just done.
The ‘test’ game involved us being split into two groups. A stayed in the room and B left the room. Gavin gave A instructions to imagine themselves in a job or profession which they had to communicate to B without the use of words. Gobbledy Gook is OK, and as much sign language and acting out as possible. The instructions for B, were to work out what the heck A was trying to show us and once we had guessed to lead the action to show A we understood. This was the ‘future’ we had anchored our spontaneity for! There was much hilarity, some excellent Gobbledy Gook, and a lot of acting out. Then the roles were reversed and A had to discover what B was up to.  My demonstration of Reflexology had nearly everyone confused! Was I being too creative? Is my Gobbledy Gook sub standard? Am I just no good at rubbing feet? Maybe taking all my clothes off was going just a bit too far!!
(Its all right, I didn’t really take them off).
We sat back down to ‘wash up’ the evening and Gavin brought proceedings to a close at exactly 10.00 pm. WOW! He’s obviously getting better at time control!!
Thanks Gavin for a fun evening with a positive value in allowing us to think outside the box. Taking some NLP ‘basics’ and mixing them to make a new way to be more resourceful.
Remember, “Innovation is an ongoing process”. (Pamela Gawler-Wright).

Here is the link to the Improvisation Trainers Gavin worked with.
They Are Called "Sprout Impro" and their website is www.sproutideas.co.uk
They are inexpensive! Check them out.

Return to NLP-South main site