Changeworks Central-Reviews-Thomas Condon's Dynamic Enneagram Workshops

Comments from Participants

"Tom's adroit integration of NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis has been invaluable to my own understanding and application of the Enneagram. As has been my past experience and is true once again, Tom's knowledge, skill and manner added new dimensions to a richly complex subject. Anyone who has the opportunity to work with Tom, either one-on-one or in a workshop format will be greatly enriched by the experience. I cannot recommend him highly enough."
- Ed Morler, MBA, Ph.D., Executive/Organizational Consultant/Trainer/Coach

"This was a rich, informative and enjoyable program. I can find uses for the tools in all aspects of my life." -Wayne Gerber, consultant

"Tom's indepth knowledge, presence, timing, grace and humor are magical to experience. What a gift." - Susan Nordyke, instructor, Vocational Counseling

"I really appreciated learning about the 'resources' of each wing and thinking about sensory modalities in terms of each point. I also appreciated seeing NLP in context."
-Patrick J. Wardell, Social Worker/Educator

"People gather. Tom talks. Things happen. At first it's hard to see the relationship between the talk and the happenings, but by the fifth day, it is clear that this talk is eclectically informed and idiosyncratically brilliant, thus producing unexpected changes in people open to change." - Mary Nelson, Spiritual Director

"This workshop is a must for anyone who wants to combine their knowledge and experience of NLP and Ericksonian Hypnosis with the Enneagram." -Julian Wick, Pastor/Professional Court Mediator

"A very powerful learning experience. Deep process and content, delivered on target with humor." -Bill Faust, Organizational Development and creativity consultant

"As a long-time practicioner of the Enneagram and a relatively new NLP student, I found that the opportunity to work with both disciplines in a relaxed spacious format was invaluable. Tom Condon provides a valuable service to all students of human effectiveness." - Courtney Behm, Management Advisor and Personal Coach

"Tom Condon is a gifted teacher, perceptive and intuitive as he worked with each of us. His kindness, tact, and compassion were evident throughout the weekend, which built trust and rapport. It was a joy to watch him work with others and be a recipient of his insights and help." - Beverly Sorensen, Enneagram Teacher

"An invaluable clinical perspective from someone who knows the Enneagram cold. Tom is a teacher's teacher." - Rita Heller M.S.W.

"The workshop was dynamite! Tom's skill combined with his caring and humor makes his workshops easy to recommend to anyone who wants to change and grow." - Hal Harber, Retired Banker

"A wonderfully integrated workshop that combines both theory and practice while exploring the virtues and vices of Enneagram personality types. This is a 'must do' workshop for anyone interested in becoming a better person." -Karin Leperi, Federal Executive

"'The Changeworks' was the best name Tom Condon could have given his company! The Enneagram, and particularly Tom's interpretation, is one of the greatest personal growth tools I've come across. I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in change." - Mair MacKinnon, Alternative Health Practitioner

"As always, Tom made it a safe place for deep and compassionate self-examination, as well as occasional raucous laughter. I find his insights illuminating and very convincing. Both his involvement in personal process work, and the detachment he brings to Enneagram diagnostics, are invaluable." - Jane Kimbrough, Actress/Writer

"Tom has a creative and fresh take on the Enneagram. Highly original yet complementary with other teachers' outlooks and theories on the Enneagram. Really stimulated my mind a lot!" - Sue Ann McKean, Aikido teacher

"Tom has a lively intelligence, a sly wit, a subversive sense of humor, and an actor's sense of timing. I'm so thoroughly entertained that the valuable lessons learned seem almost beside the point." -Sandee Renault, Family Planning Pracititioner

"I found Tom's knowledge and experience, as well as mellow approach, a great combination. These two days have been a wonderful introduction to a fascinating system." - Cheri Young, Health Care Administrator

"This really helped put my NLP skills into context. The workshop gave me a much better model for integrating specific NLP techniques for each personality style. The interviews and demonstrations were particularly useful!" - Robert Roundtree, M.D.

"The workshop was very powerful for me. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my primary relationship has taken on a whole new glow based on the things that I learned. I'm also finding it easier to express myself and have a clearer view of what I want." - Patrick Callahan, Teacher

"This workshop was the most valuable I have attended both for my personal growth and my work as a therapist. Tom's style of working with us was intuitive, creative and playful. He worked skillfully and respectfully with each of us, taking nothing away but pointing the way to a greater range and freedom of choice." - Elizabeth Bean, Therapist

"Tom exhibits gentle yet firm skills in his therapeutic interventions. Watching him work with the participants was inspiring and his humor is magnificent. I really enjoyed his style and my learning." - Murray Spalding, Author, The Enneagram & NLP

"The combination of NLP, Ericksonian hypnosis and the Enneagram was well done and very helpful. I've been to many seminars - this ranks among the best." - Dick McHugh, Co-Director, Sadhana Institute

"Condon interviews people, applies NLP techniques and behold: like a pattern under the heat of an iron, the Enneagram styles appear and you KNOW them in a way you'll never forget. Condon mixes 10 years of Enneagram familiarity, 14 years of NLP and hypnosis practice with what apparently is a genetic gift to make the Enneagram types vivid and real. And during it all he is extraordinarily helpful." - The Enneagram Educator

"Thomas Condon presents a compelling and vivid description of each personality type. With a respectful humor and a gentle, focused style, he inspires people to see that there are choices wherever there is increased awareness. I would recommend this workshop for those who feel ready for change." - Jeanette Ezzo, Conflict Mediator

"One of the most profound learning experiences of my life. Very clear definitions, useful and clarifying examples and demonstrations of resourceful techniques. Tom is a kind, respectful and playful teacher." - Mary Bast, Executive Coach

"I thought the workshop was excellent, informative and enjoyable. A wonderful introduction to the Enneagram." - Clare Crawford-Mason, Writer and Television Producer

"Seeing and listening to the different personality styles opened me to greater compassion, appreciation and acceptance of others - and of myself." - Donna Thome, Therapist & Seminar Leader

"Tom's easy manner encourages people to examine themselves in a supportive environment that allows them to touch sensitive areas." - Susan Firestone, Artist

"The experience Tom Condon provides for you in Lifethemes expertly combines today's most sought after techniques for personal and professional growth. Don't miss this workshop!" - Janet Burr, Author of Awaken Your Intuition

"For me, this experience has blended my knowledge of NLP and hypnosis and supplied the missing link - personality. I have gained many new ways to interact and help people. I would highly recommend this workshop!"
- John Davidson, Academic Director, Suncoast School of Massage Therapy

Reviews of Lifethemes Workshops

From Connections
Tom Condon's Lifethemes Personal Change Weekend offered IEA/SoCal members and guests abundant new insights and techniques. A gifted therapist as well as a superb teacher, Tom began by pointing out that, while the Enneagram excels as a diagnostic system, its power can be greatly enhanced in therapy by combining with such
technique-oriented approaches as Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Ericksonian
hypnosis. In this way, people may be empowered to actually DO something about
their Enneagram fixation.

For those in the audience who were relatively new to the system, Tom,s clear
descriptions of the common elements in the three "emotional trios that make
up the Enneagram were especially helpful. In discussing each triad he went on
to paint a vivid picture of each personality style.

Generous handouts offered further details for each style about
characteristics of healthy and unhealthy individuals, common childhood
patterns, sorting styles and filters, sensory strategies and submodalities,
associations vs. dissociations, relationship to time, resources, and
reference frame.

In one-on-one demonstration sessions with an Eight and a Seven, Tom displayed
how a skillful therapist using NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis in an Enneagram
context can generate insights that help clients move toward changes they
desire but have so far been unable to actualize. These powerful
demonstrations had many therapists in the audience on the edge of their
chairs. The weekend also included several lively question-and-answer sessions on a
variety of subjects.

On the final day of the workshop Tom offered specific NLP techniques that can
help individuals access the high side of their home point, connecting points
and wings, even in times of stress. He demonstrated how to use "anchoring to
connect with high and low sides of one's Enneagram style, then mesh these two
poles in a way that diminishes the power of the low-side tendency. Workshop
attendees then participated in a two-person exercise designed not only to
provide a personal experience of this technique but also to offer a way of
repeating it at times when we have lost our connection with our best self.

The weekend was rich beyond even the high expectations many of us brought to
it, and we are enormously grateful to Tom for broadening and deepening our
understanding of the Enneagram." - Connections: The Newsletter of the Southern California International Enneagram Association

From Point Source
"For our inaugural meeting, Tom Condon made a thought-provoking presentation on he Enneagram and personal growh. This was the first time I had heard Tom, and I felt he gave the best short introduction on the Enneagram that I have ever heard.

"Tom opened his presentation by talking about the Enneagram as a tool for change. The Enneagram shows us, he said, how we get caught up in a subjective reality that is 1/9th of the truth. We each have a fixed point of view from which we look at life, a point of view that gives us a particular way to interpret events in our lives. The Enneagram shows how we are guarded, fixed, overprotected. It also shows us our talents and latent potentials that can be developed.

Tom concluded by demonstrating with a volunteer from the audience how he uses the Enneagram therapeutically. It was an excellent and well-received presentation and an auspicious inaugural event." - Point Source - The Newsletter of the Northern California International Enneagram Association

From The Enneagram Educator

"In a mountain resort just outside the small city of Bend, Oregon, Tom Condon puts on the workshop he calls Lifethemes. He combines the techniques of neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and Ericksonian hypnosis, the vision of the Enneagram, and, apparently, a small helpful portion of magic.

Each workshop session begins almost casually. Condon hands out several sheets on the Enneagram types he will discuss. Beginning with sketchy cognitive detail, Condon starts to talk, simply and clearly. He uses a minimum of professional jargon. Without fanfare, the magic starts.

He does not overwhelm, either with emotional intensity or technical detail. He just describes the Enneagram type in deepening spirals. He seems to see with an inner eye and talks as though he were a psychic tour guide. He continues with the conscious layer, then adds metaphors, stories about people, movie references, jokes - as much right brain evocative material as is needed.

Condon has a thorough grasp of the Enneagram and is a finely trained therapist, but his ability to evoke the experience of the type with image, metaphor and example is magic. If you've ever tried to figure out Enneagram types armed just with the cognitive information from books, you understand why this poetic layer is so important.

The Enneagram is an inner map and a code that enhances and personalizes the NLP tools. NLP takes existing energies within the person and moves them around. If a person is brave on the ski slope, NLP can move that bravery to the dinner table conversation or a sales presentation. With the Enneagram, Condon was able to quickly and effectively learn where the real energies lay and where they need to move to.

Even those innocent of the sleight-of-mind techniques of NLP could see some of the practice: mirroring, hypnotic suggestions and reframing (calling an experience by a different name so as to see and feel it differently). Condon drew out the pattern and usually moved the person past some thickets one could tell they usually didn't negotiate well. The combination of the therapeutic practices of NLP and the Enneagram is powerful."

About Thomas Condon

Thomas Condon is an internationally recognized Enneagram trainer and author. He has taught over 400 workshops in the United States, Germany, England, Switzerland, Austria, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy and France. The Director of the Changeworks in Bend, Oregon, he has been an adjunct faculty member of Antioch University and the University of California at Berkeley. He is a certified Master Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming and had an NLP-based private practice for 11 years. Tom is the author of over 50 audiotapes,videotapes and books.

About Tom's Work With the Enneagram
"As the Editor of the oldest and largest journal on the Enneagram, I overlook the entire field. I am approached constantly with writing on the subject. I sift through a lot of sand to find gold but I've always found the real stuff with Tom Condon. His material is original and practical; he writes clearly and vividly. There's no one doing the work he's doing; Tom is a major voice in the Enneagram community." - Editor, Enneagram Educator

"Thomas Condon has been studying and working with the Enneagram for 20 years and his depth of understanding is apparent. Through examples, stories and analogies he conveys a clear understanding of each personality type. His approach is fascinating, dynamic and richly observed." - Inner Quest Magazine

"Thomas Condon does a great job of filtering the Enneagram through NLP. You'll acquire some potent professional tools and learn about yourself first." - Anchor Point

"Tom Condon enhances the Enneagram with techniques from NLP and Ericksonian hypnosis. The healing potential of the Enneagram unadorned is amazing; when it is set as the jewel in Condon's multi-faceted approach, we begin to see how much more is possible." - Courtney Behm, Nine Points,
The Newsletter of the International Enneagram Association