Interview with Ms Annie Cap, Breakthrough Coach and Author, UK

1) Annie, your personal motto since you were about 11 has been Carpe Diem....Seize the day. How do you seize the day?
Although, I’ve never articulated my personal meaning or Carpe Diem to anyone before, not even to myself, “seize the day” has always been about truly living each day to the fullest. It’s about being able to see and enjoy what is presented and possible. This motto has become even more significant to me as I’ve matured. It has been a reminder to attempt a life without fear. Carpe Diem says to me to reach for liveliness or just be-ing-ness. It’s being clear enough in one’s self to be able to live in the moment – fearlessly on purpose. Whilst at eleven or even forty I hadn’t yet heard the philosophy of “living in the moment”, I must have intuitively known its importance and set it as the intention through this motto.

To me, Carpe Diem-styled activity is that which brings me closer to a state of joy and timelessness; either when in the process of experiencing it or after it’s completed. They are indelible lasting memories that I can call upon at will or everyday moments that re-fuel my soul. They consist of inspired, happy or content activity, thoughts and feelings, even enjoying warm soapy water as I do the washing up. This too may count as Carpe Diem activity for me – it’s all about perspective.

Ways I might seize the day are: sharing my first cup of coffee in bed with my husband, spending five minutes more than is reasonable in the bath, writing, scuba diving in turquoise waters trying to find my first sea horse, listening to music, singing, laughing, being with loving people, expressing my gratitude for what I already have, looking at a snowflake that has just fallen on the boot of my car, going for a walk, photographing a butterfly, gardening, meditating, watching the sunrise, seeing a baby bird hatch and noticing how nice it is when I flip my pillow to the cool side. Generally, seizing the moment can be expressed by the infamous statement of taking time to smell the roses coupled with being grateful for them. It’s about not regretting and finding the more expanded you. It’s never about panicked activity or desperation but it’s not about just doing nothing all the time either, unless doing nothing is the best thing for you right now.

If each of us can live outside of fear and in appreciation of the beauty around us, our perspective is by default unclouded. We can then find ourselves in the flow, able to sense guidance and draw to us and acknowledge the wonderful opportunities which abound. Striving for or living in this state, is about personal awareness and making choices that bring us closer to happiness and fulfillment. If I can live this way, it sprinkles my light around which helps lift others so they can seize their day too.   

2) You have worked for 20 years in the USA, UK and Europe. Which country has influenced you the most and how?
Each country I’ve spent time in, has provided me with the insight and personal growth that I was ready for at the time. However my country of origin, America pre-9/11, was home for me until I was 37. Therefore, America has shaped me significantly. Being 50 this year and having grown up on the west coast, in my particular family, meant that I had inherited the belief or been almost positively brain-washed into believing that, like other Americans of my generation, it didn’t matter what your background or education was, if you applied yourself you could be or accomplish whatever you put your mind to.  The world was (and is) your oyster – that is if you were willing to do something about it.

England has to be a close second, if not equal in the countries that have influenced me greatly. I met my English husband here more than ten years ago and was encouraged by him to leave my high-stress, high-tech telecommunications career behind to transition into something new that I wanted to be. That’s how I became a personal breakthrough coach, author and now the creator of The Iceberg Process, my own awareness and self-healing method.

I loved working with the Germans and perhaps their very holistic and professional approach to everything was a stepping stone for my current career. My German colleagues showed me an expression of a wonderful work-life balance which I hadn’t had, previous to becoming a breakthrough coach and author.

England is now my home and I adore the beauty of Kent near Canterbury where I live. However, I think the English, especially some teenagers could benefit greatly from the much maligned American “can do” attitude and the often genuine statement of “have a nice day” which has helped me.

3) How do you ensure your clients have a clear sailing post coaching?
This is a really interesting and important question. I have found over the years a format that helps my clients avoid discomfort, unexpected disruptions or even mini “melt-downs” between coaching and tapping sessions. I prefer to work with my clients for two-hours at a time versus shorter sessions. During the first ninety minutes we are dedicated to  working on the causes of whatever issue my clients have and I reserve the final half hour for clearing or calming anything difficult or upsetting which surfaced. Before my client leaves me or we hang up the phone or end the Skype call, I hope I’ve done everything I can to ensure that they are feeling better now than when we started. Additionally, I send them away with a few tapping phrases and cognitive suggestions to help maintain and reinforce and continue our progress. The last half hour is a bit like rewrapping a package as neatly as possible using tape so we can reopen it when we get back together again.

Additionally, I have learned when we’re getting into tough or unchartered territory to recognize that we should postpone working on new aspects or topics until the next time we work together giving us adequate time. Additionally, my clients can call me if they have something that needs addressing immediately.

4) Tell us in brief about CBT and EFT and how you use them?
I use some of the more practical and mindful methods of CBT which stands for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy I learned in the United States. The main thing I do is help my clients focus in on their sabotaging thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Commonly I get them to observe their internal (or external) dialogue for negative or de-railing banter and self-abuse. I’m often surprised at how unaware my clients may be about their own negative, disempowering words and actions. I teach them how to spot them and then how to counter them with more productive, healthy, supportive thinking.

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is the name for the original energy psychology protocol created by the now retired, Gary Craig. He simplified and in my view increased the usability of Roger Callahan’s TFT or Thought Field Therapy years ago. Very experienced EFT practitioners or masters have now created useful variations on this energy psychology strategy, all of which fall under the umbrella title of MTT or Meridian Tapping Techniques, like TAT, Matrix Reimprinting, PET, IET, Choices and even my method, The Iceberg Process or TIPs, as well as other excellent practices.

All of these strategies involve focusing in on the issue or cause of an issue at hand whilst tapping on the energy system of the body with your fingers to stimulate a perceptional change, shift in beliefs and release or neutralisation of locked and often traumatic emotions.
I use EFT along with my own method, The Iceberg Process to increase the speed and thoroughness of the results.  

 

5) What is The Iceberg Process?
The Iceberg Process (TIPs) is a method of gaining awareness and a collection of tools I’ve developed after discovering an incredibly powerful connection between the words people choose to use every day, their past and the beliefs shaped by it.  It can be used by anyone to improve their life and situation. All that is needed is to read and apply the strategies included in my book, It’s Your Choice: Uncover Your Brilliance using The Iceberg Process.

In brief, I’ve found that through their choice of language alone, people are usually telling the story of their life which then continues to overshadow their future experience. The words selected repetitively can be used like “sonar for the brain” to help identify where the subconscious mind is focused today. Regardless of how long ago something occurred, even if it has been forgotten or repressed, I’ve found the selected words often point to an “iceberg belief” that is limiting or supportive, an “iceberg programming” sitting in the background repeating a stubborn pattern, or a very specific aspect of a particular event that has left its mark.  

6) Has the concept of holistic coaching caught on in UK?
When I speak of holistic coaching I refer to the fact that I consider the entire person, their history, lifestyle and environment when I’m helping them achieve what it is that they wish to achieve. That said I believe we are all helping each other increase the general interest in wholeness. Each person I’ve worked has helped another in turn. Every country has people who are interested in personal expansion, self-actualisation, empowerment and growth. Whether the UK in general is more or less holistic or not is not really something I’m concerned with. My clients are from all over the world and definitely holistic. However, if they weren’t when they found me, they soon become so! In today’s world economy and with the ease at which we now communicate, it’s clear that it doesn’t matter where I live as I’m conversing with like-minded people around globe each day. I have faith that there will always be a group of people that are interested in finding who they really are, who they really can be and increasing their consciousness – we will always find each other.

7) On a lighter note, on one of your profiles, you have mentioned you are an action girl. Aren’t you a woman now?
Yes, I am definitely a woman now. “An action girl” though relates to an old term from when I was in the United States. It means simply that I am someone who is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and help out or, as they say in the UK, get stuck in. It comes back to Carpe Diem again and my believing that we all create or at least participate in our experience here.  

Copyright ©Annie Cap 2011
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Annie Cap-A Profile
Annie Cap, the creator of The Iceberg Process, is a Breakthrough Coach, speaker and author. Her ground-breaking book, It’s Your Choice: Uncover Your Brilliance using The Iceberg Process (Paragon Publishing, ISBN 978-1-907611-20-9,) has been featured in newspapers and magazines around the world including The Daily Mail, one of the U.K.’s largest newspapers, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1329690/Detox-thoughts-Changing-words-use-profound-positive-effects.html as well as in the South African Times Guardian and USA’s CBS Interactive Business News. She has been interviewed by TalkRadioEurope which has more than half a million listeners as well as numerous BlogTalk Radio shows with an interest in personal empowerment, health and consciousness including EFTRadioOnline’s Annabel Fisher, downloadable for free on Itunes. Recently Annie spoke at the Trauma Telesummit (http://www.traumatelesummit.com/).
Annie has been a therapist and coach for the past ten years. Formerly she had been a highly successful international telecommunications professional working in America, Europe and England for almost twenty years. As a Breakthrough Coach she has gained a reputation for helping clients (and other therapists and coaches) who had previously ‘tried everything’ and failed. She attributes her client’s excellent results to her strong intuition and the way she combines cognitive and energy psychology techniques with her own unique method, The Iceberg Process which acts as “sonar for the brain” revealing the unconscious mind’s focus.
Annie’s book, It’s Your Choice, has been endorsed by Miceal Ledwith, star in the hit movie What the Bleep do We Know and its sequel Down the Rabbit Hole, Karl Dawson, creator of Matrix Reimprinting, Peter Lee, founder of The Institute of Momentum who worked for many years with Dr Masaru Emoto famous for his study of water crystals and the book Messages in Water and Jack Hues of Wang Chung, famous for the soundtrack to movie, The Breakfast Club.
Annie has helped thousands improve their lives and believes everyone has the capacity to find happiness if they are willing to change. She reminds us that “instead of creating the life that matches our dreams, we create a life that fits within our beliefs.”
Website
http://www.anniecap.co.uk/