In today’s article I share a brief history of RPT and how it has changed so much in 4 short years. I gave my own self-assessment of my performance (poor) and share my plans for 2012. I also answer your questions about re-certification and what has changed since you first learned RPT.
RPT has changed so much since its inception in 2008 and launch in January 2009. In fact it has changed SO much that its name is meaningless. In 2008 I thought healing was all about finding the earliest “reference point.” Now I can teach all 3 levels of RPT without using that phrase.
My last group email confused a few students about what version of RPT they learned, or were about to learn. I want to clear up any confusion by sharing a short history of RPT and its evolution through 4 versions. At the end I’ll be asking your opinion about whether to change the name.
I’m going to do something a bit radical and I’m going to give myself a scorecard for each of the 4 variations of the technique I developed. I’ll tell you honestly how I think I rate as a teacher/developer and get your feedback on this. (Hint: the results are pretty poor, leaving much room for improvement.)
RPT version 1 (2008-2009)
Evette and I spent several years drawing together the material for RPT. One of the key points (you could call it a “key developmental event” in RPT-speak) was discovering the Institute of Peak States in 2008. I’m indebted to my friend and former promoter Signe Fjord for this information.
Although I decided not to study Peak States, the information I got from my Peak States healing sessions and the books was enough to change my path. I found answers to many difficult questions like “why changing beliefs or downloading new feelings can’t give more than a short term healing,” “why healing past lives never really changes anything,” “why there are some enlightened masters but you never see their students becoming enlightened,” and so on. Suddenly I had scientific answers to many deep answers. The answers were quite simple, basically “it’s all in your biology.” I had been looking in the wrong direction and I needed to start afresh.
The Peak States body of knowledge motivated me to immediately quit what I was teaching (based on belief work) and develop what I first called “Healing That Works.” Like Peak States, it was loosely a regression based technique. It was quite slow because it was necessary to take the client back through many generations of ancestral memories to find the original trauma.
The technique was initially marketed (controversially) to other teachers of the TH modality. I already knew that TH didn’t work as advertised and that most people give up on the method after about 2 years (there are very few “old” practitioners, they either make enough money teaching to stop asking questions, or they move on). So I knew there was a dedicated audience searching for something that works. Hence the somewhat silly first name, Healing That Works. (Silly modality name, but a marketing success.)
The initial success I had with the technique was based on the simple fact that I was successful at healing many problems that TH could not heal. Many TH teachers said that they had tried self-healing with TH for many years, without success – but were healed by one session of RPT. This was great, but was not enough to change the fact that the method was slow and complicated for many.
My personal scorecard:
| Factor | Percentage |
| Effectiveness of the technique when Simon was the practitioner | about 70% of people who could not heal with other techniques, and about 80% overall |
| Effectiveness of the technique when practiced by Simon’s students | Perhaps 40-50%, not good enough |
| Simplicity of the technique | 10% |
| Speed of the technique | 20% |
| Correctly or appropriately marketed | 5% |
There you have my personal scorecard on my first year of RPT. I got some good results, my clients did fantastic (and several are still RPT teachers). But my students didn’t really get it – it was too hard or too slow. It looked too much like Time Line Therapy (regression based). People were confused and so they did not get results with their clients. Plus, my marketing (anti-TH) was foolishly short-sighted, creating enemies of my old friends and many former students.
Overall, I give myself about a 3/10 for my first year in RPT.
RPT version 2 – December 2009 to April 2010 (Introducing “tones”)
Evette and I taught RPT v1 across Australia, USA and Europe in 2009. We had some amazing classes with memorable instant healings. We also had at least one shocker – a class that simply did not work (Level 3 in Antwerp). Clearly something had to give.
The turning point came in December 2009 when someone suggested implementing the triune brain (head/heart/gut) idea into RPT. I used the word “tones” to describe the feelings felt by the gut or body mind. It was messy, but I do know that our course in Slovenia in December 2009 was phenomenally better than in Antwerp just a month earlier. We were on the right track.
The very best thing about RPT v2 was the introduction of the “Power of Acknowledgment” technique. In the initial RPT the approach was to “just Be with the trauma.” This evolved into the idea of acknowledgment as a healing tool. Although it wasn’t really perfected till later (2011), this technique is central to the success of RPT, especially when combined with the survival instinct model (Scaer) and the Key Developmental Events model (McFetridge).
Unfortunately, the technique was now slower and MORE complicated. That’s because I’m merged the triune method with the ancestral method (going back through generations) so the students now had two things to do instead of one. If you learned about healing “tones” in RPT, you probably did v2, or a mix of v2 and 3.
RPT v2 was not great (pretty bad really), but it laid the foundations for greatness.
| Factor | Percentage |
| Effectiveness of the technique when Simon was the practitioner | about 80% |
| Effectiveness of the technique when practiced by Simon’s students | Perhaps 50%, not good enough |
| Simplicity of the technique | 5% |
| Speed of the technique | 5% |
| Correctly or appropriately marketed | 0% |
Overall, I give myself about a 2/10 for my second period in RPT. Fortunately, it was very short-lived.
RPT version 3 – May 2010 to May 2011 (Introducing Triune Brain method)
In May 2010, teaching in Melbourne, I had the fortuitous insight that we didn’t need to use the ancestral technique AND the triune brain method, that it was either or. This was the beginning of a much simpler RPT. However there was a catch – the original triune method was not quite as effective as the ancestral method. Sometimes it felt like you had to still go back and find the ancestor’s original trauma. So basically, we were sacrificing some effectiveness in exchange for speed and simplicity. This was an OK trade-off because for most people RPT v3 was the first version easy enough to master and get great results for family and clients.
RPT v3 was also where we introduced the idea of coherence – bringing the head, heart and gut (and later the other minds) together as one. This was an important turning point because for many coherence is the goal of RPT as much as being the “how.” (The journey IS the destination!)
| Factor | Percentage |
| Effectiveness of the technique when Simon was the practitioner | about 80% |
| Effectiveness of the technique when practiced by Simon’s students | Perhaps 70% |
| Simplicity of the technique | 60% |
| Speed of the technique | 50% |
| Correctly or appropriately marketed | 10% |
RPT v3 is where I start to have a certain pride in what we achieved. The biggest failure was marketing. I designed a new website in May 2010 and never launched it (for reasons that go way beyond this article).
Overall, I give myself about a 5/10 for my third period in RPT.
RPT version 4 – May 2011 to May 2011 (Introducing Survival instincts)
The best turning point in the short history of RPT came in May 2011 in Moscow. Promoter Dmitry and I decided against extending the course despite the translator doubling the length of everything. Clearly something had to give, and I really had to think about simplifications. The Level 1 manual still had elements of version 1 (ancestral method) and version 2 (tones), and was far too confusing. So in class I gave up on the manual and created a new method. The inspiration was to focus on core survival instincts which are what drives the Reptilian mind. The class was a huge success, our best ever.
After the class I went home to research and discovered the work of Robert Scaer (Body Bears the Burden). It was his book that helped me to really understand how survival instincts hold trauma in place. Then a beautiful thing happened, I realized that the marriage of Scaer’s theory and our existing RPT technique (Power of Acknowledgment) created something unique – an instant healing technique. We could do what Scaer himself was unable to – heal trauma instantly and without re-living it. For the first time we had a technique which was fast AND simple AND effective.
With RPT v4 there was no compromise, no need to worry about ancestral trauma or tones. There’s also not much need to search for survival instincts since we understand them. Four instincts account for more than 90% of human trauma and dysfunction – and we know how to clear them.
I am truly proud of what we created with RPT v4. However you probably didn’t hear all that much about it. I didn’t market it (still no website) for a range of reasons. I think I sent about 2 group emails for all of 2011.
But you might have learned v4 with your local RPT teacher. I re-wrote the Level 1 manual in August 2011 and all our RPT teachers were using it from that point onwards. So if you learned RPT after this time (and your Level 1 manual says “version 2.8” or later, then you already know RPT v4.
The new RPT is fast, simple and effective. It’s also been a total marketing failure for reasons that are beyond the scope of this article (but I’m getting to them). So here’s my report card.
| Factor | Percentage |
| Effectiveness of the technique when Simon was the practitioner | about 90% |
| Effectiveness of the technique when practiced by Simon’s students | Perhaps 80% |
| Simplicity of the technique | 70% |
| Speed of the technique | 70% |
| Correctly or appropriately marketed | 10% |
I only make as much as 10% on marketing because I wrote some good material for the blog. Apart from that, I’d say the website is out of date and rubbish and our magazine advertising was a dismal failure. My overall personal rating is a 5.5. I’m very hard on myself. I do think that we had success (many people healed), but it’s the marketing that helps more people to know about it so that they can be healed.
RPT version 5 – May 2012 and beyond
A few people who learned RPT in the last year contacted me this week to see if they were already out of date. I think mostly they were concerned that they would have to spend a whole lot of money re-certifying. Relax, that’s not the case.
The “bad” news is that I keep learning and RPT keeps improving! I’m a better man than I was a year ago. Wiser. I keep learning and growing and as I do, I keep improving the technique. I can’t do it alone, and I must thank my wife Evette, promoter Dmitry, manager Valeria and others for their fantastic contributions to this work.
Version 4 is still current, though it is gradually changing into what might be called version 5 later this year. There have been a lot of small changes over the last 12 months which include:
- creation of the new “Level 3” method (the Identity technique) in Kiev, November 2011. This really changes Level 3 and will filter down to influence Levels 1 and 2;
- Dmitry’s contribution of the “New Resources” technique to Level 1 (soon to be added to manuals); and
- an understanding of “conflict of instincts,” that it is not just instincts that hold trauma in place but the conflict between them (do I run or do I hide?).
So what’s next?
This year we will launch RPT version 5. For the first time we’ll do it properly with a respectable website (not an 8 year old spiritual healing website with the old modality name rubbed out and quickly replaced with RPT). The biggest change will therefore be in the marketing. That may sound superficial to you, but consider that the marketing is how you reach out to people in order to help them. Marketing is awareness. (And note that marketing is not advertising or sales – concepts that people often confuse. I don’t need more sales ($) but I think we need a lot more awareness of our key messages.
The technique will continued to be refined and perfected. It still doesn’t feel quite ready for a truly public launch (think published book, media exposure), but we’re getting there. By the end of this year I feel I’ll be ready.
What are the key messages of RPT?
I know I’ve been a little hard on my accomplishments to date, so let me take a moment to reflect on the key contributions that we’ve made:
- you don’t need to relive trauma in order to heal it. In fact you shouldn’t even have to talk about;
- you don’t need invisible energies (god, chi, prayer, symbols, etc.) to do an instant healing. That stuff is lovely if you believe in it, but you shouldn’t HAVE to believe in anything to be healed and the healing works just as well (probably better) without that stuff;
- healing is and must always be based on science. It’s OK if science cannot explain it yet, but if science can disprove it (as it has disproved prayer healing, theta brainwave state healing and many other things) then you must dump it;
- science based healing works, is simple and fun!
Do you need to re-certify?
Several readers were concerned that they are out of date. The answer is simple, look at your Level 1 manual. The version number is below the table of contents.
- If your version is before 2.8 then yes, you are quite out of date. The survival instinct approach is very different than what you learned. It’s so different that I could say either (a) what you learned is not RPT or (b) what I teach now is no longer RPT. It’s a different technique. It should be called “Beyond Survival Therapy” or something new. Despite it being a totally different technique in everything except name, we offer 50% off for upgrading students. This is a small price to pay for all new content.
- If your manual is version 2.8 then there have been some key improvements since then, you can learn a simpler approach, but you do not need to start again. Contact your teacher about running a low-cost one-day upgrade or perhaps assisting on a new course.
- If your manual is version 2.9 (soon to be 3.0), congratulations. You are using a very recent version of RPT. You should always check with your teacher whether there have been any significant changes.
The Level 2 and Level 3 courses have also been significantly updated and you would gain an enormous amount from updating your training here too.
Your comments and feedback needed
There’s so much here that I need your input on.
- What’s your assessment of RPT? Am I fair in my self-assessment of our performance so far?
- If you have learned RPT v 4, what do you think we need to focus on apart from marketing?
- What are your thoughts on how to upgrade past students to RPT v4? Do you think it should be free, even for students way back from 2009? (It would never be more than 50% but the question is how much to charge and at what point have we fulfilled our contract – delivered what you already paid for?).
- Finally – a tough question: the name. We’ve been debating the name change for almost 2 years. Given what we teach has nothing at all to do with reference points, is there any point in keeping the name? My main argument in favor of changing it is this: what we do in 2012 is so fast, simple and effective compared to 2009, that I think we are hurting ourselves by using the same name. On the other hand, most RPT students are much happier with the method than I am (I am very harsh) so perhaps there’s no need to change it? I’d love to hear from you.
I look forward to your comments and feedback.
Blessings
Simon
Michaela 
) or things like that.
Raghu 
Cheryl 
Kevin Korody 
Geir 
Shane Marsh 
Elena 
Clay LaPorte 
Sue Healy 
Paula Anderson 
Cat 
Hi Simon,
Since I am so new to RPT my views will be probably be quite different from veteran RPTers. I do appreciate your honesty and open criticism of your work. Frequently developers of techniques over hype the effectiveness of what they have created in my opinion.
Question 1 on assessment. I have been doing RPT for 12 weeks and find it to be very effective and fairly easy. At times it feels like I am not really doing anything, yet changes happen. I have received good comments from people liking the approach and understanding it. I am still trying to wrap my brain around telling someone why they are pretending to be a sperm.
Question 2. One of the things I would like to see is videos for people to watch after they have taken the class. This would be a powerful way to re enforce the class learning and allow people to be in “the energy”. I understand why this has been a problem(consent issues and things changing quickly.) I have had to call Val more then once to pick her brain and she has been gracious helping me. Even though the videos that are on the website are old I still learn something watching them.
Question 3. Every technique or therapy changes or improves over time. Offering a 50% discount seems fair since it sounds like RPT has changed dramatically. A online upgrade may be an option by recording a class and making it available in some format since travelling is difficult for some.
Question 4. Reference Point Therapy sounds nice compared to confusing or hard names people give their techniques. Since RPT is not widely known yet to the general public, changing the name should not cause much confusion. I guess in the end a name is just a name, it’s the substance that counts.
Be well,
Jim
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