Letters and Testimonials
(continued)

June 30, 1996

Hey Rex!

Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know what's been going on since I took the three-day training last year... and why I've been too busy to come back for the practitioner this year! <grin>

I've bought a house and remodeled it with my fiancee... oh, yes, that was after I got engaged. We will be married in late September; we've already planned everything and will spend next to nothing yet have everything exactly as we want it.

I've found new meaning and new directions in my work, and in life itself. Best of all, I've been gratefully able to share the fruits of my discoveries with both my fiancee and my best friend, helping them discover their own new perspectives on life and living.

So much for the obvious external stuff, the stuff that's easy to write about and good testimonial fodder. It's not that those things aren't great, they really aren't the point, of course. The real point is knowing that I can make the leap of faith from choice to action to result... and the universe will catch me on the other side. It *is* possible to make something from nothing... in fact, the ONLY way to make something is from nothing.

It was only about six weeks ago that Leslie was wondering how we could possibly afford to get married this year and still have the honeymoon we wanted. I told her that the problem wasn't that we didn't have enough money, it was that we hadn't decided whether we were going to do it. If we decided we were going to do it, we would figure it out, I told her. We had accomplished more, with less, buying the house. Now, of course, we have a completely figured-out budget and know without a doubt what we're going to do. And just the other day I couldn't help but smile when I heard her telling someone else to believe in themselves, that if they decide to do something, anything is possible.

Please feel free to use this as a testimonial letter if you like. I know people won't "get it" from reading it, just like I didn't "get it" before I came to your class. They may think it's about visualizing weird shapes and making mind machines, and for some, that's what it will be. For me, it was the example that you set that showed me another whole level of experience in life. And when you pushed me to give my best, I discovered that I never really owned my abilities before, never used them in my own service or the service of others, but only employed them to feed my ego or to escape difficult situations.

You and Carolyn talk about how it's not the techniques, dammit. It's so much not about techniques that it's really laughable to me now how badly I wanted to learn the techniques when I came to that class and spent a good part of the first day or two wondering when the hell you were going to teach us some techniques! Now it's so clear that techniques are on a logical level below where personal transformation takes place -- they are inside the Skinner box of stimulus-response, and true transformation is realizing that you can always make a bigger box, a bigger frame, a bigger meaning that changes the little meanings inside it. AND realizing that even that idea is just another box, but that's okay, you can always get a bigger one when you outgrow this one.

'Nuff said. You all take care out there, and perhaps I'll be seeing you next year!

Phillip-Julian Eby

Dear Rex and Carolyn,

I would just like to take a moment to personally thank you, Rex. The training is really starting to integrate well. I have noticed many wonderful positive changes. Actually the other day I was reading the your marketing letter, you know the one where you guys make all of those far out claims. Those ones about how Rex trains and all of the benefits the training will offer etc... Actually the ones which I thought were a serious exaggeration when I came on the training !!

Well, I have found first hand that they weren't. In actual fact, you delivered, you delivered BIG TIME ! Your training has become a very prominent and useful tool in my life and my personal development, and one which I'm using and will continue to use for the rest of my ooohh good time !! on Earth.

Thank you very much Rex for the opportunity to be trained by you !!! and yes I'm seriously anticipating the next time !!

David Lucas
South Africa

Dear Rex and Carolyn,

As spring begins here in Iowa, my thoughts are turning again to which NLP training to attend this summer. I appreciate the reviews you publish, which give various perspectives, and would like to include, for your readers, my perspective on the training I received last summer.

A colleague and I attended the Master Track with Rex Sikes in WI. This two week training was truly outstanding. As a college professor in psychology I attend many conferences and I'm afraid I have to admit that I am not very easy to impress. However, I am thinking of going back this summer to the same training because of many factors:

(1) I am more competent....Something switched in my brain during this training, from worrying about knowing which technique to use when, to feeling competent and confident that I was beginning to understand the underlying processes enough to generate techniques appropriately, as necessary. This has made a dramatic impact on how I approach counseling clients, and my success with them.

(2) I am happier....the training helped me discover new skills, clarify values and goals, change some unwanted behaviors, and wipe out some barriers that were holding me back from moving ahead quickly in life. Moving ahead means different things for different people, of course, but for me it meant a career change, more comfort level with ambiguity, more faith in my own abilities to take charge and build my destiny...I'm not certain what path I'll take next but for the first time in my life that is AOK. This comfort zone is a direct result of Rex's program and the challenge and learning that happened there.

(3) The training was packed ... I don't go to NLP trainings because I have nothing better to do with my time or money. I go for specific goals and I like high value, high usefulness, for my money. I have found this level of high value packed into Rex's training. The Master Track was like a bootcamp of sorts: full days, full nights of learning. I felt the training was set up like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the inquiring mind: you could choose to stick with a modest fare or go wild...the training was so multi-layered.

(4) Rex and Carolyn are both great people....at my previous NLP training (which was also very good) I didn't get to actually know my instructors...they seemed very busy, and sometimes removed themselves quickly after classes...which I can understand because with 70 students...well...you can only stretch so far. But the Sikes Master Track could not be more opposite. Rex limits class size dramatically...we had about 15 people. Rex was available every single day, ate each meal with us, and sat up to the wee hours as long as there were people who wanted to talk. We learned much at 1 a.m. I was very impressed with the total devotion of Rex and Carolyn to our class, and their unending energy to give to us as long as we wanted to learn. Carolyn is a decided asset to the training and worked with us individually by request.

(5) Besides being an interesting, stimulating person, Rex is fantastically competent....he is truly very funny (we laughed so much, so often, so consistently), dynamic, and an absolute master of NLP. One of the reasons I want to go back is to watch with new eyes what he does presenting, eliciting, anchoring, etc., and listen with new ears...his language usage is amazing. He constantly models what he is teaching. (constantly???...well...generalizations aside...it seemed so!) Rex has an exceptional skill for working with a group of people and making his presentation seem "for you", very personal, at the same time. His teaching skills are outstanding...again, the smorgasbord analogy works here...there are multiple layers of training going on if one keeps one's eyes and ears open. This is vitally important when assessing the value of an NLP training.

(6) Classmates and accommodations: both quite agreeable. Because of the small group size and the meal arrangements (we all ate together as a family) I got to know several classmates well. What an interesting group, from all occupations, from several countries. Their varying experiences enriched my learning. Several people in our class had already had prior trainings with Rex and were quite happily and eagerly back for more...they gave us inside tips and insights. The retreat center we stayed at was lovely and tranquil with blooming prairie grasses, ponds, miles of walking trails, and a kind, attentive staff. Bring BUG spray..BIG cans! The food was good, buffet style, many choices, even for vegetarians. I felt the rooms and retreat center had the feel of a monastic setting almost, enjoyable but simple, so you could focus. No flashing lights down the street and sirens going off across town here. There was this quaint little bar we frequented a mile down the road where we tried our skills on the locals...fun.

(7) In sum...the Sike's Master Track in Wisconsin was a catalyst for change for me and many others...an excellent value for the money spent...and a dynamic NLP experience. The breadth of NLP information and opportunity for attitude change was uplifting. Not only did I learn a depth of NLP, but the training was an invitation to excel, to connect. I heartily recommend Sikes.

Patricia Linehan
Assistant Professor of Psychology
William Penn College

Dear Rex and Carolyn,

It's hard to believe that it has been over six months since Master
Practitioner training and over nine months since Practitioner training. So
many wonderful things have happened in my life and I feel a great deal of
it has to do with everything I have learned from you both. My NLP skills
have not only stayed with me, they have grown and touched many areas of my life and allowed me to touch the lives of others.

Recently a friend of mine broke his leg, playing Soccer. The doctors
opened his leg (from ankle to knee) to put pins and rods along side his
bones. While his leg was open there was so much swelling the doctors could
not get his leg closed. The doctors told him that if the swelling didn't
go down in a week that they would have to perform a skin graph in order to
close his leg. My friend didn't like the idea of peeling skin from one
area of his body to cover a large opening in another area of his body, so
he asked me, "Is there anything you can do for me?" I told him, "That
depends on what you want." He told me that he just wanted the swelling in
his leg to go down enough so the doctors could close his leg. I went to
the hospital that evening and did some closed eye work with him. He wanted
to know why I had him close his eyes so I told him, "I am going to be
talking to your leg and I want you to see just how relaxed your leg is
getting, even as we listen to the sound of my voice...." Within two
minutes he was so far gone that even when a nurse came in and started
talking to him he kept right on going developing his own special place
where he could relax. Prior to my working with him on that evening he had
not been able to move his toes. While he was out he was able to move his
toes freely. He called me the next day to report that he slept for six
hours straight, that was four hours more than he had been able to sleep
before and he didn't need any morphine for over eight hours. I went back
and worked with him the next two nights and then it happened. On the last
day (before the skin graph) the doctors went back in a closed his leg.

Pretty cool huh? It was a piece of cake for a Master Practitioner of NLP.

I have been able to you NLP in my work as well. Until recently I thought I
had only been using it to model the strategies of the best programmers and
project managers I know. I was kidding myself. NLP is something I have
been using everyday to create rapport with my coworkers, clients, friends
and family.

I am look forward to continuing my learning with you this summer. So I can
thank you in person. Until then.

Namaste,

Thomas W. Olson, President
The Advance Group, inc.
Minneapolis, MN

Dear Rex and Carolyn,

It's been 6 to 9 months since I took practitioner and master training. I have personally attended three seminars with Idea seminars this year. I did NLP practitioner training in June and Master training in August and trainers training in October. The reason I've done so much is because I'm so impressed with Rex's style and effectiveness. I give it my highest recommendation.

This stuff is great and I find myself using it unconsciously as well as consciously all the time. It has had a really significant and positive impact on both my personal and professional life. I am being significantly more effective in my efforts and interactions. I'm living a wonderful, and a part of the reason for that is due to the idea seminars training.

Mike Reitzel, Vice President, Cincinnati, OH

November 24, 1996
(He took the training in July 1995)

Dear Rex and Carolyn,

I never knew that learning could be so much fun. It was a mind blowing experience to say the least. I would without hesitation recommend your training to any NLP practitioner who wishes to go beyond text book techniques that are the staple of most NLP trainings or any person who's seeking to improve their life.

Of all my NLP trainers, Rex is the most effective and dynamic one... With him you get an example of what happens when you apply NLP an accelerated learning to training. Where other trainers talk about training, Rex does it. You'll learn more, faster and easier than you thought possible. While other trainers follow a fixed format Rex designs the training around the students so you don't get the assembly line approach to training. Also he keeps the class size small so you actually get personalized attention, not some assistant who my or may not know what there're doing and his installation skills are fantastic, you are learning new skills without even realizing it. No other trainer had anything remotely resembling Rex's installation skills. If you wanted to model anyone for presentation and training skills, Rex would be the one.

I also came to realize how I was shortchanged by another NLP organization in quality of my instruction. After training with Rex... I came to the conclusion that my the trainers in the other organization did not keep up with the latest technology nor how to teach people properly. The way Rex... trains is so far removed from how my previous instructors worked isn't even funny. I would never go back to that other NLP institute. Their training was slow and laborious at best. I had a better time waiting at the DMV than being at their practitioner seminar. Some of their instructors came unprepared for class and another, for lack of a better term, was just rude. In one instance I say two of their internationally known trainers run a 21 year old college student through a 3 hour re-imprint pattern in which the student re-lived his abuse as a child and also his mother being beaten. (As far as I can tell they had him associate into these experiences). Afterwards the student was worse for wear. I know because I ended up working with him. No one else wanted to in the seminar that day.

To the NLP practitioner, you'll learn how to create your own patters as needed and make your work easier. You will learn how to go beyond the remedial change mode that of NLP (This is a result of the therapeutic bent of most of the trainers, not NLP itself) and into true generative change for yourself and your clients.

So in closing, if you want to learn, have fun and design a better life for yourself, Rex Sikes... is just the ticket.

Here are a few of my experiences as a result...

1. Because of the training, I realized that the job I was working at was not what I really wanted and changed the situation. I now enjoy working in a position that is much more suited to my tastes.

2. In one instance, I used it to remove my mothers fear of driving after a traffic accident. I made up the technique on the spot...

3. My attitude is now one of " LET'S DO IT AND HAVE FUN WHILE DOING IT". This has certainly helped me in solving complex computer networking problems. When my co-workers groan about a tough problem, I adopt the state of "hmmm, something new to learn." As a rule, I don't learn form easy problems, only from the hard ones.

4. The ability to alter my state to suit the moment. Why get stressed out when you can access or create the most enjoyable feelings imaginable at a moments notice. Or make those magical moments in life available anytime you want. Be with a close friend or loved one and make those times truly delightful for yourself and those around you.

5. Vacations are more enjoyable. Imagine being able to distort your you sense of time to make an hour seem like a day and a day seem like a week. Time distortion with enhanced sensory acuity makes for a powerful combination.

6. I am able to notice other people's Meta-programs. It was probably the most difficult part of my training. People give it away. It is just a matter of paying attention to what people are doing. In a business context, it is fascinating to notice what Meta-programs are predominant.

7. I also just begun a business venture with my brother and I expect to be doing this business full time within 8 months.

Life has truly become a wondrous experience - magic surrounds us and now is the time to explore it. Thank you again Rex... for introducing me to this powerful technology...

Live long and prosper,

Rodger Clampitt

May 22, 1993

Dear Rex,

It has been over a year since I have last trained with you and everyday the learning you gave me before more powerful and generative. I am writing to you both as a thank-you, and a message you can show people who may be thinking about doing your training (GO FOR IT).

Surprisingly, there are a few people I would not recommend you to. These are people who are afraid of change, people who don't want to rise above the status quo to a level of excellence, people who don't want to challenge their beliefs, people who don't want to test the limits of possibilities. Rex, I may not recommend you to these people, but I think the world would be a rich and wonderful place if everybody trained with you.

I have trained with many NLP training institutes (over 10) from coast to coast... You distinguished yourself from other trainers because you were not just doing NLP techniques, or even DHE techniques. You were training people to go beyond just living the principles of NLP. You taught me how to live a life that exemplifies the presuppositions, and principles of DHE. There are many NLP trainers that I can recommend for remedial change or even transformation. However, Rex, you are one of the only trainers who successfully teaches people generative change, learning, and transformation as a way of life. Rex, you elegant skills, sense of humor, and ability to stay on the leading edge make you a trainer I recommend to people who want a life of joy and excellence, and will only settle for the very best in training. Rex, I've also learned to practice NLP and DHE with heart from you. You teach people that NLP is more than just techniques, NLP is an attitude, and a way of acting.

Rex, I hope to have the opportunity to hand out with you and swap jokes, and stories in the near future!

Thank You.

Michael Halbfish

Thomas J. Treder
Milwaukee, WI

Rex:

Thank you for the outstanding work you did with the New Warrior-Milwaukee Council in our Team building Workshop held last July, which you custom-designed for us. I want to share my personal observations of the profound impact those six hours with six men appear to have had in the community at large all this past year.

I'm impressed, first of all, that you showed up as agreed. Ordinarily this is no more than one would expect; however, you had just had a major schedule rearrangement which required you to drive all night from Kalamazoo to Milwaukee just to arrive on time. A man of less integrity and commitment may have found such an obstacle a reasonable excuse to postpone; you didn't. You were on time, prepared, organized, and seemed perfectly willing to spend the whole day.

Within the first ninety minutes, watching us attempt to handle some business, you accurately diagnosed the key issues that were slowing the Council down, from and unclear mission to unmanaged personality conflicts. After diagnosis, the treatment: You elicited a mission statement, provided basic instruction on effective goal setting, and then developed new procedures for handling conflicts and liberating the great passion for which the Warrior Training flatters itself. And those new procedures worked - by day's end the group had transformed from dull, slow, and frustrated to fun, fast and on-task. It was like switching from a Ford Fairlane to an F-16. We were flying! And all in less than the six hours we'd scheduled. Miracle!

Of course, if all we'd gotten was a quick "bang" that fizzled out the next time we met, we really would not have accomplished much. That wasn't the case. At the very next council meeting, a firestorm broke out when one member suggested that the council get outrageous and conduct a Warrior Training all on its own, without permission or referrals from Bill Kauth, the founder of the Warrior Training. It was a dramatic turn. Much of the Council discussion for the previous year had focused on Kauth; complaints about what Kauth did, complaints about what he didn't do, urgency about getting control of the Trainings away from him, carping about how much cheaper the Training would cost and how much better the training would be and how many more guys would come to our drummings and how much more fun we all could have if only Kauth weren't running the show... But at a the very next meeting after our team building workshop with you, the Council suddenly said to itself, "LET'S PARTY!!!" and that night laid out a plan that, three months later, and in find cooperation with the founder, produced a fine result; the first Milwaukee-Area Benefit New Warrior Training. Miraculous!

What you helped create that day was a group capable of radical (when necessary) self-transformation in service to a mission. That mission is "JUICE"... men jazzed on life, having fun, feeling great dignity and honor just for being men, and using that jazz and great dignity to serve others. And what juice we've had! Drummings and 'talking stick' rap sessions are again held regularly, with large and increasing attendance (reversing a three-year trend of decline). They're lovin' it! National personalities in the men's movement were brought in to speak, again with large attendance. More events are being planned. Powerful!

You challenged the Council to DO SOMETHING - pointing out that it was outrageous, given the wild enthusiasm we generated with our weekend trainings, that out Council meetings weren't the hottest, jumpin'-est parties in town. Get crazy!... have fun!... and then DO SOMETHING! you said. Well, we're doing something, Rex. We're starting to do a lot. With all our talent and desire, we should be! But why wasn't this happening before? Can I really credit you with all the new developments? Couldn't we have gotten "juiced" without you?

Maybe.

Were we? No.

I'd played with you in your other workshops. Rex, and that's why I invited you to ply with the New Warriors. in the past ten years, I've met scores of therapists, trainers and helpers of all stripes, from clinic volunteers to (one or two) television personalities. You're the best. I'm convinced that you helped us tremendously to bring more juice, jazz and all kinds of joy to hundreds of Warriors all this past year - and, no doubt, to their families, co-workers, clients and customers. On behalf of all of them, once again, many thanks. I hope to play with you again soon.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. Treder
1992 Co-chair, New Warrior-Milwaukee Council

September 21, 1992

Dear Rex,

I'm writing this letter to thank you and recommend your services to others. Please feel free to use this as a letter of recommendation.

I originally contacted you regarding my needs for your training services. From our first conversation, you demonstrated a wonderfully high level of care and thoughtfulness. In the final evaluation from all participants, your work had a tremendous payoff to them.

Your work here at Learning Strategies accomplished two purposes. You nicely put the finishing touches on several months of NLP training for my class and brought them to new depths of personal integration.

Without exception, the group was wildly enthusiastic about our work with them. They felt they received value many times over that they invested. As a result, you've made me a hero and a genius for bringing you here.

Thanks very much. It is a pleasure and honor to know you as a person of such great devotion to his work.

Sincerely,

Paul R. Scheele, MA
Author, "PhotoReading: The Whole Mind System" and "Natural Brilliance"
Learning Strategies Corp.
Minneapolis, MN

March 14, 1993

Dear Rex:

It's now some four months plus, since my completion of IDEA's training and certification course I wanted to share my thoughts with you. As a businessman, one of my first thoughts in retrospect was: "was the time and money worth it?"

Truthfully, before my mind even completed that thought I grinned, recalling in a rush of V-K's a.) the sheer personal delight of the training environment that you and your very competent staff produced, b.) the quantum leap-like improvements in my understanding and utilization of the conventional NLP Submodalities paradigm and finally, c.) that the materials are truly the result of... ongoing explorations into the questions of "why do humans behave as humans, and how can I deduce and use the implicit rules to restructure the experience of personal reality?" Whew, what a rush! The more direct answer is simply, YES!

Your training course, with heavy emphasis on total-immersion experiential learning creates genuine competency in demonstrating the theoretical as opposed to most trainings, which rely on perpetuated abstract myths. You offer the difference between talking about, and doing! ...

Warmest Regards,

Ed Ebert, Jr. Principal
EcoSoft Engineering

December 8, 1993

Dear Rex,

When I first heard of (your training), I was intensely curious... and very skeptical... I wanted something that would enhance my previous training in NLP to help me become a better trainer, a more skilled change artist, and a happier person. After attending your training, I realize that these were very, very low expectations indeed!

Since then, my work has been more productive and fun, my abilities have increased in quantum leaps, and a while new world of possibilities continues to open up for me.

When I told this to a friend of mine the other day, he asked me, "What have you been using that you learned at Rex's training?" I realized that, although I continue to use many of the techniques, what has been more important has been the pervasive shift in my attitude so that each day, life becomes more and more of an adventure of discovery.

Now, more than a year after completing your training, I would urge them to find their most compelling reasons for wanting to attend and then realize... THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!

Sincerely,

Sean P. Kearney
Training Director

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